


Game Over: Start At The End

by Nhitori



Series: Everyone's Brand New and Improved Killing Game Semester [5]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Original Work, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning (Video Game), nicohverse
Genre: Fan Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Fanganronpa, Multi, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-01-21 06:49:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 374
Words: 464,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21295292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nhitori/pseuds/Nhitori
Summary: Twenty years from the end of the 'Final Killing Game', retribution comes to knock at the doors of those who turned away from the future. Bearing upon their backs the sins of their parents, the children whose lives have proven those mistakes must now decide whether they will atone, or abandon the world to a final crawling death.(The Final Installation of the Everyone's Brand New And Improved Killing Game series.As always, the story is written to be understood without knowledge of my previous work.In addition, there will be a link to a 'lore recap' in the notes. Please consider picking this up!)(It is also written to be understood without knowledge of Zanki Zero: Last Beginning. Alternatively, if you want to skip the danganronpa and get right to the Zero Sum Game, chapter 236 is your man.)[Comments and speculation always very welcomed and appreciated! Updates Every Weekday, until my life calms down again and I can get back to posting daily!](If you'd like to chat or liveblog, check out the discord! https://discord.gg/KbWpxN2 )
Relationships: Fujisaki Chihiro/Oowada Mondo, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: Everyone's Brand New and Improved Killing Game Semester [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1061144
Comments: 101
Kudos: 72





	1. Prologue: Jun, Ayano, and Hikari walk into a Neo World Program

**Author's Note:**

> Lore Recap: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r15BagXb7-tDJS6GFUmSGnTueQkFP26QbjX-J91GDSI/edit?usp=sharing
> 
> Sprite Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/vXArqim
> 
> **Content Warnings:**  
There's mention of most forms of abuse, injuries, and trauma. Certain characters may express cruel or bigoted views which I, the author, do not agree with. Going into detail would take up a lot of space so if you need a head's-up for anything specific; Just ask in the discord or in the comments and I'll get back to you right away! In addition, any chapters which get particularly intense will include a warning in those chapter notes. For example, if a chapter shifts into a first-person recollection of traumatic events, since that can be a closer experience than third-person, there will be a disclaimer beforehand.
> 
> Also: I am no longer going to tie myself up avoiding VK spoilers. There will still be care taken not to reveal that wonderful story's twists, but to a bit less of the previous story's extent.

** Who the fuck knows what time it is? **

Jun Barasu had never in his entire life woken up in a place like this. ‘Like this’, being outdoors. Though he did grow up somewhere that he obviously knew what grass was, this was probably the first time that he’d ever felt it on the skin of his face. He sat up, rubbed at where he’d been coerced into wearing a green blush, and looked around the area. It was bright, and while he had been sleeping on grass, it wasn’t actually outdoors. It looked like it. Felt like it, too. Sky and breeze and sunlight… but it had obvious walls, and a door set against the horizon, just right there.

He stood up, and hit his head.

He wasn’t a particularly tall young man, and he certainly was a young man, but he was tall enough that he had to slightly slouch to avoid his head touching this artificial sky. It was a movement that came naturally to him, because low ceilings weren’t unusual in his hometown, even for his unremarkable height. Five five exactly, not a scrap of an inch above or below, or he would be if he wasn’t Japanese and he was a plebeian who used inches. He was 165 centimeters tall.

Well, enough of that. He opened the door. On the other side was… Well, he could really only describe it as an eyesore. He was a fan of halls, but he might just give up on this one. To call it reminiscent of Escher would be too kind, though it was similarly mind-boggling. The colors… There were way too many colors. It was a clown house of a hallway and he hated it so much. It was a mockery of the art of rooms longer than they are wide which exist only to travel between other rooms!

His parents had always called him the Ultimate Hall Monitor, all the way through school and up to the present. It had started as a teasing, joking nickname… But had become official somewhere along the way. Jun Barasu hadn’t grown up in this society; but the society he did grow up in was primarily founded by former Ultimates, so of course they’d carry over the concept. He probably wouldn’t qualify in the eyes of the Ultimate Initiative he’d heard so much about in his youth, sure, but he’d use the title anyhow. Something told him that he might need it.

Something also told him that he was _most definitely on Earth_. Well, probably not in a real physical location on Earth right now, but this wouldn’t happen back home. He wouldn’t wake up in an absolute mystery location where nothing quite made sense, back at home. Back at home being the distant colony which was settled by a certain group of people approximately twenty years ago. He was an infant at the time, but of course he heard about it.

There would still be bad people there, of course, there were. It wasn’t and had never been intended to be a utopia, and human nature couldn’t allow for that forever even if it was. He knew his history, though. It was a normal civilization, that he grew up in. Not the one that the adults had escaped from, where for twenty-five years the entire world had been at war with itself.

The Quiet War, where international factions fought forever. Civilians lived normally, but were caught in the crossfire. It wasn’t a matter of war between countries, but between ideals. Ultimate Despair, which wished for the world’s destruction… Just because? It was a product of culture, certain events, and a pandemic, but growing up outside of all that Jun couldn’t quite understand. And Future Foundation, combined with Ultimate Hope, which looked to improve and save the world but had certain methods that the average citizen found disagreeable. Such as, respectively, bombing an entire apartment building just because a certain number of enemies lived there, or _running a Killing Game_ to determine if certain ‘unworthy ultimates’ were still able to be reformed into once again fighting Despair.

That was about the extent that Jun knew about this planet’s society, and that was the extent which explained why the previous generation left. Left to a world composed of Ultimates and Civilians alike, where Ultimates lived fairly normal lives and everyone contributed what they could. Some said that Ultimates practically lived in service of the normal people, with their devotion to building up the city off the charts, but that was more of a joke than an actual belief.

It was a far from perfect place; A perfect place didn’t exist. All the same, Jun got to grow up never needing for food or clothing, and neither did anybody he knew. Most people did work unless they were unable, but they knew their value, and anybody’s innate skill was more than enough to ‘earn their place’. All in all, it seemed that his parents and their friends succeeded in creating a world free of war- Even if it could never be free of evil.

And that was when he was snapped out of his thoughts, the space-cadet incident triggered by the garish hallway, by a familiar voice. “Heyy Barasu~!”

“R-Ruka!” Jun startled, noticing that his friend’s finger was on his nose. “How many times do I have to tell you, call me Jun!”

“Isn’t that just a little too paranoid?” Hikari Ruka asked, drawing back to put her hands on her, to quote the woman herself, ‘childbearing hips’.

“First, you’re the one who told me my family name was a curse. Second, aren’t we close enough to be on first-name basis anyway?” Jun questioned, giving a shrug as he tried again even in this situation to remind Hikari that he was also here.

“Hm? Well, if you call me Hikari, I’ll call you Jun. Same deal as Ayano.” Hikari said, then sidestepped to reveal the girl herself. She was petite, but not quite tiny. Four foot ten and scrawny. The third of their trio. Jun, Hikari, and Ayano had grown up as next door neighbors.

“Hi Jun.” Ayano waved, then awkwardly adjusted her glasses with her entire hand before continuing. “I… um. Have a bad feeling about this thing. Do not think it is exactly probably a character-building exercise designed and constructed by my parents, this time.”

That had happened before, because Kurou and Ayu Ueda were not exactly standard parents, both being Ultimates. Jun’s own parents theorized it may have been these character-building exercises that helped the trio all to get talents of their own. Ayano Ueda was the Ultimate Calligraphist.

Then, there was Hikari Ruka. Ultimate Fortuneteller the Third. She didn’t have any direct family left alive, though nobody had ever told her the story of why. Instead, she was raised by her late half-brother’s family, which was quite a nebulous thing. One half sister, that sister’s mother and grandmother, and two women who had once been in love with that half-brother.

She _also_ got an honorary uncle in the father of her late actual-full-brother’s friend. That was more relatives than most kids in Dome City got, so Jun was actually a little bit jealous of her. She had lots of love to go around. Jun got along with his own parents well, and he had a little brother too, but that was it. If he had any other relatives, well. They were left here on this planet that he was certain they were now on. In fact.

“You know that thing that our parents always talked about…?” Jun asked, directing it to Ayano.

“End tables?” Hikari interjected.

“Well, I mean. Always might be an overstatement. They only mentioned it every so often, if I’m going to cut it with the hyperbole,” Jun said, “But, you know. I kind of think that… This might be a Neo World Program. But not the fun kind. The Killing Game kind. On Earth.”


	2. Prologue: Hallway's Haunted.

“Ex-cuse me?” Hikari asked, “Where, por quoi, did you come up with such a bullshit idea?”

“It’s just a feeling.” Jun shrugged.

Ayano wrung her hands and piped up, “Oh, it seems very plausible.”

“You think so, Aya?” Hikari wondered, then smiled. “Then I guess that I can believe you for now, Barasu. I trust her gut much more than I trust yours, nothing personal?”

“It’s pretty personal,” Jun said, “I mean, her gut is just agreeing with my gut right now. We are gut buddies. Buds of the gut.”

“I agree,” Ayano said, reaching out to put a hand on Jun’s shoulder. “If you eviscerated us both, then our guts would be nearly identical, Hikari.”

“Why would I eviscerate you?” Hikari questioned.

“I don’t know. To verify the claims that Jun and I are gut buds?”

“I think that the better way to test this hypothesis would be to find a common area and see if other people are here and also if there is a bear?” Jun offered, “And get out of this hallway.”

“Why would there be a _bear_ here?” Ayano asked.

“Or is this our precious puny Barasu finally coming out of the closet? I mean, it’s not surprising that your type is ‘can snap you in half like a twig’,” Hikari said, “But now is not the time!”

“No, I mean a robot bear,” Jun said.

“That’s a very specific type. You’d probably have to ask Ms. Hashi to help you with that, and we definitely won’t find something like that here. I support you though, Jun. Chase your robot bara boyfriend dreams,” Ayano said. Her tone had an odd lilt to it; Her voice imitated the standard sound of a cute schoolgirl in anime, but it hardly rose or fell at all, making her sound a bit distant at all times even with her cuteness.

“It’s. Stooop!” Jun complained. “I mean, _that_ robot bear. The one that runs Killing Games. Like, the actual animal?”

“I think that one’s more like a teddy bear,” Hikari said.

“So you _do_ know what I’m talking about.”

“Yea.” Hikari giggled. “It’s just fun to mess with you.”

“...Oh. Well, that’s stupid.” Jun crossed his arms. “Why is it fun? I’m just trying to live my life over here, and I’m honestly feeling _so_ attacked right now.”

“Do you even know what that means, or did you just hear the Kaguyas saying it?” Ayano asked, leveling her gaze at him. Right, the Kaguyas… More of the Ultimates who’d founded Dome City, an almost absurdly domestic couple. It was weird to think that they didn’t have children, because he felt like they ought to, but he had no memories of it.

“Just because I learned it from them doesn’t mean that I don’t know what it means,” Jun said, “It’s uh, a meme. About feeling attacked. Right?”

“Beats the fuck outta me.” Hikari gave an exaggerated shrug. “Unlike you, I do not try to comprehend the ancient language those lesbians speak.”

“But I thought that you’d love to learn the lesbian language, Ruka?” Jun wondered.

“I… Hush! That sounds dirty!” Hikari chided, and smacked the side of his arm. “I am but a simple, Japanese-speaking lesbian. I need no other language.”

“Yeah,” Ayano said, then snickered. “[Cause somebody’s never passed an English class.]”

“What- What did you say?” Hikari asked, then whipped around to Jun. “Jun, what did she say?”

“Ah, I see. So when you need something from me, I’m Jun.” He grinned. “You see, Hikari, my gut buddy was just saying how you suck at language classes, so of course you’d claim that Japanese is the only one you need. You illustrated this perfectly with your response.”

“...Screw you, Barasu.” Hikari brushed him off and turned up her nose to pout. Her hat fell on the ground. Again. Ayano picked up the wool beret and set it on Jun’s head instead, covering up the bit of his hair which stood against the tide of his usual flat nature.

“How do I look?” Jun asked, striking a pose. “I’m thinking of starting a collection of hats that I find on the floor.”

“Give that back,” Hikari said, and snatched her hat back from him to affix it to her head again. “I only just started wearing this, you know. Now that I’m older people keep thinking I’m Morinaga, even though she’s way skinnier than me…”

“What’s funny about that,” Jun said, “Is that she used to wear a hat when she was our age, you know.”

“_**What.**_”

“Not a beret, don’t worry,” Ayano stepped in, “A newsie.”

“You had me scared for a minute there, mon cheri,” Hikari said, staring at Jun. “Is there no way for me to escape being mistaken for somebody who isn’t even my relative?”

“As far as _we_ know,” Ayano said, “But history is a lost art. Doctor Morinaga could have been a relative of the infamous Tatsuya Minami, right?”

“Anything is possible,” Jun said, even though he didn’t actually expect that to be true.

“Ohh. Shut up,” Hikari said.

“One of these days I’ll listen to you.” Jun laughed. “Today’s not that day, though. Today is not that day. In fact, I think that just to make my point, I’m going to keep on talking. Just lots of words, over and over. Words, upon words. I will never shut up and you can’t make me. I will be a chatty corpse, talking your ear off from beyond the grave. My words will echo in your ears anytime you run in the hall. There’s a time and place for everything… But not now. And then you’ll be so thrown off by my postmortem chiding that, because you are running in the hall, you will slip and fall.”

“That’s a very roundabout way of saying that you’re going to haunt us,” Ayano observed.

“It’s not haunting! Um.” Jun paused. “Oh I guess it is haunting.”

“In which case I will simply exorcise you. Problem solved! Wahaha!” Hikari cackled.

“But if you exorcise him, then we’ll really never see or hear from him again!” Ayano protested, “That’s a fate that only actors on sitcoms whose contracts are up deserve!”

“Then I’ll exorcise him, but then hold seances when you want to see him again,” Hikari said, “With just a lock of his hair, this kind of channeling is possible for Hikari Ruka.”

“Do we have his hair?” Ayano asked.

“Oh, Aya. I have _everyone’s_ hair.”

“Excuse me! I know I started this train, but I’d like to get off on the next stop and remind you that I’m not dead yet, so it doesn’t matter!” Jun protested, “And do you really think you’ll both outlive me? I’m a very cautious young man! It’s kind of my primary virtue!”

Hikari grabbed at Ayano’s hand and started to walk off with her, who reached out and grabbed Jun by the wrist as well, making a chain.

“...So it seems I’m not alone,” Somebody said as the trio rounded the corner.


	3. Prologue: Do Aliens Have Shins?

“That’s right, you are not!” Jun proclaimed upon seeing the new guy. And what a new guy he was. Tall, and thin, and dressed in a way that thoroughly exaggerated that fact, a suit that somehow elongated him even more. The look was completed with the eyepatch and top hat. “I’m Jun Barasu, and these are my friends, Ayano Ueda and Hikari Ruka.”

“I see,” The tall boy said, “In that case, I’d be remiss not to introduce myself as well.” He flourished a gloved hand. “Shin Tsubasa. And I normally don’t tout this fact, but given the situation, I’ll be upfront with you. I _am_ the Ultimate Torcedor. Thus it seems that history repeats itself, should you be Ultimates as well.”

“We are,” Ayano answered, “I’m the Ultimate Calligraphist. Jun is an Ultimate Hall Monitor, and Hikari, an Ultimate Fortuneteller.”

“Hm. Well then.” Shin dropped his hand to his side. “This must be a Killing Game. Odd, though. There hasn’t been one in twenty years.”

“Yeah my dad was in it,” Ayano said, “Also I was already born. Hi, we’re twenty.”

“A break in convention already, I see. I am seventeen,” Shin explained, “Though, a mismatched set of participant ages is in keeping with the final game, isn't it? Perhaps this is merely a copycat? Or, I may be wrong. I've never much studied the things.”

“Isn’t it kind of early to speculate about that kind of stuff?” Jun asked, “I agree that it’s probably a Killing Game, but… Oh, wait a minute.” He smacked a fist into his palm. “You said there hasn’t been one in twenty years. We’ve got no way of knowing that, unless, you’re not from Dome City?”

“I’ve never heard of such a place,” Shin said, “So, no, I’d say that I’m not from there. Where I am from is something that needn’t be disclosed.”

“Is it Earth, though?” Hikari wondered.

“...Are you fucking aliens!?” Shin’s formal demeanor dropped in a second as he recoiled from them.

“No! We’re humans, I think,” Jun said.

“I know that I, at least, am a human. These two? Debatable. Not aliens though,” Ayano said, “Dome City was founded by the final game’s survivors, as well as a bunch of other people who were able to, uh. Crack the code and understand their hearts? I don’t get it myself, but anyway. We grew up on a human-built space colony. And you did not.”

“That seems correct,” Shin said, regaining his composure. “Odd as that claim is, I can’t imagine you should be lying about it, and I am aware that the technology exists for travel-level space transport. Even still. You caught me just a mite off guard, understand?”

“It’s crystal clear. You said the fuck word and everything,” Hikari said.

“Please, pardon my outburst.” Shin dipped his head.

“Nah. I’ll never, ever forgive you for subjecting my poor innocent ears to your vulgarity,” Hikari said.

“Please pardon our Hikari,” Jun said.

“...Pardoned, then,” Shin said, “I’ll assume, then, given the situation… That the four of us constitute a quarter of the people here. I haven’t done much exploring, but I can’t imagine it’s excessively large, given the three of you found each other just fine. Oh, and I came from what seems to be a diner.”

“We’ll gladly adventure around,” Hikari said, “You wanna stick around here as a common area in case anybody else shows up?”

“Er.” Shin fidgeted where he stood. “You’re certain you wish to act that way, as if we are a team, so soon?”

“Mhm.” Hikari gave a thumbs-up. “I dunno if it’s acting as a team or anything, but a little bit of co-op never hurt anybody. I mean, some people are gonna be more confused than us, right?”

“Correct. Here… On Earth.” Shin curled his lip in disdain at himself for even needing to say that. “The knowledge I have of past Killing Games is only out of personal research. It isn’t exactly a topic taught during school. Leaving that memory out in the open too much… Well, this was the inevitable result of speaking on the matter without the war having ended, I suppose.”

“Mm, yeah. I don’t get it, but okay,” Hikari said, “The idea was definitely to catch and explain to confused folks, yeah. Um, I dunno how many are gonna be from Dome City either? Since the three of us are, and you’re not.”

“Should I expect those from Dome City to have more knowledge of the Killing Game, as you three seem to?” Shin asked.

“I donno,” Jun said, “Guess that it depends on their parents? I know that mine and Ayano’s talked about it a good bit, but Hikari got her info from the two of us.”

“I will keep that in mind, then. Oh, and some of your brethren won’t realize that this is, er, not space?” Shin wondered.

“Oh. Well, probably,” Jun said, “I used logic to figure out we probably weren’t in Dome City anymore, but, yeah. Some others might not have logic. I donno. It’s not like I was friends with everyone in our general age range back home. It isn’t a _small_ space colony.”

“...Indubitably.”

“Say,” Hikari asked, “What’s a ‘torcedor’ anyway?”

“That? Oh, well, it refers to somebody who rolls cigars professionally. And being the best, well, I can roll anything from a carpet to a spring roll with the same precision, of course.” Shin smirked and squared up his shoulders, clearly proud of his abilities. “Truly, I may have little worth in other ways, but my talent is nothing to scoff at.”

“Your fashion sense is nothing to scoff at either,” Jun noted, “So, well done with that. I’d have to get to know you more to give you any other ego boosts, though.”

“I needn’t any of those.” Shin cupped one hand under his chin. “My ego is… Perfectly balanced.”

“I could see that,” Ayano said, “You put off the aura of being full of yourself, but snip it by calling yourself of little worth within ten minutes of meeting you. That’s a balance, alright.”

“Don’t you compliment my balance too much, or it will tip,” Shin joked, then turned toward a nearby door. “This would be the diner, then. I hope to see the three of you again soon, but it probably is intelligent to search for others. I hate to imagine what some could do, in the case that they _are_ too confused.”

“Hwa? Are you implying what I think you’re implying, Mister Tsu-basa?” Hikari asked.

“It is a mystery,” Shin said, then shut the diner door behind himself.


	4. Prologue: Language Is A Battlefield

It didn’t take long after the trio of friends left Shin behind, for them to encounter somebody else. In fact, two somebodies, because if their group had already formed, then so would others, and this one had. Jun noticed them first, and called out, “Oh, hey!”

“Hmmm?” The girl who was standing there wondered, pivoting to look. “Oh, hey! What’s it ongoing, additional people?”

Jun took the time to introduce his entire group, as well as their Ultimate Talents, the fact this was probably a Killing Game, and the fact that it seemed some people were from Earth and others from Dome City. He’d have to do this many more times and internally decided to shorten this process to ‘intro-sition’.

“Oh, I see, I see, I complete-ely understand,” The girl said with neither a hint of sarcasm nor one of understanding. “Well, I’m Irarako Ebizakaya! The Ultimate Kendoka, hyah!”

She made a move as if she was swinging a sword to exaggerate her point.

The much shorter boy to the side of her spoke up, “Evie Snow, that’s my name. My talent is, er, the Ultimate Tactician. I don’t believe either of us are from this ‘Dome City’ place you mention…”

“Tactician, huh?” Hikari asked, “How’d you figure out a talent like that?”

“Fire Emblem,” Evie admitted, “And, truth be told, that’s most of its practical application as well. It isn’t as if ‘tactics’ are much at hand in the Quiet War. It bascially just means that I’m good at strategy games…” He smirked. “And can pull off the military look.”

“Hmm…” Irarako crossed her arms. “I dunno, Snow. Think ‘pulling it off’ is being a lil bitty bit generous.”

“Eh? Are you serious?” Evie questioned.

“You do look a bit like a kid playing dress-up,” Ayano admitted, “But then, if that’s the look you’re going for, then you nailed it!”

Evie puffed out his cheeks, then complained, “That’s not a very nice thing to say.”

“Sorry, sorry! Yanno, we’re just teasin’ ya, right?” Irarako cackled a bit, a laugh that was actively trying to be unrefined. “It’s not like it looks bad or nothin’. Just might not be looking good the same way you’re trying to look it good. Get?”

“...Uh, I’m not sure I do?” Evie admitted, “You talk in a sort of strange manner, miss, and Japanese isn’t my first language.”

“She says that you look good, but not necessarily cool,” Ayano explained in her much more perfect Japanese. “What is your first language, then, Evie?”

“Oh, it’s nothing interesting, just English. I lived in the UK until I was nine, so unfortunately, I picked up that language a bit better than this one.” He sighed. “You would think, that at seventeen, I should have more than made up for that issue, but it seems that I’m just not so quick a learner.”

“That’s interesting,” Ayano said, “I speak English pretty well, myself. I did well at it in school, and pursued it a bit more on my own. If you ever need me to translate an odd bit of slang or something like that, I’d be happy to do it for you.”

“Ah! Thank you miss!” Evie clapped his hands together once. “That’s very kind of you. I’ll be sure to keep it in mind. So, you were saying that we appear to be in a Killing Game. I’ll admit, I never paid much attention to history outside of school, so I don’t know a lot about that sort of thing… It sounds bad, though.”

“Of course it sounds bad. It’s called a Killing Game,” Hikari said, “You’d be stupid to think that sounds good. Unless you want to kill people.”

“Nahhh… Don’t think so,” Irarako said, “What’ll be makin’ it a game, though? Like, what’s different about it from just up an’ saying go kill people?”

“Well, actually, I guess I didn’t hear enough about it to answer that suitably,” Ayano admitted. “You guys?”

“My parents never even talked about it. Got all my info from yours,” Jun reminded her, “So, definitely not.”

“If Aya doesn’t know, I won’t. She is the expert. We bow before her knowledge. Insufficient as it may be,” Hikari said.

“Something’s gotta make it count as a Killing _game_. I wanna know,” Irarako said, “Is it something like, if you kill people they don’t death stay? Cause that might be fun. I wanna know how it feels to die! That’s an _experience_ baby!”

“It definitely isn’t that,” Ayano said, “People die if they are killed.”

“Oh. Then, I’m not interested in the game,” Irarako said, “But if it’s like this, and since we got kidnapped from our homes and all, I guess that opting is outta table.”

“I. What?” Evie questioned.

“I have just now come to the certain conclusion that Ebizakaya’s way of speaking is incompatible with Snow’s language barrier,” Ayano said, “And I don’t even know how to translate that sentence. What does that mean?”

“I think she was trying to shorten the phrase ‘opting out is off the table’,” Hikari clarified in an exaggerated stage whisper, keeping eye contact with Irarako the whole way through. “In any case, it’s correct. Opting out _is_ off the table. We have no choice but to play.”

“Can’t we just not do stuff though?” Irarako asked, “Great things in history have been accomplished through the art a’ not doing stuff! Hah! Don’t stand up and move when the man tells you ta! Don’t wake up and go to work when your union comes a-calling! Don’t do stuff, and successing finds you in your life!”

“Er… That outlook seems a bit confused,” Jun said.

“I’m sure that even if we say we won’t do stuff,” Evie said, “The people who kidnapped us will find ways to make us do stuff. Or, for all we know, somebody here is just raring to commit a murder and this is the perfect opportunity to get away with it…”

“Well, if there’s one thing I _do_ know about killing games, it’s that you don’t get away scot-free if you kill someone…” Ayano said, “So that one doesn’t make sense.”

“Mm… Yeah,” Evie said.

“Anyway,” Jun cut in again, “Back the way we came, there’s a common area. We’re gonna keep looking for more people since we seem, uh, the best at explaining? Somehow? But it’s probably best if we eventually get to a central location.”

“That makes sense, yes! Tactical strategy approved.” Evie gave two thumbs-up. “Miss Ebizakaya and I will follow your instructions.”

“Don’t go speakin’ for me, small man! But yea,” Irarako said, and threw her own peace sign. “I’ll do that. And Snow will too, he said. Therefore he’s right that we both will. But I speak for my own self. Bye-bye!”


	5. Prologue: A Dracula, or a Really Big Frog

After leaving behind Irarako and Evie, the group of three explainers continued on their way. The hallways were all equally as terrible as the first one, though they did change along the way. Jun was easily keeping track of where they were in relation to where they’d been, since each different terrible hallway was burned into his brain for all time. His talent had become a curse, in this place designed by somebody with negative-ten to aesthetic sense. At the same time, it was a blessing, because otherwise he and his friends would get lost. They shared one braincell between them, basically.

It was also a blessing because he noticed when there was an unexpected break in the hallway’s pattern. He reached toward it, and pushed open a hidden door. Ah. So these were a thing. Great. Now he’d have to be on the lookout for minor discrepancies in already terrible patterns. Responsibly, he’d need to document the secret rooms. In this particular secret room there was a person.

“Why’s your hair like that?” Hikari asked the person without a greeting or anything, prompting that person to shriek and turn around.

“Oh! Other people! And a door! Existing! Nice!” He continued shouting. “Well I guess I should introduce myself! Ryota Nageko! Please give me a moment!”

They gave him a moment. He took a few deep breaths, scratched behind his ear, and adjusted his sweatshirt. Then, he smiled. “Well, then. My hair is like this because I don’t like getting it cut too often. When it gets too long, I just pin it up this way. Does it really look so silly?”

“Yes it looks really stupid. You should change it. Let me cut it,” Hikari deadpanned.

“I cannot allow that!” Ryota raised his voice again, then took another few deep breaths. “Please don’t touch me. You are a stranger. Anyhow. I woke up inside this box with smooth walls. I didn’t think to check for a hidden door. I merely accepted my fate as being within smooth walls until I die. But now that you’ve given me hope to not be dying, at least give me a bit longer to accept it again before you kill me, if that is to be the case, thanks?”

“We aren’t going to kill you… But wait!” Ayano flashed jazz hands. “Don’t get comfortable yet, because we do suspect this to be a Killing Game!”

“Oh. That sounds pleasant,” Ryota said, “By which I of course mean it doesn’t at all. Does this threaten me immediately, though?”

“Probably not,” Jun said, “At least not until a robot teddy bear shows up to tell us that it officially is a Killing Game. Which will happen. If it is. Uh, anyway…” Jun commenced the introsition.

“Ohh. So you’re Ultimates,” Ryota said, “Since you admitted that to me… Then it’s safe, comparatively, right? I’ll assume so. Mm. Ultimate Phlebotomist, then.”

“Are you a vampire?” Hikari asked, not missing a beat.

“Ruka!” Jun chided her and elbowed her in the ribs without missing a beat of his own.

“A vampire? Well…” Ryota smirked, and struck a pose, producing a syringe seemingly out of nowhere. “The theft of blood from another’s veins… What could that qualify me as, if not a vampire? So I might be. Might not be. Believe what you may.”

“Well, you could be a mansquito,” Ayano said.

Ryota pulled a face. “I’m definitely not that. Nor am I anything that isn’t intended to steal blood, such as a really frog. Vampire or human. Those are the choices.”

“Well, no matter if you are,” Hikari said, “One thing you’re not is _making a good first impression_. Weirdo.”

“Well it isn’t as if the three of you are, either! Asking a phlebotomist if they’re a vampire is by far the oldest and most lame joke in the book, you understand?” Ryota protested, his syringe vanished once more as he gestured wildly. “I’ve gone to all the trouble of creating a unique response to this tired, tired joke, and you dare call me a weirdo for that?”

“No,” Hikari said, “You’re a weirdo for your hair. I think it’s cool that you might be a vampire. I’m a fan of the occult. But not of that hairstyle. Still think you should let me cut it. Snip snip. Tada, handsome after all.”

“What Ruka means to say,” Jun tried to mediate again, “Is that you’re an interesting person and we’re glad we found you in the smooth box which nearly became your tomb. Weirdo is affectionate coming from her. I think?”

“I mean, have I ever called _Aya_ a weirdo?” Hikari asked.

“Yes,” Ayano confirmed.

“So that’s your answer.” Hikari squared up into a smug pose. “Affectionate. But if you can’t wrap your head around it, then you must be a mere mortal after all.”

“Oh I understand in full! You’re an odd duck! Afraid to inform, you, though…” Ryota swept his bangs to one side. “I’m more for the mallards, myself. Your flirting is ineffective.”

“Don’t worry. I almost entirely dislike mallards myself,” Hikari said, “I flirt as a method of meaningless conversation. It is my character quirk. My trait. Listing me in a mobile game, it would in fact say that my charm point is empty flirting as small talk.”

“Nobody would consider that a charm point, especially not the people who’d be playing that mobile game,” Jun said.

“Unfortunately, I must agree with my gut buddy. Otaku men are confused enough by natural conversation. Giving a conversation that reads as romantic but isn’t? That’s a one-way trip to getting called everything that’s wrong with women these days,” Ayano said, then turned to Ryota again. “So you are gay?”

“Eh? Well, I guess if you wanna call me that, just because I prefer gentlemen?” Ryota scratched at the back of his head, shrinking from Ayano, as she was stealing personal space in a subtle but definite way.

“You _are_ a weirdo,” Ayano said, then straightened up her posture and continued, still in that nearly-emotionless lilt. “All’s fair in love and war, then, I’ll explain ourselves. I’m bisexual. I take after both of my parents that way. Hikari is… Well, how do I explain you?”

“I don’t mind guys but, they do not _fulfill_ me,” Hikari explained, “There must be a woman. Present. In the relationship. Then, however, it’s fine.”

“So your sexuality is basically… Your girlfriend and your girlfriend’s boyfriend?” Ryota tried to clarify.

“Yes,” Hikari said, “Or just my girlfriend. Men aren’t necessary.”

“And Jun, well, our good Jun here.” Ayano retracted from Ryota’s space entirely to pat Jun on the back. “Champ. Wants a bara robo-boyfriend.”

“No!” Jun protested, “That’s not! I mean! Shut up! Okay…” He pressed his hands together and breathed a sigh. “I would not complain about a bara robo-boyfriend, I must admit. However. My actual _orientation_ is bi, like Ayano. With a lean towards girls.”

“Oh, oh, okay, so.” Ryota pointed at him. “Lemme put a pin in that one for you, too. You like girls and guys, but only if the guys are sufficiently manly. No girly guys. Going to date a man, he had best be worth the masculinity.”

“Ah. Yes, that’s about it. Hm. Are you usually this good at reading people?” Jun asked.

“Not at all.” Ryota shrugged. “You three are really open books, though. More like magazines. There isn’t much of substance to notice.”

There was a moment of silence, before the three possessors of one brain cell nodded in unison. That was fair enough, really. Anyway.

Jun gave Ryota directions back to the common area, and everybody left the smooth box. Also known as a room. Onward, and upward.


	6. Prologue: How many twins is this author going to write anyway

“Well, I don’t think it’s _that_.”

As soon as the three musketeers had climbed the stairs, they heard a voice. Actually, several voices. Two. Just two. Not several, because several was three. Several was their own group!

“You just never know,” A much more feminine voice with what could only be called a fancy affectation answered. “There are reasonable explanations, yes. But unreasonable ones have a place in theory as well. So my unreasonable theory here is that we’ve been kidnapped to be sold as a pair to wealthy cheese barons.”

“If that were the case!” Hikari shouted around the corner to them, “Then we wouldn’t also be here!”

They rounded the corner to see a pair of obvious siblings. Perhaps twins. The first voice was a man who looked refined but reserved, and the second was a woman who was definitely not reserved. How, Jun wondered, could any person’s hair actually have that much volume to it? She looked like a doll. Actually, the first impression made on the three friends could be summed up in one phrase, possibly through an amount of drool.

_Pretty girl…_

“Oh.” The girl raised an eyebrow. “Yes, that does ruin the pair aspect of my theory. But I digress. You three might… Also somehow, be of some worth to the cheese barons.”

“Why cheese barons?” Ayano asked, “I didn’t think the dairy industry was actually big enough to warrant barons who’ll buy people. The tech industry, on the other hand…”

“Laptop barons just doesn’t have the same ring,” The boy answered instead, “She always does this. Everything goes back to the cheese barons.”

“This is because cheese barons are a preferable unreasonable explanation to most of the reasonable ones that I can think up, _onii-san_,” Her teeth were gritted at the last bit, and the affectation seemed to mask a naturally harsh and husky tone.

“Oh, fair. Your reasonable explanations are quite unsettling.” The boy then turned to the group of three. “My sister has this habit, see, of getting into trouble with gangs. So the reasonable explanation is that this is some revenge of theirs, that I’ve been wrapped up in by nature of sharing a room with this hellion.”

“Who’re you calling a hellion, bitchnuts?” The girl questioned, her tone now fallen away completely. She was smiling, though. So this was banter between siblings, Jun wondered?

“Bitchnuts?”

“Yeah. Bitchnuts. Don’t you appreciate it?”

“I guess it’s more appropriate than the traditional use of the term. My dear sister, always so considerate. Sorry again. We are the Mirai twins. My name is Nanjo, and hers, Yume.” Nanjo gestured to himself and then to her in turn. “She is a hellion and no amount of gender-friendly insult modifications will prevent me from sharing this fact.”

Jun gave the intro-sition again because what else was there to say to that?

“Ultimates? Huuuuuh. Okay.” Yume smirked, and returned to her previous affect. “I’m the Ultimate Oneirologist, you see. I study dreams. And my brother, he’s the Ultimate Mortician. He studies dead people. _Thoroughly_.”

“...Which came first, the career or the name?” Hikari asked, “Your. Your name is. It’s.”

“You got a problem with that?” Yume asked, “Yes. I share a name with my field of study. It was partially unintentional, but I can’t say my name had nothing to do with my decision. Nanjo, meanwhile, picked his name based on his career path. After the fact.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Nanjo said, “Have you, er, heard of the visual novel, Umineko No Naku Koro Ni? There’s a doctor in it. He confirms that all the bodies are dead, even if they aren’t. So my name is a tribute to him.”

“Do… Do you say the bodies are dead even if they aren’t?” Jun asked, “Also, wait. You chose your own name? After your career? I-”

“Jun Barasu.” Ayano clapped a hand against his shoulder. “The man is trans. This is obvious by context. He outed himself to us very early on in our conversation. Get with the program.”

“I wouldn’t say, er, that I outed myself,” Nanjo said, “Rather that, well. I’m certain I don’t pass nearly well enough. Joking about the fact that I am trans, while Yume backs me up with proper pronouns, is a pretty good way to telegraph my situation, I think, and anyone respectful will understand that. I certainly hope you all are. Also, to answer your question. No. All my bodies are dead, for certain and actual.”

“I think you ‘pass’ just fine,” Hikari said, “I mean, I sure wouldn’t have thought you were a girl, looking at you. I guess I might have realized that you’re identical twins at closer look, though…”

“Mm, that’s correct,” Yume said, “Perhaps what my brother means when he calls me a hellion is that my appearance is an unfortunate reminder?”

“I don’t give a shit about your appearance and you’re a hellion because you have _almost gotten me killed_ several. Not once, but several times.”

“Several is three,” Jun helpfully clarified.

“Wow! Saying that I’ve only almost gotten you killed three times is being _really_ generous to your survivability rate. You’ve been close to getting killed a whole _bunch_ of times!” Yume failed to defend herself from the accusation, instead leaning into it as a form of banter again.

“See what I mean? She’s simply… An absolute magnet for trouble. Really, my only concern with us being twins is that it’s impossible to disguise my relation to her, thus, becoming wrapped up in her problems becomes unfortunately common. The many of them that she clearly has.”

“Hey now, hey, that’s overestimating now. I have _one_ problem, and that is that I get in fights with gangs. That is it. I’m a shining beacon of perfection in every other imagineable way, obviously. Just look at me.” Yume burst out cackling after this, then returned to her elegant posture and fixed one of her ringlets. “Well, I guess I do lead an exciting life. But you have my word, Nanjo, if I get into any trouble during this ‘killing game’ thing, you’ll be entirely uninvolved.”

“Your words are empty, but thanks,” Nanjo said, “At least you saying that means I can give you a hard time when you inevitably fail to follow through.”

“Hah! Come on. You know you love coming along for the BMX bike’a my life,” Yume said, elbowing Nanjo. “He’s all bark and no bite. For serious.”

“You’re all bite and no bark, so I suppose that would balance us out, wouldn’t it?”

“Hooooh? Nanjo, are you perhaps… Calling my argument game _weak_?” Yume questioned back, “I can do both, you know! Bark and bite!”

“Well, obviously. You’re a bitch, after all. That’s about what I’d expect you to be capable of.” Nanjo gave an exaggerated shrug and a wink, as his sister fell directly into his trap.

“Er, anyway,” Jun butted into the conversation again. “There’s a common area, downstairs and down the hall, it still shouldn’t be too hard to find from here. You’ll meet up with the others there… Once we’re all there, it’ll probably be explained to us, I think?”

“That makes sense, yes,” Yume said, then walked in that direction. Nanjo nodded to the three of them before following after with an awkward step, like he’d get lost if he didn’t follow her. Jeeze, Jun thought to himself. Those two were like two Hikaris going after each other. At least, it seemed like they got along, in that peculiar way.


	7. Prologue: Advanced Female Queen

After the Mirai twins departed, Jun led the way further down the hall. Unlike the first floor, these hallways were no longer garish, but instead, utterly bland but for a few distinct blemishes. Dents in the drywall, or smears of dirt. Jun would keep track of those as well, for the sake of finding their way back and directing anyone they ran into back as well. And it wasn't long at all before they ran into yet another person, which wasn't shocking. If this was a Killing Game, after all, the standard cast size was sixteen. Jun wasn't sure how he'd keep track of that many names, to be honest, but he supposed he'd figure them out eventually. It was a much easier task to keep track of micro-details on a wall than to keep track of people, let's be real.

It helped that the next person they ran into was actually one that Jun recognized, though. His friends did as well, and Hikari didn't hesitate to make her opinion thoroughly known. "Oh, great. It's Saihara."

Despite having been adopted by them, Syoko Saihara was a girl who held a striking resemblance to her parents. The purple eyes were natural, but her hair was initially black. It wasn't a difficult dye job to tint it that ever-so-slightly blue that her other father had, so she didn't hesitate to do so. She was the Ultimate FX Makeup Artist, a very particular title, but one which she'd absolutely earned. Of course these three knew her, because while there was no 'school for Ultimates' anymore, there was a particular course at all of the schools, and most of the Ultimate Parents had chosen the same district of Dome City in which to make their homes.

Though Syoko was seventeen, they'd met in elementary school, and saw each other around town every so often. And though she’d changed quite a bit since childhood, in almost every possible physical manner, her attitude was unmistakable, so it was easy to keep track of who she was. She turned to see the three of them, and grinned. "Oh! Well, if it isn't the three musketeers? What brings you here?"

"Same thing that brings you here," Ayano said.

"Well, I don't _know_ what brings me here. I was hoping you three might, since, you know. You're in the loop about a lot of things, and all! Even a shining genius like myself can admit when I don't know shit. And I don't know this shit. But you're also... Pretty smart. Three of you together might be a genius, combined, yeah?" Syoko leaned forward. "I mean, come on. You’ve gotta have a _theory_, right?”

One more thing about Syoko Saihara. She was condescending at basically all times. Was she trying to be? Jun didn’t know. But she was, even to people older than her, like they were. Well, he decided to share the current working theory anyway. “It’s probably a Killing Game. Everyone we’ve met here has been an Ultimate, nobody knows how we got here. Oh, and… So you know, some people are from Earth, not Dome City.”

“Whoa! [Many Surprise]!” Syoko exclaimed, striking an exaggerated pose. “There’s still Ultimates on Earth!?”

“That’s the most surprising part of this?” Hikari wondered.

“Well, ya?” Syoko dropped the pose and shrugged. “I kinda thought about the Killing Game thing too, I just wanted you to say it first so that I didn’t seem like a dumbass if there was a less far-fetched explanation… Sorry?”

“Gee. Thanks for throwing us under the bus like that,” Hikari said, “But now if we are wrong, then you’re stuck riding this bus with us. Clowning on you now.”

“Well. Better two very smart clowns on a bus together, than none at all. Going off of my usual statement that by your brain cells combined, you can equal one genius, of course,” Syoko said, “Plus, if some of the people here are from a totally different _planet_ from us, then I guess we gotta stick together.”

“Do we really, Saihara? That sounds kind of xenophobic to me,” Hikari said.

“Ewww. Don’t call me Saihara. That’s what everyone still calls my _Dad_. Just call me Syoko, hear me? I’m Syoko! Have you not committed that to memory yet? It’s been years, you know.” She crossed her arms and stuck her nose up. “Well, maybe it’s cause you haven’t said it nearly enough. That’s why you gotta. Obviously.”

“If you say so, Syoko,” Jun said, readily using her first name, since he had such trouble convincing his own friends to use his. “But, you know, we were never really friends before, just sort of aware of each other? So even though we’ll have your back, do you think you could do us a favor and head down to the common room for now?”

“All alone?” Syoko asked, then threw on a pout. “Mister Barasu! I can’t believe you’d do such a thing to me, a delicate and dazzling morning rose… I refuse! Unless somebody comes with me, of course.”

“Oh… Oh! Well, okay,” Jun said, “If you want, I can show you the way back to-”

“Nah. I want Ayano,” Syoko said, “She seems most likely to shank a bitch.”

“Me?” Ayano questioned, pointing at herself. “I assure you, this isn’t the case. I do not shank people. That is my least favorite thing to do.”

“That implies you’ve tried it before,” Jun said.

“Oh, I wish,” Hikari said, “Aya would be absolutely perfect if she was cool enough to do that!”

“Well. Anyway, I’m not gonna change my decision,” Syoko said, “I want Ayano to take me to the common area. I guess she should stay there with me once she is, though. She’s a flower too, even if a flower with thorns, so she shouldn’t be walking around alone either. I guess it’ll just be you two, for the rest of your search… That’s fine, right?”

“Ugh. Gotta be with Barasu and not Aya?” Hikari questioned, but then gave a wide shrug. “Well, I guess that’s okay. Distance makes the heart grow stronger, or something. Come on, Barasu!”

Hikari ran off to the hall down the right, and Jun barely had time to wave to Syoko and Ayano before following after her.


	8. Prologue: A Rose For The Lady

Hikari collided with a man.

That wasn’t an exaggeration; In her attempt to run ahead and force Jun to exert himself, Hikari managed to run full tilt into a guy. Oddly enough, neither of them fell to the ground. Instead, he managed to smoothly catch her, making it look more like an intentional dip in a waltz or tango than an accidental collision and subsequent fall from grace.

“Whoa there, dollie!” The guy chuckled. “As much as I wish I were brave enough to go running about an unfamiliar spacescape, that did sting a bit, so look where you’re going, yeh?”

“...Wow, you think I’m brave?” Hikari questioned, seemingly missing every other part of the conversation as he set her upright again.

“Well, unless you actually do already know your way around.” He flourished with one hand as he spoke, the other tucked under his arm. “But I’m assuming my experiences are universal. A bit of a misstep, perhaps, but _am_ I wrong?”

“Not wrong,” Jun said and stepped forward. Then he gave the intro-sition again because it seemed his friends were incapable of stepping up to the plate and ever doing so in his place.

“Hm. Well, that’s unfortunate if you’re right, isn’t it? Hm. Well, I’m Yuji Sato. Ultimate Weaver! That is, the textile term.” He took a step backwards to put his hands on his hips. “I’ve been told I look more like the ‘Ultimate Surfer’ or some such, but my specialty is baskets. Grew up in a fishing town. So I’m thinking my look is the perfect blend of such a thing, and artsiness, you agree?”

“I guess that makes sense,” Hikari said, scrutinizing the look. “I would have guessed you do graffiti, so if that’s my impression, and the normal impression is that you surf, then yeah. Just about perfect on the combo front. Number 5 Yuji Sato.”

“Ah. Does that mean I’m the fifth person you’ve met in this place?”

“No,” Jun said, “I think she’s just trying to make a weird joke. Sorry about that. Some very kind lesbians in our neighborhood talk like that and I guess that we all growing up there picked up some of their speech patterns…”

“Hey! If you’re from a fishing town, then you’re not from Dome City, huh?” Hikari realized, holding a finger towards Yuji’s face.

He furrowed his brow. “No, I’ve never heard of that place. If you must know, I specifically grew up in Okinawa.”

“Oh, I heard that Okinawa is a lovely place,” Jun said, “Not on our planet, though. Dome City is in space.”

“Oh yeah, that,” Yuji said, leaving Hikari and Jun confused why he wasn’t confused.

“What, exactly?” Hikari wondered.

“Well, know this guy. Real cool dude, but sometimes he stares up at the sky like he’s missin’ some folks or something.. I’m now going to assume the reason behind this is that a bunch of his friends up and went to space. So, shweets, am I right? Or just talking crazy?” Yuji wondered, giving them a soft smile once he finished. It was clear that ‘shweets’ was directed at both of them.

“...You’re right,” Jun said, “I’m gonna assume you’re talking about Mister Sakaki… I never talked to him much, but his wife taught some remote classes, over some secure link she made. Some of our parents were friends with them, but they decided to stay on Earth. He had a duty, I think? To keep Okinawa, er… ‘shweet’.”

“Hm, hm. Well, I have been exposed to despair in my life, if that’s what you mean. Even with thee Ultimate Buddy on our side, it was never really true that there weren’t any bad people there... Still considered one of the most hopeful places in the country. Forgive me my arrogance, but I quite admire Mr. Sakaki’s work. He’s a legend, after all. Thus, I may have some part in that, along with all the others who try our best to live up to his image and keep the island a pleasant place to live.” Yuji fiddled with his dogtags. “Er, I’ve talked about myself too much. Neh. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, no, it’s fascinating to hear, actually,” Hikari said, “Retrieval trips ended when I was about five, and Doctor Kirisame always had too much other stuff to say in her classes, to pass on current events or anything. It’s cool to hear!”

(Of course, the exposition had to be in some ways diagetic, but a brief history will be included in the Monopad Document to later be made available to readers like you. Yes, you. You only need to be confused till Chapter 12)

“Good to know that I can make conversation,” Yuji said, “Well, anyway. If I’m not the fifth person, how many others _are_ here?”

“So far? Let’s see. Ten. Eleven, if we include you. So if it is a standard Killing Game, there’s just five more people… Do you think you could find your way to the common area if I gave you directions?” Jun asked.

“Yes, absolutely. I have a cunning sense of direction, at least in the short term. I’ll remember the directions exactly as long as it takes me to get there.” He made finger guns. “As you can see, I am very cool.”

Jun couldn’t help but laugh. “Clearly! Before you go, though. I need to ask. What’s with all the pet names?”

“That? Oh, oh, I’ll stop if it bugs yeh, or something!” Yuji assured them, “Kinda just comes naturally, though? The way I talk. It’s not legitimate flirting unless you want it to be. In which case, it could be. I’m a pretty free-floating soul, I’ll give anyone a shot. Unless of course, I am already giving a shot to somebody who prefers monogamy. Basically what I’m trying to say is that from all angles, I do try not to be a dick.”

“Oh. Cool!” Jun said, “It doesn’t bug me, so, that’s fine. I was just curious.”

“The question probably would have been answered as soon as we saw him in a larger group, though…” Hikari admitted, giving Jun a side-eye.

“Yeah, probably,” Yuji said, “After all, it’s a blanket habit but for the exceptions who prefer I reign in my vocab. Anyway, gimme those directions so I can get acquainted with the rest, and I’ll see you cool cats around?”

“Right! Yes,” Jun said, and gave Yuji the directions, this time able to watch him at least walk around the corner before Hikari tried to leave him in the dust again. Lucky for him, while he was pathetically non-athletic, Hikari wasn’t exactly a svelte sprinter herself.


	9. Prologue: Dead Things!

….And just about when Jun caught up to Hikari again, he saw it out of the corner of his eye. At one of the intersections of the hallways, there were more people at the end of one of them. He grabbed Hikari’s arm to pull her back, and pointed down the hall. He couldn’t tell much about the people from here, except that one was _definitely_ a girl, in a very feminine silhouette and twintails. She lifted an arm and waved enthusiastically as the pair walked closer.

“Uh, hi,” Jun said, and immediately gave the intro-sition.

“A Killing Game? Fascinating. Truly, fascinating. I’ll have to take notes. Up until my own death, of course. I doubt I’d last,” The girl said, “Too bad. So sad. Well, anyway. I’ve been known by many names, but the one I call my own is ‘Saya Yoshiro’. And the only title I’ve _ever_ held is that of the Ultimate Taxidermist. A fair title, if not the most elegant!”

“I uhhh… Dunno what she’s thinking is so fascinating about a Killing Game. I gotta admit. We don’t know each other that well,” The other, who upon getting closer was revealed to be a boy, said, explained. “Er, Tooru Hanazaki. Ultimate Natural Historian. We’ve met because she’s provided a number of specimens for the rotating exhibits. But… I’ve never seen you before.”

“Well, you wouldn’t’ve. Natural history, you’ve gotta be from Earth, then,” Hikari said, “And we’re from Dome City. It’s on another planet.”

“Yeeaaaah. I’m aware of Dome City,” Tooru said. His voice was sort of on the drawn-out side, but matter-of-fact, like it was weird of them to assume that he wasn’t.

“Huh? How? What?” Hikari asked, “I didn’t think anybody on Earth knew about it?”

“Primarily, they don’t,” Tooru said, “But I’m a historian, you know. That included researching past Killing Games… And of course, I figured out the key to that one. I called the line, and I got told, ummm… ‘Dome City isn’t currently accepting new residents, but you’ve earned a spot as soon as they start making trips again’. So, that told me all I needed to know.”

“Oh… I’m sorry about that,” Jun said.

Tooru shrugged. “It’s not like I was banking on being able to _get_ there or anything. I was just curious. Even once I got told about it, well, if I got the chance it’d be cool. But I wasn’t counting on it being some big escape or anything. Your folks kept it under wraps pretty well, I guess… Yeah, don’t feel bad. Nobody’s been wating with bated breath to get up there.”

“Mm. Well, if people knew about it, they sure would be,” Saya said, “I mean, that sounds kind of amazing. Escaping to a world without Despairs? Oh, who’d turn that down? But on the other hand, well. It has been _about_ forty-five years since the tragedy now. Right, Hanazaki?”

“Yes, thereabouts. What Yoshiro’s getting at is, not only did we grow up in a Despairing world, but most people’s parents as well. Soooo… We’re used to it?” Tooru waved a hand. “Frankly, it’s weird _not_ to have some life-altering trauma.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Dome City still has life-altering traumas too. People did bad things before the Tragedy, you know,” Hikari said, “I mean, probably with a way lower frequency there, though. Cause me and Barasu and Aya definitely don’t have any of those. Saihara might? No clue. We aren’t close.”

“I’m… Not sure how that’s supposed to reassure me,” Tooru said, “But, yes. Even if Saihara’s got a life-altering trauma, that’s still a lower rate, on the stats, and all.” He shifted his shoulders. “Well, it’s not like mine’s that big a deal either. Not that I wanna talk about it with you two ~straaangers~.”

“We won’t be strangers for long,” Jun said, “I mean, if this is a Killing Game, then I’m pretty sure between the four of us, at least one new friendship will bloom. Shared trauma’s just like that sometimes.”

“You can’t share any trauma if you’re the first to die!” Saya exclaimed, and struck a pose with a smug grin, as if she’d just said something that made any sense.

“Must you say that, Yoshiro?” Tooru questioned, fixing her with a confused and concerned gaze. “I mean, it’s possible that nobody will die, isn’t it…?”

“Not really,” Hikari said, “Historically, that’s never happened. So if Yoshiro here wants to volunteer herself up as the first victim, I won’t complain, that keeps the rest of us safe!”

“Well, the rest of us except for the culprit. Of course, that’s assuming we’re a smart enough group to actually find them so they can get executed…” Tooru said, “Which, I mean, isn’t a given. And Yoshiro! You’re my friend, so have a little self-value, won’t you?”

“Huhhh? Of course I have self-value,” Saya said, putting her hands on her hips. “I’m an Ultimate, after all. A talented and cute young lady. But I don’t have a life worth going back to, so it’s not like I have a reason to survive to the end! I guess maybe not the first to die, though. It’d be nice to enjoy the change of setting a little longer. Make some friends and stuff. Take some notes. I guess I’d be useful in an investigation, too. You know, since I’ve seen so many dead bodies in my time.”

“Oh!” Jun held a finger up. “Yoshiro, I think you should meet this guy we saw earlier, Nanjo. He’s a mortician, so you’d probably have the whole dead body thing in… Common…” He trailed off, realizing just what he was saying. “Sorry, that sounded really weird, didn’t it?”

“No, no, you’re right. A mortician named Nanjo?” Saya adjusted her butterfly brooch and chuckled a bit. “Oh, I’m _sure_ we’d get along! Thank you for letting me know. Where did you see him?”

“We sent him back to the Dining Hall, like we’ve been doing with everybody we come across. Gathering in a common area seemed like th best idea,” Jun said, “It’s one floor down, and a bit further back. Are either of you good with directions? I can give you instructions on how to get there from here, if you are.”

“I wouldn’t say _goood_.” Tooru waved a noncommital hand, but then straightened up his posture. “But I should be able to get us there, maybe with a wrong turn or two?”

“That sounds good to me! I haven’t got a sense of direction at all, so it’s up to you, Hanazaki!” Saya proclaimed. Jun gave the directions, and they walked away. So they had to be getting close to meeting everyone at this point, right?


	10. Prologue: Feminine Energies

Jun was getting kind of tired of wandering around, meeting all these people that would definitely take him much more time to remember, but Hikari forged on nonetheless, so he didn’t even get to chance to say that maybe they should head back and make sure that there wasn’t anybody who made it to the dining hall without a conversation with the two of them. He figured that was fine, though, when the both of them ran into two more girls. Not literally ran into this time.

“Hey! What’s going on _here_?” Hikari demanded to know because the two girls were in an odd position, Jun had to admit. In that one of them had her back against the wall and looked like she was about to cry, while the other had her hands on her hips and was just staring at her.

“I dunno.” The second girl shrugged. “I didn’t say anything to her, she was just crying when I got here. I’m bad with sad people!”

“Is this true, Oowada?” Hikari asked, because, right. That was Emi, wasn’t it? Jun didn’t recognize her as readily as Syoko, since she didn’t have the same sort of commanding presence. It was certainly Emi Oowada, though, now that Hikari said her name.

“Er… Yea?” Emi straightened up as she spoke, and wiped her eyes. “I was, you know. Scared. I woke up here all alone and when I left the room I still didn’t recognize anything, so I stopped here and started crying. Then this girl showed up and stared at me crying and didn’t say anything so I panicked even more…”

“Huhhh. I was worried if I said something that’d be worse. Anyway, guess I should introduce myself? You’ve probably heard of me before. Kagome Itadai’s my name!” Kagome removed her hands from her hips to instead fold her hands under her chin as if she were waiting for any of the three to react. Nothing.

“Yeah, if you’re famous on Earth, then that means nothing to us,” Hikari said, “We kind of all grew up on another planet!”

“...Well fuck you too, you don’t have to lie about it.” Kagome pouted. “I’d have expected that from your friend there, but not from you. You’ve sincerely let me down.”

“You don’t even know my name yet!” Hikari complained, “How could I have possibly let you down?”

“Well, I have a regular standard for any girls that I meet, and I generally assume that they’re not idiots or liars.” Kagome started picking at her nails. “So you being both was a big disappointment.”

“I mean, that’d be fair, except that she’s telling the truth,” Emi said, “We are. But I guess it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe us, since what matters is we haven’t heard of you and don’t know why we would have. _Any_way, Ruka, do you have a clue what’s happening here?”

That was actually Jun’s cue, in spite of the question being directed at Hikari, because she grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him in front of her. He rolled his eyes, but then provided what was asked of him. Their names, talents, and the Game Theory.

“Oh. Oh yes, I see,” Kagome said, “Since you revealed your secrets to me, the reason you should have at least recognized my name is because I’m the Ultimate Music Producer! I’m big in the industry. If you have heard anything on the charts in the last five years, chances are I had a hand in it… Recognize me now?”

“...Yeah, those radio frequencies don’t exactly reach where we come from,” Emi said, “So, no. Not at all in fact. It’s nice to meet you, though, I think. I’m Emi Oowada, the Ultimate Dollmaker.”

Kagome blinked a few times, then glanced around suspiciously before she whispered as loud as a whisper could get, “Are you actually telling me that you’ve lived… However many years it is that you’ve lived, without ever being exposed to modern music?”

“Eighteen for me, twenty for both of them,” Emi said, “But we have heard modern music. It’s just the modern music made by people on our planet. Which is probably better, no offense, because we come from the closest human possible thing to a utopia and the industry is one of passion instead of commercial success.”

“Well aren’t _you_ special. Peh.” Kagome threw her hands up. “I’m going to have to throw a fucking party so that you can experience some actual real produced music, done by the best in the business.”

“The problem there is that music here is a business,” Emi said, “And I don’t think that’s very good! I’m sorry but that’s my opinion!”

“You’ll change it when you hear my work, hon.” Kagome only lowered one of her arms to pat Emi on the head. “Sweet summer child. Little baby.”

“I am _not_ either of those things!” Emi complained.

“You’re four foot eleven, you were crying when we found you, and you’re dressed like a four year old raised by show-off soccer moms,” Kagome said.

“That does sound pretty baby to me, I gotta admit,” Hikari chimed in.

“Eugh… You’re being mean to me! I’m not baby!” Emi protested, and stomped her foot. “I’m a capable young adult, through and through. And now I don’t even care if your music’s good, Itadai, I’m gonna dislike it. Out of spite. Because you’re a meanie.”

“Little baby can’t even call me a bitch, huh?” Kagome asked, then laughed. “Oh, yeah. Spite me by hating my music. Like that actually matters to me, it’s pop! Edgelords everywhere hate it to spite ‘society’ or whatever. I know they secretly love it. That’s baked in, baby.”

“Guh- Jeeze, fine. I’ll find some other way to spite you.” Emi rolled her eyes, then looked to Jun. “Hey, Barasu. Is there anybody else here that I’d know?”

“Well, Ayano is here too,” Jun said, “Because I guess it’s impossible for any one of us to exist without the other two. But she and Saihara walked back to the dining hall together.”

Emi clenched her fist and grimaced. “Saihara… Ugh.”

“You don’t get along with her either, Oowada?” Hikari asked, and clasped her hands as if this revelation meant she just found a new best friend.

“Get along with her? Uh, it’s not that… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just jealous of her,” Emi said, “She’s so confident, and she doesn’t care about what people think… Being around her always makes me feel bad.”

“Oh, oh! Then I call that she’s your roommate if we gotta share!” Kagome wiggled a bit where she stood. “Hah-hah. Preemptive strike spite.”

Hikari sighed. “Well, I think she cares what people think. I just also think that she’s so delusional that what people think is always positive to her, even when it’s not.”

“That’s even stronger, what the fuck!” Emi proclaimed, and watched Kagome recoil. “Jeeze! Not fair! Not fair, Saihara!”

“You’re allowed to say fuck!?” Kagome questioned, “But you’re so little and pathetic!”

“So what if I’m ‘little and pathetic’, you’re not the language police,” Emi said, “I’m very much allowed to say fuck and have been since I was five! My dad says that it’s good to cuss because it gets out all the bullshit anger without needing to yell or go punch anything.”

“Sounds like a shit dad,” Kagome said.

“It’s not like he yells or punches at anybody! Walls and pillows are the targets of his ire,” Emi said, “Don’t worry. Father broke him of his bad habits a very long time ago. Father’s where I get my height, and dad’s where I get…” She smirked, then reached out and grabbed Kagome under the armpits and lifted her without hesitation. “My strength. I mean, I was adopted, but that doesn’t mean I can’t claim traits from them.”

“Wha! Hey! Hey, put me down!” Kagome demanded, and Emi obliged. She brushed herself off, and frowned. “Raised by two men… No wonder you can’t unlock your power as a woman, and need to just be a crying little baby who hides behind deceiving amounts of physical strength. Typical.”

“I’m uncomfortable with that assessment,” Jun said, “So, uh, anyway. The others are all in the dining hall, back that way. You want to maybe head down there? Maybe one of the others has heard of you, Itadai?”

“Oh, they better have,” Kagome said, then stormed in that direction. Emi hung back to get more detailed directions, then caught up with Kagome at the first intersection of the hallways to lead her there in spite of the mutual disdain.


	11. Prologue: Boy Wonder Homura-Kun

“Look, Hikari,” Jun said, finally able to get her to stop for a second, “At this rate… There would be _one_ person left. You really think nobody found Tsubasa on their own?”

“Huh? Well, it’s not like there were really any other corridors back the way that we came, so I don’t know,” Hikari said, “Just one person left, though? Huh… Yeah, you’re right! Look at that, you said something smart for once. If this really is a Killing Game, then there’s just-”

“It’s a Killing Game all right!” A youthful voice called out from behind Jun. He turned around, to see… A kid? No, not quite. Not much more of a kid than he was, even though he was only five foot one and sounded like he was twelve, Jun figured this guy was fifteen.

“Uh, hey,” Jun said, then introduced himself and Hikari, but left off the Killing Game bit.

“I’m Homura Shinku!” Homura, newly introduced, struck a pose, pointing a finger at his own head. “I don’t remember what _my_ talent is. But I know a few things. I’m sixteen years old, I looove my family, this is a Killing Game, and you’ve got spinach in your teeth!”

“What? How?” Jun asked, and stuck a finger in his mouth.

Homura stuck his tongue out. “You don’t. Come on. Why would anyone feed you spinach while you were unconscious, dummy? Heh. For real, though. I know this is a Killing Game, cause all the evidence points that way! Well, I guess it’s possible it could also be a nonary game, those things kinda go this way too, don’t they? I don’t think so, though. You guys said there were fifteen, and me! Plus, Ultimates. With just that many context clues, this level of reasoning is possible for Homura Shinku.”

“Hey!” Hikari exclaimed, “Are you from Distant Dome City? We know a bunch of people there who say that stuff! Like Doctor Kirisame... Well technically she's on Earth, and Kirigiri, and Kaguya, and. Huh. Why are all their names like that?”

“...I dunno what you’re talking about, but that’s a line from a total classic mystery. Oh, oh! This _could_ be a gameboard too, if there’s actually four _more_ people. Heh, not like any of those have actually occurred, unlike the other options.”

“If you like classics, maybe you’ll get along with Hanazaki?” Jun offered, “He’s the Ultimate Natural Historian, so…”

“History? Bleh. Especially natural history. That’s plants and animals and dead stuff.” Homura adjusted his glasses. “An appreciation for atrocities, both real and imagined, through humanity… Is nothing like that at all! I’m sure this Hanazaki guy would turn up his nose in disgust at my interests before returning to his extinct pets!”

“Well, if you know so much about this stuff…” Hikari sighed. “Er, we know a little bit, but not as much, probably. What exactly makes a Killing Game… a game?”

“I could tell you.” Homura shrugged. “Or I could go back with you to this ‘Tsubasa’ person you’ve been sending everybody off to, and let Miss Mono explain it to us herself once we’re all together and ripe for the frightening!”

“M-Miss Mono?” Jun questioned.

“Don’t mind Barasu. He was hoping for a bara boyfriend, so the fact that this bear is a girl must be pretty jarring to him,” Hikari said.

“It has nothing to do with that!” Jun chided her, then pointed an accusing finger at Homura. “How did you know that? How could you possibly know that the Monokuma in this game is a girl?”

“Shh! Rude, don’t you know if you say her full name then she has to appear!” Homura snipped back, and on cue, a Monokuma appeared at his feet. There was a blue flower tucked behind one ear, so abiding by traditional gender roles, Homura seemed correct.

“This is unprecedented. Usually I can’t actually be summoned before the game begins,” Monokuma said, “But I guess, this is no regular Killing Game, either… Huh. Well, I can’t very well explain the game just to three of you. No offense, but it would be boring to repeat more than I have to, Upupu…”

The signature laugh seemed lackluster. Homura frowned, then crouched down, and picked Monokuma up. “Hi, Miss Mono. I heard about you, you know.”

“You did?” She asked.

“Well, a little bit. Obviously, I had to watch the Final Killing Game! Though, that title’s kinda inaccurate now, isn’t it? But…” Homura shifted his grip to hold her under the arms in front of himself, staring. “That’s not here or there. You’re… Miss Mono. That’s all I can call you, right? Because you’re not _really_ Monokuma. You’re not Kirara either.”

“How did you-”

He smiled, a bright and wide one that shut his inquisitive eyes. “The code for a ‘Monokuma’ can’t be destroyed. Kirara was killed while playing the role of Monokuma. Then, her dead body was stolen. Box and Speak Hako vanished at the same time, so it’s reasonable to assume that the same process of stealing the dead’s memories took place as was performed on the late Box Hako. Tell me, does it hurt?”

“It… No, not when I’m this form, visually, anyway. You’re a clever boy, to figure all of that out. And a dedicated study, to even know all of that,” Mono said, “Oh. This might be interesting after all. Well, I won’t deny it. You’re correct. Since Kirara spent a lot of time acting as a Monokuma, her memories and a Monokuma code were fairly compatible. So, yes. I’m Mono. Neither of my parts, and both. And you’re a participant in the game of the one who caused me to exist.”

“Ooh, goodie!” Homura exclaimed, then lifted Mono and set her on his shoulders. She grabbed the band of his headphones to steady herself there, and he struck a dumb pose. “In that case, you and I are natural allies! It’s only to be expected with my talent, though.”

“Your… I thought you said just now, you didn’t know what your talent was?” Jun asked.

“Yeah, what gives?” Hikari added.

Homura shifted to another pose, and Mono took the cue to raise one paw in the air as well. “I was lying! But now that I know I was right… Well, may as well admit it! It’s terrifying… It’s horrifying… It’ll shake you to your core… And, it’s me, no doubt about it! The one, the only, True Ultimate Despair! Human Symbiote of the Monokuma species! And believe that or not, believe this or not, sure as hell ain’t the Mastermind this time around. Funny!”


	12. Prologue: Welcome To Paradise

“...I don’t believe you,” Hikari deadpanned.

“Huh? What part? That I’m not the Mastermind, or…”

“You’re not True Ultimate Despair!” Hikari said, “I dunno what your talent is, but it’s sure not that! Come on, even if we’re mostly clueless about this stuff, I at least _know_ that Hope and Despair can only be selected through Killing Games, and there haven’t been any of those on Earth in twenty years!”

“Wellll, you never know,” Homura said, “There could’ve been something, like, an unofficial demon hunting game?”

“Isn’t… Isn’t that just some random deciding to throw a Battle Royale?” Hikari asked.

“Yeah, but it’s still a Killing Game, isn’t it?” Homura took a few long steps past the two of them. “Anyway, if I really _am_ the last participant, we should really be getting back to the others so all this can leave the realm of speculation.”

“Well… You! Miss Mono!” Jun pointed at the bear on Homura’s shoulders. The combination of the two of them was just about his own height. “You could tell us, right? Is Shinku’s talent actually Ultimate Despair, or is he kidding us?”

“Well, why’d I answer that?” Mono asked, “As long as he’s Ultimate Despair, whether it’s true or not, I can count on one of you trusting me and being my friend. Last time it took like, three murders before even one person started to think that maybe I wasn’t all bad.”

“Yeah, yeah! I mean, what’s it hurt to believe me anyway? That way you can just _hate_ me, and maybe then you’ll get along with each other and not commit murders. Like that’s ever worked before! Well, well, we’ll just see what happens. This is kind of exciting, you know. Getting an inside perspective on this sort of thing.” He changed his gait, skipping along as he went, seeming to know his way already.

“How do you know which way to go?” Jun asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? This is a Killing Game Ground! So, as a crime tourist and Ultimate Despair, of course I’ve been here before, when it was inactive, of course-”

“There’s no such thing as a Killing Game Ground anymore,” Jun said, “I know that we’re in a Neo World Program. So?”

“So I’m tapping his shoulders with my feet so he knows which way to turn,” Mono answered for him, and it was dumb enough to be the truth this time. “Gee, this is fun! If I knew I’d get to ride piggyback like this, maybe I wouldn’t have been dreading this game so much!”

“Like you’d dread a Killing Game, you’re still a Monokuma, no matter what that weird backstory actually means…” Hikari complained.

“No, no, I swear! I’m super interested in how this plays out, of course. Why wouldn’t I be? These are fascinating things and I’ll be happy to get to know your worst selves. At the same time, that’s a silver lining, you know? I’m being forced into doing this by a madwoman! I never wanted to moderate another Killing Game in my life!” Mono explained, then giggled a bit. “Oh, woopsie~ Did I just let slip that the Mastermind isn’t even among you guys this time?”

“Isn’t that usually endgame knowledge?” Homura asked.

“I don’t give a shit!” Mono burst out cackling. Then, Homura pushed open the door to the Dining Hall, and everyone was there. Hikari and Jun awkwardly shuffled past the strange ‘Despair’ Duo to rejoin Ayano and avoid associating themselves with those two.

“Hello hello every one and tall!” Homura said some nonsense in a very loud and projecting voice. “Presenting the one, the only, Miss Mono!”

Mono jumped off Homura’s shoulders, and landed in an exaggerated pose. “Yes, that’s me! Miss Mono, your moderator, referee, and most powerful ally in this event. What is this event, you may be wondering?”

“Is it a Killing Game?” Saya asked from the far end of the room.

Mono pointed at her. “You’re right on the money, Yoshiro! It’s a Killing Game. My name is Mono. If you want to summon me, say Monokuma, but please don’t abuse this feature! We’re here in the first Killing Game in twenty years under the whim of a particular woman named Mercury Mars. Yeah, there’s no mystery there, she’s responsible for this mess! I guess she though maybe I’d like her enough not to say so, but yeah right.”

“Why she’s doing this? Well, I’m prohibited from that. Like, it’s not possible for me to say! I’ve got a toooon of restrictions. I guess she trusted me too much not to say her name, but doesn’t trust me enough with just about anything else. Bottom line is, I’m the most ‘in charge’ you’ll get. But I too am on a rocket driven by a crazy person, upupu! I’ll warn you about stuff when I can, and I’m all here for ending this stupid game. But at the same time… Pwease don’t hold it against me, it’s in my nature to revel in your suffering while it lasts!”

The room was silent for a minute.

“I’m. Sorry, what?” Tooru was the one who ended up asking the question on everybody’s mind. “Let me get this straight. You’re acting out the will of this Mercury person. You don’t like this Mercury person. You like suffering, but you don’t like the Killing Game.”

“Yes, that’s all correct,” Mono said.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Syoko asked, “She’ll do whatever she can to help us, but she’s limited in what she can do… And she may as well enjoy it where she can, when she can’t help us. That makes sense. She’s a Monokuma, right? Of course there’s some sadism there.”

“Now that’s not fair. It’s only one part sadism from the Monokuma programming, to eight parts curiosity! I’m a psychologist, you know.” Mono adjusted her flower. “And a Killing Game is, frankly, an exciting place for me as an academic. I’ve moved beyond a desire to cause suffering in order to observe its effects, but if the suffering will happen regardless of my autonomic actions… Why wouldn’t I take advantage of it?”

“It’s perfectly understandable,” Syoko confirmed, “So, what’s this Killing Game thing entail, anyway?”

“Well, I’ll put the rules in depth into your Monopads. Speaking of, there’s one on each bed in the dorm area. Two beds to a room. Eight rooms. Er… Sorry about that. Not my decision. Once you’ve selected them, the rooms will be assigned, and only the relevant Monopad will open the door.” Mono took a deep breath. “As for the general rules, it’s pretty simple. If you get away with murder, then you and one person of your choosing will be allowed to leave. If you don’t get away with it, you’ll get executed. The game ends if somebody does get away with murder, or when Mercury’s objective is achieved. Since I can’t tell you that objective, things might seem bleak, but… Don’t worry. You probably won’t _all_ be dying.”

“The built-in motive usually isn’t enough,” Mono continued, “So more motives will be delivered as time goes on. That’s… Yeah, that’s enough rules, read the rest on your own, you lazy bastards! The dorms are out the back door from the Dining Hall here, with another path to the rest of the facility, since this room is off-limits at night. The time is now 1500 Hours. Welcome to Killing Game Fifty-Five.”

  
** Killing Game Fifty-Five - AKA Mana-Sensei’s Killing Extravaganza. **

Moderators:  
**Miss Kira Mono** \- Ultimate Monokuma, Previously Ultimate Psychologist  
**Mercury “Mana-sensei” Mars** \- Ultimate Counterfeiter

Participants:  
**Jun Barasu** \- Ultimate Hall Monitor  
**Ayano Ueda** \- Ultimate Calligraphist  
**Hikari Ruka** \- Ultimate Fortuneteller  
**Shin Tsubasa** \- Ultimate Torcedor  
**Irarako Ebizakaya** \- Ultimate Kendoka  
**Evie Snow** \- Ultimate Strategist  
**Ryota Nageko** \- Ultimate Phlebotomist  
**Yume Mirai** \- Ultimate Oneirologist  
**Nanjo Mirai** \- Ultimate Mortician  
**Syoko Saihara** \- Ultimate FX Makeup Artist  
**Yuji Sato** \- Ultimate Weaver  
**Saya Yoshiro** \- Ultimate Taxidermist  
**Tooru Hanazaki** \- Ultimate Natural Historian  
**Emi Oowada** \- Ultimate Dollmaker  
**Kagome Itadai** \- Ultimate Music Producer  
**Homura Shinku** \- Ultimate ???

.  
[Monopad (Character Profiles and Rules) Here](https://imgur.com/a/wK2ezaf)  
.

.  
.  
.  
` Mercury, we’re reporting. Just in time for the start of your game, we’ve selected the list of VIP viewers. We’ll handle all of the details of making sure that these VIPs will be unable to escape without complete isolation from electronic devices. We’ve consolidated viewers who should be able to be targeted in tandem for some reason or another, be they caretakers, lovers, family, or mere housemates. We sincerely hope you approve:`

VIP Viewers.  
**Kurou and Ayu Ueda**  
**Chihiro and Mondo Oowada**  
**Rifa Kiriyaga**  
**Megumi and Gavin Kirisame**  
**Kokichi and Shuichi Saihara**  
**Keisuke, Alois, and Sara Fujinuma**  
**Sayaka and Nami Kaguya**  
**Adachi Murimura**  
**Poppy Lovett and Demi Ross**  
**Kenta Nageko**  
**Miyuki and Sakura Fujishiro**  
**Veronica Snow**  
**Tsumugi Shirogane, Amai Oishi, and Tsukune Madara**  
**Dia Nagata**

` We will also make efforts to show your game to any other past survivors we are able to, but the above list composes those who will be forced to keep watching as your plans unfold.`  
` Always for you,`  
` Your very best friend.`


	13. Daily Life: Day One (Oh My God They Were Roommates)

**3:00 PM / 1500 Hours **

That was about when all hell broke loose.

There was definitely a difference between ‘this might be a Killing Game and we’re not completely sure what that entails’, and ‘you are in a Killing Game, your life is in danger and you might be pushed to commit murder’. The only one among them who seemed to have anything of a thorough understanding of what a Killing Game was, was Homura. He just stood, leaning back against a wall with his arms crossed… As everybody else began to freak out.

“What? Oh. Yeah. Great, that’s...okay. So we gotta just sit here in this place? And die? What?” Kagome questioned, “You can’t even tell us the alternative objective? That’s bullshit, utter bullshit! Come on, I’m too young and pretty to die!”

“I’ll grant pretty, but I think we’re mostly the same age…” Nanjo said, “Seventeen, yes?”

“Not quite,” Emi said, “I turned eighteen last month, myself.”

“Sixteen.” Homura raised a hand. “Seventeen in December.”

“Ayano, Hikari, and I are twenty,” Jun said, “But we’re from Dome City, so that might explain it. Anyone else?”

People around the room shook their heads. The rest of them were seventeen…

"Seventeen here too," Ryota said, "I... Think? Last I knew, my birthday was in a few days, but. I don't know what today's date really is."

“That’s the traditional age, for a Killing Game,” Homura said, “There were only two times that people of other ages were in the game! Ultimate Survivors, who carried over from the game before… And the final Killing Game.”

“Well obviously it’s not so fuckin’ final if we’re here now, pencil-dick!” Yume shouted across the room at him. “Now, is it!?”

“That’s just what it’s colloquially known as. Since it was the last one. Till now, I guess. It was like, super seriously the last one too, though!” He used both hands to push his glasses up before continuing. “The plan with that game was, they took people of a bunch of different ages. Stuck them in the game. And didn’t even give them a real final objective, ever.”

“That’s not cool at all! What if that’s what they’re doing to us!?” Shin questioned.

“Well, that’s not what ended up _happening_. Miss Mono came to the rescue and hacked in a brand new Win Condition! The people who set up the game wanted everyone to end up dead because, I dunno, some uppity ~randos~ thought that they were bad people,” Homura explained, “But it worked out fine, in the end! It was the Killing Game with the smallest body count yet! I think? Maybe it was just most survivors, depending how you look at it.”

“So there’s, uh… Never been one a’ these things without bodies to count?” Irarako raised a hand as she asked her question.

“Well, no.”

“So. Yeah, some of us are going to die! Why are you acting like this is _cool_!?” Hikari questioned, “Are you just totally stupid, or do you have some sorta deathwish?”

“Nahh, I don’t really wanna die at all.” Homura wandered away from the wall. “And it’s not like I _want_ any of you guys to die. But, I’m fascinated by this stuff! If I’ve gotta get caught up in a crime and get murdered, it had better be a cool one like this! I’d hate to die in some stupid killing in broad daylight with bunches of witnesses where my killer gets punished easily. Every true crime fan secretly hopes to go down in history as a victim!”

“I don’t think that’s true, but I don’t know enough about crime to dispute it,” Ayano said.

“How many people died?” Nanjo asked, “In that game you mentioned, with the lowest bodycount?”

“Complicated question! The answer is either nine or thirteen depending on your definition of death. One guy got like, mostly killed by his execution, but not all the way. One girl was made of data so like, she died, but it was fine. And two of them died while the prototype of NWP safety protocol was installed, so, they were also fine.”

“So. So _three_ people didn’t end up dying some way or another? That isn’t reassuring, not even a little bit,” Ryota said, “Even if I survive, I don’t want to know how it _feels_ to die!”

“If you’re a vampire, wouldn’t you already know that?” Ayano wondered.

“No, no, seven people didn’t die in any way,” Homura said, “Four extras got added in… Look, it’s complicated, just watch the episodes yourselves! I’m not your walking recap! Killing Games are one of the only crimes in the world actively documented on film, you know.”

“Huh? That’s not true at all,” Jun said.

“Barasu is correct!” Evie called out, “After all, security footage captures many thefts, and many B&Es as well!”

“There are also certain crimes which are, uh, made into worse crimes by the fact they’re being filmed? Or things that only become crimes upon filming?” Emi added in.

“Jeeze, pile on a guy, why don’tcha? How bout this. Killing Games are the only _deadly_ crime that’s regularly, actively, put on camera?” Homura clarified. “Semantics.”

“Semantics are a pretty good distraction from the fact that _half of us will probably die_!” Emi raised her voice as she went.

“Yes. And my appreciation for the criminal aspects of the situation? That’s a good distraction, too.”

“What’s your talent, anyway, pumpkin?” Yuji asked. “That’s got you this insensitive?”

“Ultimate D-”

“It’s _not_ Ultimate Despair!” Hikari cut him off as loudly as she could. “That’s _not possible_! Homura doesn’t remember his talent and he’s just saying that to be a little bitch!”

“Why would he claim something as ridiculous as that?” Evie wondered.

“Ruka ~just~ told you. Because he’s a little bitch,” Syoko said, “It’s a perfectly reasonable explanation, you know!”

“Oh. Am I a little bitch? We’re the same height…” Evie frowned.

“Nahh, you ain’t, kid.” Irarako rested an elbow on top of his head. “You may be little, but no bitchery come to pass yet. Well. Anyways, we’ll be fine, right? It’s jus' a little bitch like Homuuu-kun who’s gonna get killed.”

Ayano nodded sagely. “Rip to my parents’ friends but we’re different. Miss Mono says she’s on our side. We don’t have to kill anybody, if we keep in mind that’s just what this Mercury Mars person wants from us, right?”

“Wellllll. Homura is correct, there hasn’t ever been a Killing Game _before_ where nobody died,” Tooru said, “At the same time, we do have to consider certain factors. It’s possible we really _could_ be different. Homura, I do think you have more capacity to explain this than I do?”

“I sure hope I do!” Homura exclaimed, “Moving on. First, I never said you could call me Homura! Whatever happened to common courtesy, calling people by their last name till you’ve both submitted to the mortifying ordeal of being known?”

“I don’t know your last name,” Tooru said.

“Oh! It’s Shinku. Got it memorized? Anyway, anyway. The first Killing Games. Those which were mafia or demon hunting were under threat of ‘group death’. If nobody commits a murder and kicks off a battle royale, then everyone gets it! The first game in this style, with executions and stuff… The murders had to be kicked off by a rat in the group, planted by the organizers. After that point, Killing Games became commonplace enough, a ‘part of life’ so to speak, and the idea that death was inevitable was enough to break down the usual barrier. Humans are weird, in an environment of carnage they’re more inclined to become their worst selves. Be that the first murder, or just the fact of the Killing Game. Now, as for us…”

He adjusted his glasses again. “We can be different! I’m not kidding, it’s totally possible. As much as I am a little bitch you probably all super wish somebody else would hurry up and murder… Here’s the _thing_. It’s been twenty years since the last Killing Game. It’s not normal anymore. You’re all so scared and barely processing this, because the idea of a Killing Game might’ve shown up in your lives. But it’s an atrocity of the last generation. It’s lost its normalization, so it isn’t an environment of ‘inevitable murder’ anymore. As long as this Mercury lady didn’t plant a rat, or come up with some super-effective motive, then hey, we’ll be fine.”

“That’s assuming you don’t commit a murder. Being a fan of murders, and all, as you’ve professed,” Saya spoke up, “In the case that the innate serial killer urge of somebody like you rears its head, I, what’s the phrase… Volunteer as tribute? I don’t have much desire to return to my normal life so it’s quite fine if I die here.”

“What I said: I fantasize about my eventual death being as the victim in some awesomely newsworthy criminal act! What you apparently heard: I wanna commit some awesomely newsworthy criminal act.” Homura threw his hands up in the air. “I’m not gonna kill you, Yoshiro! Like, one, I don’t wanna. Twosies, that defeats the point of everything I just said. If the first murder happens, more will follow, because we’ll create that environment. Saying you’re fine being killed does nobody any good, if you get killed first then you’ve just basically doomed a bunch more of us.”

“Oh… I suppose, in that case, nobody kill me. Or anyone, thanks,” Saya said.

“The little bitch has a point,” Syoko said, then threw her head back and cackled. “Well! Hah. This isn’t a _Killing Game_ is it? This is, let’s call it camp. We’re a bunch of unlikely pals waiting to happen, and we need to check out our dorms. Sometimes our evil enemy is going to throw challenges at us, and we’ll overcome them, by not committing any murders!”

“Damn, Syoko! That’s actually smart, I gotchu!” Hikari ended up laughing along with her. For saying they didn’t get along, they seemed to agree pretty easily. And with that sorted, the whole group ended up making their way into the dorm area. But as soon as they were there…

“Whoa, hey, there’s nameplates on the doors!” Yume noticed, then tapped her knuckles against the doorframe. “Which one of you is Saya? I guess we’re assigned together?”

“Miss Mono made it sound like we could choose our roomies, though…” Homura muttered.

“Oh good _grief_!” A voice came from the speakers. “Hello this is your captain speaking! Hah, just kidding. You’re on an island, not a boat. A Killing Game on a Boat? Yeah, so not my style. Unless the island is secretly also a boat? You’ll _never_ know. Um, what was I going to say… Right. You can call me Mana-sensei, you hear? No more of this Mercury. In the ever-so-mortal words of one of your own, show me the common courtesy of not using my last name before the mortifying ordeal of being known.”

“You… Wait, you’re talking to us? Directly?” Homura questioned, “What kind of Killing Game…”

“_My_ Killing Game, kids. Mine. Your historical knowledge does you no good, I’m a new sheriff in town. I have no obligations to do things any particular way, and I can change anything as I so please. Foolish little children… Camp? Pft. We’ll see how long that defiance lasts, but I’ll allow it. Really, I wanted to punish her. Oh, Kirara~ Must you break my heart so? For your transgression, I removed a privilege. The privilege of your children to pick their ‘roomies’. Deal with it, snowflakes.”

“Urgh. Is that what _I_ sound like?” Yuji asked.

“No, no. Your nicknames are endearing, hers are mocking. There’s a huge difference,” Jun assured him.

After a few moments with nothing more from above, the participants assumed that Mercury’s Address was done with, and turned to the task at hand. Who were their roommates, for this ‘camp adventure’?


	14. Daily Life: Day One (Who's With Who)

Jun turned his eyes to the door plaques, reading each one off in order.

Hikari Ruka and Ayano Ueda, Syoko Saihara and Emi Oowada, Yume Mirai and Saya Yoshiro, Ryota Nageko and Yuji Sato, Kagome Itadai and Irarako Ebizakaya, Tooru Hanazaki and Shin Tsubasa, Evie Snow and Nanjo Mirai… Then…

Jun Barasu and Homura Shinku.

“W-Wait a second,” Homura’s bluster vanished in a second, “I’m with, him?”

“What’s the matter with Barasu, except that he’s totally super lame?” Hikari asked, “If anything, you know, he should be upset that he’s got to be with you, the creepy little bitch.”

“I’m not, though!” Jun waved his hands in front of himself. “I don’t mind at all, Shinku… But, do you have a problem with it?”

Homura stayed quiet for a few seconds, staring straight ahead, before he turned to Jun and grinned. “No, no! Not a problem at all! Ruka’s right, you’re just _soooo_ boring and lame. I was hoping for somebody more interesting, that’s all! I was gonna ask Yoshiro, that’s a fascinating one.”

“Awe, that’s sweet of you to say!” Saya giggled. “I think that Mana-sensei might be a little on the traditional side, though. None of the rooms she assigned are co-ed.”

“They’re not?” Ryota asked, blinking like he was surprised. “Oh, yeah. Now that you mention it. They’re not.”

“What’s _your_ deal?” Yume questioned, curling back her lip. “Think about being an ass right there, did you?”

“I don’t-”

“None of the rooms are co-ed!” Yume snapped, “Don’t even think so for a second, dumb shit! Disrespect like that again…”

“I don’t think that Nageko… That’s you, right?” Syoko clarified, to a nod from Ryota. “Nageko didn’t mean anything by it. Not everybody’s transceiver is as finely tuned as yours seems to be.”

“You-”

“Nageko obviously wasn’t thinking, oh, I was almost transphobic there, I’ll backtrack and not be. It was nothing about considering somebody not a woman or a man, just not realizing at first, which names meant what, I imagine.” Syoko tossed her ponytail back over her shoulder. “I understand that you intend to protect your brother’s community, but we don’t even know everybody’s names yet. For all Nageko knew, well, there _are_ two trans women here, we may have been roomed together, even under a faulty outlook that isn’t co-ed. Maybe he thought I held your name, or Yoshiro, Ebizakaya’s.”

“...You have a point, I can’t even fucking follow those names.” Yume groaned, then looked around. “Yoshiro?”

Saya stepped forward and gave a salute, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “That would be me, Mirai! I promise, I’m not as weird as I implied by saying that I would be willing to be the first to die. I really don’t mind living at all, it’s my everyday life which sucks! I’ll be happy to enjoy camp with you~”

“Charming. You’re making a worse impression on me right now than you did then, but, okay.” Yume turned and opened the door. Saya followed her in, then the door slammed, probably because Yume was just always running at peak edge.

“Hm. That’s two groups sorted, I suppose. Ebizakaya?” Syoko called out.

“Yo.” Irarako waved from where she stood, and took one step forward. “That’d be me, highness.”

There wasn’t even a hint of sarcasm there, and Syoko seemed keen to this fact. “Highness?”

“S’just, you seem a whole lot like a princess. So I figured you have to be one,” Irarako said, “You’re from, like, Dome City, right? There’s gotta be some royalty there.”

“I’m an advanced queen… In my heart,” Syoko said, “But unfortunately, in no real or legal way. It’s heartening that you recognize my innate power, though. You can call me Syoko, though, no need for formalities. I prefer first names wherever possible. May I call you Irarako?”

“Heck! Sure, if you’d wanna,” Irarako said, “Isn’t it kinda a long name to call somebody, though? But. Oh yeah. Ebizakaya also is. Er. Sorry my names are such many syllables, Syoko!”

“Ira.” Syoko smirked. “I’ll call you Ira, then. Since your names _are_ such many syllables.”

Irarako blushed, likely embarassed to be called out for her wording. “Sorry. When I get excited, I kinda lose track a’ what order words are making sense in. Ira. That’s… A nice nickname. Thankyou!”

“Any… time. I would have thought it a lazy nickname. Has nobody actually called you Ira before?” Syoko wondered, folding her hands beneath her chin and appearing to be utterly fascinated with this concept.

“Nahh. Ebizakaya, cross the board.” Irarako shrugged. “None ever wanted to call me nothing else, I think. None asked. Anyway, my roomie’s… Itadai?”

“Yes, that’s me,” Kagome said, stepping forward. “I wished not to interrupt the moment you two were having! Ahh, it’s romantic, in a way! Even in a way, the intimacy of friendship, to see people from such different worlds bantering as if you’d been friends forever… That’s camp for you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah! Yeah, that’s right!” Irarako agreed, and held a hand out towards Kagome.

Kagome high-fived her, then brought her hand back in to grasp Irarako’s, then her other hand as well. “I bet somebody as cool as you has heard of my music, right? Anything that’s been in the charts the last few years.. I had a hand in producing them!”

“Whoa, whoa, that’s so cool!” Irarako started waving her hands around, unwittingly shaking Kagome’s loose. “Then, we should go in our room there an’ you can tell me all about that! I loved ‘pop it like a chip bag’ for like, five months, was big favorite!”

“...Music trends took an odd path, didn’t they? Moving on. Ruka and Ueda, I imagine you two are glad to be paired up?” Syoko took control again.

“Glad is one word for it,” Ayano said.

“Overjoyed is another!” Hikari burst out. Ayano gave her a sideways look.

“Next, next… Ah, Sato and Nageko?”

Yuji and Ryota both stepped forward, the latter being the one to speak, “Uh, thanks for standing up for me, Saihara. You were right, I wasn’t thinking that way at all. I just, some of the names are a bit. You know. Evie could be a girls’ name just as easily as a boys’, right?”

“That’s… Er. Well. Evie is more masculine than similar forms, like Everett, right?” Evie asked, taking a step forward now.

“I did realize once I took a second to count up the names, so, yes?” Ryota said, then turned back to look at Yuji. “Er. I apologize if I’ve made a poor first impression on you, now. I usually am more composed than this.”

“You’re surrounded by strangers, in a very frightening scenario, it’s entirely understandable,” Yuji said, “And yet, the impression you’re making… Is not poor, but rich. Effervescent, perhaps.”

“Oh! My, thank you,” Ryota held a hand to his chest. “That’s very kind of you to say, and makes an equally effervescent, first impression, on me.”

“Really? That’s very friendly, for a _first_ impression,” Syoko said, “Nice to see, though, very nice. Go along now. Not sure how I ended up running this event, but I’m fine with it! Well then, Snow?” Syoko gestured in Evie’s direction. “You’re with the other Mirai.”

“If anybody is ‘the other’ Mirai, I think it’s Yume.” Nanjo stepped forward. “I think I’m a bit more respectable, to be Mirai, and she may be the other Mirai. To avoid confusion, though, we will… Skip the mortifying ordeal of being known? Call us by our first names. She might yell at you for calling her Yume, once. Then she’ll let off. She never stays mad about the same thing for long. She’ll find something else instead.”

“My thing is catching on~” Homura observed.

“Nice to meet you, Mister Nanjo,” Evie said, and held a hand out. Nanjo shook it, catching on easily to the fact that Evie was sort of stuck in the culture he spent his childhood in. “You can call me Evie as well, if you like. There’s no ‘mortifying ordeal of being known’ to use first names where I grew up… It’d be a little weird to have you all calling me Snow all the time, too.”

“I can understand that. It’s nice to meet you as well, Evie.” Nanjo nodded, then pointed to the door. “We should retrieve our Monopads from the room, if nothing else, correct?”

“Right!” Evie agreed, and one more group was gone.

“Next would be… Oh, I don’t actually know either of these names yet, but they must be you two. Hanazaki and Tsubasa?”

“Indeed,” Shin said, then turned to Tooru. “You’re the one who deferred to Shinku about Killing Game history, aren’t you?”

“Yeah… I did do that,” Tooru admitted, “But, I’m a scholar! I can easily yield when I see that somebody has more specific knowledge than I do, so...”

“Very respectable,” Shin said, “And I think that our peers may have been a bit unfair. It isn’t exactly a shocking coping mechanism, to look for a way to enjoy something as horrifying as… Our camp challenges.”

“Do we really have to dance around the wording like that?” Tooru asked, then glanced at Syoko. “I mean. Ignoring the reality of what’s going on… Might help some people, but it doesn’t seem very helpful, to me, peeeersonally.”

“You don’t have to listen to what I say, or anything,” Syoko said, “Just because I’m the best, doesn’t mean that I really care to be a _leader_. I’m sure that role could be better specialized to somebody else here. If you want to acknowledge that this is a Killing Game, and not just camp that sometimes encourages us to kill people, then be my guest. But, I want to look at it that way. We’re here to get to know each other and become friends, that’s the _primary_ objective… That’s all I really mean, if I say it’s camp?”

“I guess I can accept that, if you put it that way,” Tooru said, and put his hands behind his head where he stood. “I’ll happily get to know people. Including… You, Tsubasa? If you’ll let me?”

“Saying that we will become friends is kind of a surefire way to make sure that whatever friendship we might have doesn’t happen as naturally as it ought,” Shin said, “Even still, I’d like it as well. All of us _should_ do our best to get along with our roommates. Quality of life is better when you like the person you sleep near.”

“That’s very true,” Tooru agreed, then waved to Syoko as they also went to their room. So, left in the room were Jun and Homura, who’d hung around for… Jun actually didn’t know why they hung around, but he was glad he did, just to get a better idea of who was rooming with who. Then, Syoko and Emi.

“Hey, Oowada,” Syoko called her out, “You and me.”

“Er. Um. Yes, that’s correct,” Emi said, then took a step forward. “Thank you for… Not calling attention to this until people have already dispersed. Actually, Itadai was making fun of me earlier by saying that she. Uh. Hoped we ended up roommates.”

“Really? Why’s that? If you’ve got some sort of issue on the matter of rooming with me, I won’t be offended. We can try to work something out,” Syoko said, “Miss Mono didn’t say it’s not permitted to be in somebody else’s room, just that only our own Monopads will open our rooms, yes? So if we coordinated it, a swap of roommates could be arranged, simply requiring the room’s actual owner to let them in…”

“No! No.” Emi shook her head. “I just wanted to be honest with you. I’m a little bit, er. Well. Intimidated by your confidence, that’s all. You just, exist, and can be proud of yourself and carry yourself so well and everything! And I. Just panic easily and cry a lot? And don’t have anything like your self-confidence? So I’m a bit. Well. Envious. That’s all!”

“Ohh! Oh, well, that’s to be expected,” Syoko said, “After all, just look at me. But you don’t have to worry about that for real, come on. We’re both Ultimates, you have plenty of virtues all of your own. Just because I’m spectacular, doesn’t mean that other people aren’t! Frankly, everybody here… I come out on top, obviously, but it’s a p-retty close race~ You all seem amazing too!”

“It’s not. Really as simple as hearing ‘noo, don’t be insecure, you’re so cool too’, but. Thank you,” Emi said, then wandered over to the door. She paused and looked to the boys first, though. “I’ll see you around.”

“Sure will, Oowada.” Homura saluted, then turned to Jun once the door had closed behind Syoko. “Well, looks like it’s just us now, huh? We should get those Monopads. Then, I wanna explore! Come with? You seemed like you’ve got a good sense of direction, so we won’t get lost or anything?”

“You know what? Sure thing, Shinku.”

“...Nah. You, roomie? You can call me Homura.”


	15. Daily Life: Day One (Mystery Gift)

** 4:00 PM / 1600 Hours **

Homura and Jun walked into their room, and glancing at the digital clock informed them that it had taken about an hour for everybody to stop panicking and subsequently figure out their roommate assignments. That clock was sat dead center on a wide dresser that spanned the entire space between the room’s two beds. There were two small doors on each end of the room on the opposite side of the beds; Investigation revealed one to be a closet stocked with duplicates of their current outfits, a few unfamiliar outfits in similar fashion senses, as well as a full stock of pajamas and underwear.

Behind the clothing, there were boxes. Homura wouldn’t say what was in his, but Jun’s included… Huh, a telescope in pieces. Mercury did say this was an island, so maybe there was a sky to watch? He somehow felt like he’d know exactly what to do, and that this was his hobby, even though he didn’t remember doing it very often before in active memory. Truth be told, he felt like a lot was just barely missing which should have been there, but attributed it to fogginess from being knocked out. It would come back. Wouldn't it?

“I got a telescope,” Jun said in spite of the fact that Homura wouldn’t say what his boxes contained.

“Of course you did,” Homura said, “Well, I guess that means there’s an outdoors somewhere! We’ll totally have to check that out.”

“Yeah… This is a bathroom.” Jun had opened the other narrow door. Homura did the same on his side of the room, to reveal the same. They were full baths, which was nice to see. Eliminating the common roommate gripe of needing the bathroom while the other was occupying it. Funny, shouldn’t a Killing Game want to create that sort of strife? Quality of life seemed a little higher than Jun would expect. There was even a television mounted above the exit door, the perfect position to watch from while lying in bed.

Then, they both picked up their Monopads. There was a map which confirmed; There was a door out of this building at the end of the dorm hall, leading outside through a gift shop. In a separate building on the island there were four items listed. A group of ‘labs’, listed as belonging to the Producer, Makeup Artist, Phlebotomist, and Torcedor. So that was Kagome, Syoko, Ryota, and Shin who received Ultimate Labs.

Jun was familiar with those; There were so many premade templates for ‘Ultimate Labs’ in the Neo World Program that they were often used for classes and workshops. He _did_ remember going to an Ultimate Astronaut Workshop once before, so maybe that was where he acquired the knowledge and desire to use a telescope. The NWP was a valuable tool in Dome City, since it could be used for education and skill training without using up nearly as many resources. There wasn’t so much a shortage of resources in Dome City, but it was always good to conserve anyway.

Besides the map were a few other tabs. There was one tab for taking photographs, another that listed off the participants and their talents. Then, of course, the rules.

**  
The Dining Hall is off-limits at nighttime (10 pm - 6 am). It is also recommended to remain indoors at night, though not required.  
Upon discovery of a body, all areas become available. Personal rooms are unlocked and, should it be nighttime, the Dining Hall is made available, and outdoor hazards are eliminated.  
Personal rooms are unlocked from either side only by the Monopad of one of its two owners.  
Standard Killing Game Trial Rules apply. After discovering a body an investigation will take place, after which a trial will be held. The blackened must be found out and executed, or all remaining participants will be executed in their stead, and the blackened will be set free.  
No one culprit can kill more than two victims.  
Attending breakfast and dinner is required in the event of motives being delivered at mealtime, except in extraordinary circumstances. Mealtime is defined as 8 AM for breakfast and 6 PM for dinner. This time may be changed by a Moderator if necessary.  
The violation of any of the above rules will result in a punishment of death.  
Entering the lab of somebody who died before the lab was made available will result in being trapped in that room for a randomly generated length of time, as displayed above the door.  
Garbage and dirty dishes (unless dirtied with blood) left around will be removed from areas that have been fully vacated. Sinks and trash cans are emptied on a schedule that will NOT be shared with participants!  
There are and will continue to be sixteen participants. Moderators and Invaders are other categories!**

“What the fuck is an outdoor hazard?” Homura asked.

“If I had to guess, I’d assume it’s something dangerous which is outside?” Jun offered.

“Pfft. Yeah, that’d make sense! But that’s totally not something that’s ever been in a game before. Seems like it only applies at night… So, the recommendation to stay indoors.” Homura dropped down to sit on his bed. “In that case, it’s a good thing that these tell the time! We gotta keep an eye on it or we could get stranded in the other building.”

“We definitely wouldn’t want that to happen,” Jun agreed, “But we still have daylight on our side… You wanted to explore, right? We should go take a look at those Ultimate Labs. I’m curious about them…”

“Oh?”

“Well, I want to see if they’re stock versions, like the kind that already exist in Neo World Programming,” Jun said, “Or if they’ve been built for this. Personalized versions. It could give us some idea of… What we’re dealing with?”

“Ohhh! Oh yes!” Homura clasped his hands. “That’s smart thinking. I never used any of those lab types, but it shoooould be pretty easy to tell. Also, there’s something I wanna check, when we go outside!”

Jun knew from his class with Doctor Kirisame that the exact same uses of the NWP existed on Earth, though it was a slow process to become more widespread, given that its vast capabilities weren’t necessarily the most agreeable to the Despairs who were still in power in many areas. She’d listed the sections of Japan which regularly used it, however, as being her own stomping grounds of Okinawa… Towa City, Hokkaido, Kobe, and Tottori. There were some scattered in other prefectures as well, and many across the rest of the world, but those were the only specifics he remembered.

The bottom line was, at this point, pretty much everyone would know _what_ an NWP was, even if they didn’t have the same experience using them as the kids who grew up in Dome City, so he didn't feel like he was going to be speaking over people's heads when he mentioned them.

“Well, then I guess we better head out,” Jun said, and made his way towards the door. Homura bounced after him. Using the map from the Monopad as a reference, Jun led the way outside. The gift shop was along the way, though, and that was where they first got delayed. Not because of anything either of them did, but because their path was suddenly blocked by Nanjo.

“So we can get a third opinion. Er, and fourth, I suppose…” Nanjo muttered, glancing to Homura before turning to Jun again. “Yoshiro and I seem to have gotten ourselves into a bit of an argument on this matter. Which would you consider the better mystery film? She says that it’s ‘Quiet Dragonfly’ but I think it just has to be ‘Lollepop’. Both have been provided in this gift shop. Prompting the conversation.”

“I… Have never heard of either of those movies,” Jun said.

“...Three opinions it is, then. Shinku?”

“I mean, you can’t really compare them. One’s a totally fair mystery that brings the audience in, the other is an avant-garde take on the idea of what evidence even means. My favorite here…” Homura perused the shelves of movies for a second, then produced one of his own. “Jindabyne! Well, I guess it’s not as big of a mystery as it is a drama surrounding the events of a crime. It’s just got that real tension to it, y’know? The story it’s based on was better, but it’s not a bad movie on its own…”

“Oh? Not something based on a true story?” Saya asked, putting her hands on her hips and leaning down. It wasn’t that she was particularly tall, but the only person here who was shorter than Homura was Evie.

“No, no. Movies based on true crime… And for that matter, certain unscrupulous documentaries, embellish too much. Wanna make the criminal likeable, wanna make the victims hateable, soften the blow of what really happened. And they do it through the power of super-misogyny. I’m not a fan!”

“If you put it that way, I can see why you wouldn’t,” Saya said, “Worry not, small friend! I am an excellent notetaker. Should a crime come to pass here, then my notes should be an irrefutable source! Nobody will hate either of us!”

“Ahh, assuming we’ll both be victims, that makes sense,” Homura said, “But, again. It’s not like it’s guaranteed! You gotta stop that!”

“Wahh! I’m sorry I can’t help it!” Saya popped back up to her normal height. “It’s hard not to think that way, really hard, I tell you! Nanjo, help me!”

“How am I supposed to help you with this?” Nanjo asked, “But I will say, as a counterpoint. If a crime does occur here, you cannot count on me to record the truth. I’ll certainly embellish my account to make myself look good, and my sister look bad. I guess I’ll be honest about the rest, though.”

“You and your sister really don’t get along, huh?” Saya asked.

“Au Contraire, Yashiro. We’re each other’s best friends. That doesn’t mean I won’t take the once in a lifetime opportunity to make her look like a fool to history.”

“I don’t… Get it.”

“Me neither,” Jun chimed in.

“Well, you two must be only children.” Homura put his hands behind his head. “Cause, I’d totally do the same thing as Nanjo here if I got the chance!”

“Oh, you’ve got siblings, Homura?” Jun asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Homura winked, then suddenly folded over and ducked under a shelf to make a run for the door. Jun groaned. He’d followed around Hikari enough already, and now Homura too… Was making him give chase.


	16. Daily Life: Day One (Cigar Lab)

Then, Jun opened the door.

And _wow okay that was blinding_. The building hadn’t had windows, he supposed for this express purpose of startling them when they saw just how bright it actually was outside. It was an island with pure white sand that reflected the sun right back up at them; Though at least it wasn’t terribly hot. Really, the weather was pleasant. Exactly such that a jacket was unnecessary, but exercising wouldn’t be a miserable task.

“Whoaaa!” Homura exclaimed, holding both hands to his forehead like a visor. “Yep, yep. This is totally what I thought it was! Even though you’re right, this is totally Neo-World and Miss Mono’s existence confirms that… Well, I was right ~too~. These are Killing Game Grounds. A replica of them, anyway. It’s Jabberwock Island! Old-_school_.”

“When Killing Games are history anyway, how old-school can you get?”

“Well, Jabberwock was like. The fourth Killing Game Ground? Yeah there was… The Hope’s Peak Campus, the Underground Bunker, Towa City, then Jabberwock!” Homura explained, holding up a finger. “I’ll spare you the list, of the rest of them that existed for real. Before the NWP stuff. I’m sorry, I’m kinda an encyclopedia! Believe it or not, I learned all this from somebody else who _still_ could teach me more.”

“I choose not to believe that for the sake of preserving my faith in humanity,” Jun said, “One of you is bad enough. No offense.”

“None taken. I know I’m bad.”

“That’s… Not really what I meant-”

“There! It is the labs!” Homura exclaimed, pointing towards a building that was now a few feet away as he ran towards it and opened the door. Once inside, there was another door on the far end that went right back out, and along the hall in between were doors. On the left side, Torcedor and Producer. The right side, Makeup Artist and Phlebotomy. “Where to first, roomie?”

“Uhh…” Jun thought for a minute. The owners of these labs probably would have gone straight to see what was being offered, so who was he most willing to deal with first? Well, that would have to be Shin, Shin was pretty reasonable. “The torcedor lab.”

“Interesting, interesting.” Homura stroked his chin. “Are you a _smoker_?”

“What!? No!” Jun waved his hands in front of himself. “Why would you say that? I just think that Tsubasa is easier to be around, than the others…”

“Ohh, I see. So you don’t have an unhealthy relationship with an addictive substance, just an unhealthy relationship with our peers. Already picking favorites… What would the ladies think if they heard you say that?” Homura pressed a hand against his cheek. “And here I was, raring to go and be a wingman for you…”

“I don’t- I mean- I’m not really trying to date anybody while in this situation! Especially since I’m older than most of you! Besides, it’s not just the girls, Nageko is pretty hard to deal with too…”

“I see, I see. You are normie-kun. I understand everything now. What a lame archetype! When you could have been anything at all, you’re just the normie-kun with an ahoge…” Homura sighed. “Didn’t your parents ever tell you that you could be whatever you wanted when you grew up?”

“What if they did, and what I wanted was always to be normie-kun?” Jun wondered, pointing at himself.

“Ah! That is one _fair_ point there, roomie.”

“Why do you keep calling me roomie? You can use my name, you know.”

“Not sure. I think I just prefer it.” With that, Homura stepped through the empty doorway to the Torcedor Lab. “Hello! Here I am with the good news of me.”

“Thanks, I hate it,” Shin answered without looking up from what he was doing. The torcedor lab was pretty well-stocked. Shelves were lined with all variety of rolling items, and another unit with fillings. Each had two entire shelves dedicated to rolling papers on the one side and loose tobacco on the other, but true to Shin’s word about his capabilities, there were other items too. Shelves with cooling coils had food-fillings in little bowls, and there were rice papers as well as sheets of nori; Basically, all the tools needed to roll Whatever Suited His Fancy. Speaking of his fancy, the decor of the room matched his outfit quite well. Steampunk, dead-things chic. Plenty of bones worked into the decor, and in the middle, one long table on which Shin was currently assembling what appeared to be simple cigars.

“Huh. So the labs _are_ personalized,” Jun observed, “I guess this means that whoever put this place together did their research. And knows how to build in the NWP, for that matter.”

“We know who put this place together. Mercury Mars. Mono said so, and she spoke directly to us!” Homura claimed, “That’s one mystery we don’t even hafta worry about. There isn’t a ‘Mastermind’ among us. It’s just her, on the outside. That’s why we don’t have the objective of finding out who she is. We already know.”

“I’m just not sure,” Jun said, “Well, I’m not really suspecting that any of us are working with her, or anything. But… I don’t know why this would be happening. And it doesn’t seem reasonable for this to be the work of a single person?”

“Eh. You can wonder about that if you like,” Shin said, “But I don’t really feel the need to. I’m going to do what Saihara said we should. This is just a talent retreat.”

“Mm. That’’s why you’re taking the opportunity to work on your talent?” Jun asked.

“Precisely. Say, do either of you smoke?”

“I’m getting Deja Vu. But, no, I don’t,” Jun said, “And Homura is a baby so if he does smoke, don’t give him anything, he shouldn’t.”

“Ruuuuude!” Homura rolled his eyes. “But, nah.”

“Hm. Well, _somebody_ here must smoke, otherwise I can’t imagine that I actually would have been provided tobacco in this lab. Seems an awful waste…”

“You don’t smoke it yourself?” Jun wondered.

“No, no. I used to, but I hit a point where I was using it for a different reason; I wasn’t smoking occasionally and appreciating the artistry of it, I was just suppressing my appetite. That’s neither here nor there, of course,” Tsubasa said, “Still. It makes me wonder.”

“We were planning to ~explore~!” Homura made a rainbow shape with his hands. “So, we can ask around for you. Or I can ask around for you. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, I don’t have any silly social inhibitions keeping me from asking stupid questions at the drop of a hat!”

“I hadn’t actually, noticed that particular aspect of your horrible little self,” Shin said, “It doesn’t surprise me, though.”

“Hey now. Don’t be too mean to the dude,” Jun said, “I mean, sure, he’s annoying, but he’s fun to be around, isn’t he?”

“Aww, thanks!”

“...Well, I suppose I may have been making snap judgments. It’s… Yes, it’s reasonable to say I’d be willing to get along with you,” Shin said, “It simply felt… Natural, with the reactions of the group, to assume the worst of you.”

“Oh, no, please assume the worst. I am certainly worst.” Homura waved his hands in front of himself. “If you expect me to be the bottom of the barrel, then it’s actually impressive when I do something right!”

“You… Say some very concerning things,” Jun said, “Are you like, okay?”

“Mhm! I was raised in a perfectly loving home. I am just like this in spite of it,” Homura said, “I am one hundred and ten pounds of dumbass.”

“You are _so_ small,” Shin said.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m baby. Whatever. I’m not the only tiny person here! Not even the only tiny dude! Well, anyway. If it won’t offend you, we probably _should_ keep up our exploration. Find someone to smoke those coolio cigars of yours.”

“Well if you put it that way, I sound near as predatory as big tobacco…”

“I’ll worry if you start making your own juul pods,” Homura said, then looked to Jun, “I’m gonna give it a go, Itadai next?”

“Sure thing,” Jun said. Kagome was laterally difficult to the other two anyhow, so it didn’t much matter what order he saw them in.


	17. Daily Life: Day One (Obnoxious)

Jun was the first into the room, when visiting Kagome’s lab. Just as Shin had occupied his own, she was there, and she was _loud_. It seemed that there was a reason that her lab had been equipped with a door, and that reason was soundproofing. Jun shut the door immediately. Then, he braced himself for the fact that it sounded like a nightclub in there, and opened it with his mind properly prepared this time.

“Itadai!” He tried to shout to her. She didn’t seem to hear him over the music that she was blasting, but she did visibly notice him and hit pause. When she did, the lights in the room also changed from multicolor flashes into regular fluorescents. The room was transformed from a club to a classroom, in terms of sound and lighting. No desks materialized and there were no chalkboards. Just a large dancefloor, and a raised platform which contained turntables and, it appeared, five different computers all wired up to various equipment.

“Barasu. Shinku. What do you _boys_ want?” Kagome asked, then hopped down from the raised platform.

“We don’t really want anything?” Jun answered, “Just looking at the different labs.”

“But this is _my_ lab so you don’t have any business being here,” Kagome said, “I don’t really like it, being interrupted. Or having men all up in my personal spaces. And you _are_ both men, clearly.”

“Hey now! Roomie here might radiate big cis energy,” Homura said, “But, you have no way of knowing about me! Look at the way I dress! I probably would have said so earlier if I was actually a girl, but for all you know, I’m nonbinary?”

“I don’t think that exists,” Kagome said.

“Well that’s just plain rude. I am in fact, just a wibbly little trouble boy,” Homura said, “But what if I wasn’t? Show some respect, jeeze. It’s 2128.”

“I’m not being disrespectful, it just doesn’t make sense!” Kagome rolled her eyes. “You either are a girl, or you’re not. Everyone’s a girl who can be, except for boys who are cis and terrible and don’t understand they would be better if they were girls.”

“I’m not even going to begin to try and understand what your ideology is, I just know it’s bad,” Jun said.

“Well, I don’t care what you think about my ideology, because I am enlightened, and you are a stupid boy.”

“Just how many times are you going to use ‘boy’ like it’s an insult?” Jun groaned. “Here I was thinking you’d be equally as difficult to deal with as Saihara or Nageko…”

“Joke’s on you, bud!” Kagome pointed at him. “I am infinitely more difficult!”

“You’re proud of that? Aw, if you didn’t hate me for my nature and you weren’t being such a disrespectful she-bitch, I’d say we were kindred spirits,” Homura said.

“She-bitch? That’s a bit redundant.” Kagome dropped her hand back to her side and tilted her head.

“You like that one? Well, keep up your rotten attitude and there’s plenty more where that came from!” He gave her finger-guns.

“I _hope_ you’re not flirting with me. I like _girls_, stupid.”

“That’s pretty obvious,” Jun said, “From your… Everything. Yeah just about all of it.”

“Yeah! Plus, I’m baby. Obviously…” Homura said.

“You don’t have any interest in anybody? Yeah, sure.” Kagome scoffed.

“No, no. I have a wonderful childhood friend sweetheart waiting with bated breath for me to return! We share a love strong and pure. That’s much more baby. And it’s the truth!”

Kagome raised an eyebrow. “I find it hard to believe that anybody would tolerate you for long enough to have _anything_ romantic going on. Hand to God, not even my biases, you just seem that way.”

“Haha, maybe. Who knows? But it takes one to know one.” Homura winked.

“Excuse me! I am absolutely, wonderfully pleasant to eligible bachelorettes, so I don’t know what _you’re_ smoking.”

“Oowada doesn’t count?” Jun wondered.

“Oowada does _not_ count she is a stupid harlot with two dads and does not understand her proper feminity. Not an eligible bachelorette in my eyes at _all._”

“I’m not smoking anything,” Homura said, “But if you’d like to be, Tsubasa was rolling cigars with fancy tobacco? That is. If you could stand to smoke something touched by his terrible _boy hands_.”

“Wh-Hey! Who told you that I smoke?” Kagome questioned.

“Nobody did. But, I’m offering to everyone! And gosh, I couldn’t tell, really. But is that why you’re such a prickly pear, Itadai? Nicotine cravings driving you sideways?” Homura asked.

“It’s not… I’m not addicted to anything!” Kagome protested, “It’s just that smoking and drinking are normal social activities in my industry, okay!? You gotta enjoy it if you wanna get ahead, gotta keep up with the shittiest, most hard-drinking chain-smoking men of them all!”

“It’s _toootally_ nicotine cravings,” Homura stage-whispered to Jun, “I bet that she’s just absolutely flowery and fun to be around if she’s had her fix!”

“No! No I am _not_!” Kagome stomped a foot. “I am only fun to be around for eligible bachelorettes, and for industry colleagues who need to be impressed by me. Not for stupid useless meaningless little boys like you who… What were your talents again?”

“Hall monitor,” Jun answered.

“Beats the fuck outta me,” Homura admitted, “Despair, if you wanna believe the random shit I say on a nonstop basis.”

“Yeah, see, irrelevant. You are _irrelevant losers_ and I am just rocking this facility like a God Church.” Kagome did a weird dance where she stood.

“What. What the fuck does that even mean?” Jun asked.

“It means that I’m better than you. That’s all it needs to mean.” Kagome shrugged. “And I would appreciate it if you could, then, move on? I have a door, I’d rather it stay closed, please and thank you. If I want to share my creations, I will say so. Nobody wants to share works in progress anyway. Even if I cared to get along with you at all. Soo… Goodbye!”

And Jun was, admittedly, very glad to be done dealing with Kagome Itadai for the time being.


	18. Daily Life: Day One (Cosmetic Goddess)

** 5:00 PM / 1700 Hours **

The thought of interacting with Syoko Saihara had seemed, an hour ago, like a somewhat bothersome task on the same level as interacting with Kagome or Ryota. However, after actually interacting with Kagome and realizing that she was absolutely ridiculous and incomprehensible, it was starting to seem like a treat to have a chat with somebody who he actually knew, and whose condescending nature was mostly unintentional.

Also, he was pretty sure she had never said “God Church”.

So, he walked through the doorway. Mercury wasn’t big on privacy, was she, to just put archways for all but one of these labs? Was it to foster bonding between them? Make it more difficult to commit the murders that she wanted them to commit? Jun was already speculating again on the nature of the woman who claimed to have put them here, against Homura’s recommendation. He knew that with no objective placed for them to figure anything out about Mercury, he’d just frustrate himself, but all the same…

It was something to think about. He felt this burning desire, somehow, to know what her motivations and intentions were. Maybe it was because his own memory was being strangely unreliable right now, that he wanted something to fixate on. He hadn’t mentioned the fogginess, though. After all, everybody else seemed to have their memories intact, and anything that _should_ have been erased for a Killing Game was certainly still there. Well, unless he’d heard about much more of their history than he initially thought? That could be it, but Homura had plenty of those memories.

“Oh! Hello Barasu, Shinku,” Syoko called out when she noticed them walk in, “Welcome to my lab! Isn’t it lovely?”

It was definitely Syoko’s, that much was clear. It resembled a makeup store with aisles of product, and there was a large vanity with plenty of space, a huge mirror, and a smaller mirror set to the side which seemed capable of different zoom levels. The lighting was powerful, and everything had a somehow regal touch to it; Not quite antique enough to be considered ‘rococo’, but certainly ‘royal’.

“Yeah! This one is _impressive_” Homura said, then noticed something a bit out of place. “Oh, Oowada! You’re here too?”

“Yes, yes,” Emi said, “I am here too. Similar to you two, we decided that, as roommates, we should explore together. I don’t really want to try any of this stuff out, though…”

“Aww, you sure?” Syoko asked, “I could make you look totally stunning. Or totally gruesome, that’s my versatility! Didn’t you ever want to fake a gaping wound, Oowada?”

“N-No thanks, Syoko!” Emi waved her hands. “Besides, I’m allergic to a lot of that type of stuff… Whenever I’ve used it for dollmaking I’ve ended up with hives. I have to be careful if I want to give them that realistic makeup texture...”

“I could use hypoallergenic makeup to give you fake hives,” Syoko said.

“Why… Would I want that?” Emi questioned.

“I’unno. To test my abilities? I get it, though. Nobody wants to let me practice on them, even though I’m an Ultimate…” Syoko sighed.

“You can practice on me?” Jun offered, “Not right now, because me and Shinku are still exploring and stuff, but after dinner you could draw something on my face if you want.”

“_Something_, huh? Don’t talk so vague, or else I’ll just do whatever I please with your poor unfortunate face.” Syoko covered her mouth with one hand and giggled.

"I mean, look at him," Homura said, "You could do whatever you please with him whether he wanted you to or not."

“I mean, you can do whatever? I don’t have any allergies,” Jun said, “And I’m kind of a blank canvas, I mean. Look at me, look at how boring I am. I mean, the FX stuff would probably be cooler than just ‘makeup’, cause you probably practice that plenty on yourself, but. It’s up to you?”

“Oh, the FX stuff is much more fun. You wouldn’t even look nice in makeup, anyhow,” Syoko said, “Well, that’s not to say… It’s just-”

“Don’t worry. I agree with Homura’s recent assessment that I have big cis energy,” Jun said.

“Oh thank goodness. Because you do,” Syoko said, “It just seems to be your nature, looking at you. More than just about anybody here, to be frank with you. You're not even a _little_ bit GNC-chic.”

“_Anybody?_” Jun asked, then frowned. “I mean, on the one hand, fair, I guess? On the other hand, have you _met_ Itadai? Have you heard her nonsense?”

“Good point. She does have the definition of cis nonsense going for her,” Syoko said, “Cause… What was her thinking, again?”

“Basically,” Homura said, “Nonbinary isn’t real, trans girls are valid, but trans guys aren’t? Maybe? There are two categories of people she cited as existing. Girls, and terrible cis men.”

“That’s different than I would have expected, but, I guess that’s not the highest level nonsense?” Syoko shrugged. “I’m not sure I totally understand it. But, sounds like she _could_ learn. That’s less cis nonsense and more. Uh. Transcendentally confusing lesbian nonsense?”

“Yeah, I’d agree with that assessment. Very nonsensical, either way,” Emi said, “I can’t say that I like Itadai very much.”

“That’s okay, she doesn’t like you either,” Homura said, “She told me that she doesn’t even consider you an eligible bachelorette, because you’re weird and you have two dads.”

“I don’t like to think that she would have ever considered me an eligible bachelorette! I’m not interested in her at all, in any way! Except for as my enemy!” Emi raised both hands in fists. “And not the homoerotic tension type of enemy, either, I don't even like girls. Just a whole-ass enemy.”

“It’s nice to see people ganging up on somebody other than me!” Homura laughed.

“Now, now. I haven’t jumped on that train yet,” Syoko said, “I think that it might be worthwhile for me to have a chat with her, don’t you? If anybody can convince her to shape up that strange attitude, it would be me. After all, I can do anything!”

“You are _so_ self-confident,” Emi said.

“I am! It is by far my greatest virtue, among my many of them!” Syoko grinned, striking a power pose. “Fake it till you make it! You can be anything if you believe!”

“Gee, you should write a self-help book,” Emi said.

“Awh, no, no.” Syoko waved it off. “I was just being silly, there. I _could_ write an actual original self-help book if I wanted to, but my particular philosophy isn’t for just anyone, and besides. I’d mostly be plagiarizing my wonderful teacher, the second best woman in the entire world.”

“Is Doctor Kirisame really that great?” Homura wondered.

“Yes, yes, one hundred percent! She was a teacher for a bunch of us, remotely,” Syoko explained, “And also _my_ mentor, specifically! She thought I would go far, and she was right, I absolutely would be going far~ But, yes. She singlehandedly created the method of communication between Dome City and Earth, and even went as far as to use it to help us with our education!”

“Huh! Impressive lady, that one,” Homura said, “Thanks for letting me know. So, she taught all three of you?”

“Mhm. Dome City still has a relatively small population, but she volunteered to teach a handful of classes for the Ultimate Track when her normal workload was low. They were technically just computer skills classes, but I think we all learned a lot more than that from her,” Emi answered this time, “I’m not sure I’d put her on such a tall pedestal as Syoko does, but I wouldn’t hesitate to call her a saint, myself...”

“I mean, I agree with you… But doesn’t calling her a saint imply that Syoko’s putting her on the pedestal of Godhood?” Jun asked.

“A well-deserved pedestal!” Syoko proclaimed, “She and I, we’re modern day deities, Advanced Goddess Formation!”

“Hm. Well, I’ll take you at your word that she deserves all that praise! But, much as I’d like to keep hearing about a teacher who obviously helped to shape your lives a whole… lot! I think that we should probably check that phlebotomy lab out if we wanna see it all before dinnertime.”

“Yes yes, of course! And, Jun,” Syoko turned to him and smiled. “I’ll see you after dinner. I think I have some ideas, what design will suit you best.”

“Let’s _go_ already!” Homura complained, and practically dragged Jun out of the room. When this kid decided it was time to move on, it really was just time to move on, wasn't it?


	19. Daily Life: Day One (Interview With a Vampire)

The final stop to become acquainted with the labs was the phlebotomy lab, as Homura had just mentioned. This one, too, had no door, but at least it had a curtain in front of the doorway. To try and be more respectful this time, Jun approached the doorway and knocked on the frame.

“You can come in, we ain’t doing anything,” Yuji’s voice called back. Not that Jun really knew his peers from the sounds of their voices yet, but his was distinct. Smooth, and the deepest voice among them. He definitely didn’t _sound_ seventeen, though he wouldn’t have a reason to lie about his age.

Homura pushed ahead of Jun to lift the curtain and step inside, though Jun followed right after him. Ryota was of course, there as well, flitting around the lab doing… Well, anything?

“Might’ve lied a bit. I ain’t doing anything. Nageko’s testing out the equipment here.” He pointed a thumb back at Ryota. “I gave up some of my blood for the sake of science.”

“For… Testing the machines? That seems a bit unnecessary,” Jun said.

“I have to make sure they’re all working properly before they _do_ become necessary,” Ryota said, and Jun actually took a look at the room’s layout. There were four cots, each with a drape that could be pulled between them. Various gauges of needles were stored in plastic drawers against the walls, with one larger drawer holding syringes and blood bags. The back of the room had a centrifuge, as well as… Other lab equipment that Jun definitely didn’t know the name of.

“How can you be sure that they’re working properly now with a test run? If they’re reading wrong, how would you know?” Homura wondered.

“Oh, that’s quite simple, pumpkin,” Yuji said, “I know most things about myself that this equipment would read. And Nageko certainly knows those personal things as well, therefore. By running tests on both of our blood, it should isolate any errors. That’s what sweetcheeks here, said, anyhow.”

“Do you have problems with remembering people’s names, or something?” Homura asked.

“Not at all,” Yuji said, “I’m actually quite good at it. Rather, doesn’t it inspire closeness, to use such soft nicknames?”

“I couldn’t do it myself, but I gotta say, it makes sense!” Homura gave two thumbs up. “It’s nice to be inspired to be close. Why pumpkin for me, though? You’ve called me that one twice.”

“You remind me of Halloween,” Yuji said, “So I think that one’ll stick for you. It takes a special impression, to get one of these assigned just for you! Usually I just pick at random from my mental list of terms of endearment. But that one can be yours.”

“Oh, yeah, now you put it that way!” Ryota turned around, hands now empty. Seemed he finished setting up all of the tests. “Homura-kun is totally a Halloween, just like me!”

“Shinku-kun to you,” Homura said.

“And _Yuuuuji_ is… A valentine’s day, obviously!” Ryota tapped his chin. “Ueda’s one, too. The Mirais and Tsubasa are more Halloweens too, probably. Snow is from the UK right? So just for fun let’s call him Guy Fawkes Day~ Yuji, would you call anybody here a Christmas?”

“Christmas? Ah, that would have to be Syoko, yes? Because we’re all so _very_ gifted by her presence!” Yuji chuckled.

“What about me? What holiday am I?” Jun asked, pointing at himself.

Ryota’s eyes glazed over and his voice became blank. “Mountain day.”

“M-Mountain day!?” Jun questioned, taking a step back. “Come on! If you’ve got to give me something hyper-cultural, couldn’t it at least be Golden Week?”

“Certainly not. Ruka is much more suited to Golden Week than you. And you are Mountain Day. It’s just how it has to _be_.”

“So many Halloweens in our class!” Homura noted, “We sure are a spooky bunch. What makes you a Halloween though, Nageko? You’re not goth or punk, the effervescent styling of Halloween!”

“I don’t need stylings, I am a vampire, and in fact, the most qualified of anybody,” Ryota said.

“So you’re just saying it now?” Jun asked.

“Why should I keep secrets? And it isn’t as if it’s something easy to hide, for that matter. I have especially sharp teeth, and I take blood from people,” Ryota said, “Luckily, I need only a small amount, supplementing human food, to maintain my power.”

“Dear, are you saying that I’ve already been fed upon by a vampire, and it _wasn’t_ a subtextually erotic act of supernatural interaction?” Yuji asked, holding a hand to his cheek with an exaggerated frown.

“I mean, I can bite you if you _want_,” Ryota said.

“Hey!” Jun said, and put his hands over Homura’s ears. “Not in front of the kid!”

“Yeah!” Homura protested, “I’m baby! I don’t need to hear that!”

“Pft. You’re sixteen,” Ryota said, “I mean, I sure wasn’t ‘baby’ at sixteen.”

“Even if I’m not baby, that doesn’t mean I need to be party to your flirting,” Homura said, then lifted Jun’s hands from his ears. “But, anyway. The rules say ‘dinner’ counts as six, for things like motive delivery and announcements. You wanna head back over to the main building with us?”

“Sure thing. These tests need some time to run, anyhow,” Ryota said, putting his hands in his pockets as he walked toward the door. “Speaking of the different buildings, though. What do you guys think that rule meant, on the Monopad? Outdoor hazards?”

“Well, I assume it means something exists to threaten us outside at night?” Homura offered, “I don’t really wanna risk it to find out.”

“There are some windows in this building,” Yuji said, “One a’ us could stick around overnight, take a look out and see if it’s something we can notice that way. Maybe it’s just somethin’ like booby traps, but…”

“I mean, what else could it be?” Ryota asked.

“Ohh, all sorts,” Homura said, “Extreme weather, maybe. Or monsters. I’m betting on monsters. But at least we’ve gone one monster of our own to defend us, if it comes to that!”

“I _am_ a pretty pathetic vampire. I need to tell you that much. See, I only have my mother’s vampire blood. My big sister has the vampire blood of her father as well, but mine was a mere human,” Ryota said, “So while I am still considered a vampire, I sincerely lack in powers!”

“So you have a half-sister?” Homura asked, “That’s cool. Do you get along?”

“Yes, in fact, we get along especially well!” Ryota said, “I’m taller than her, so sometimes people think I’m the older one. But she is very powerful. Everything I know of our dark nature, she taught me.”

“It’s nice to hear that you and your sister are able to share an interest like that,” Jun said. He didn’t quite understand Ryota’s whole deal, but it did seem like a fairly harmless one.


	20. Daily Life: Day One (Stir-Fry Dinner)

Upon arrival to the Dining Hall, Homura took a seat at one of the tables. Yuji and Ryota sat together at a different one; Jun contemplated taking a seat, but instead, wandered back to the kitchen area, since he wasn’t sure if anybody had taken it upon themselves to begin cooking just yet, with ‘dinnertime’ only about fifteen minutes off. Upon arriving back there, he had his answer; Ayano was standing over the stove.

“Hi, Jun,” She said without looking up, seemingly able to tell it was him by the sound of his footsteps. “How was your exploration?”

“It was an exploration, alright. Mostly went well! But, Itadai is… Well, let’s just say I’d be very disappointed if you decided to kiss her,” Jun said, “She’s a walking disaster.”

“Aww… I hope that she can get that sorted out, then. It’s always a shame when people are so wrapped up in their own heads that they become unlikeable.” She giggled a bit. “Well, even _Hikari_ still has some work to do on that, doesn’t she? It’s quite unfortunate. I don’t see why people feel the need to be rude to each other at all.”

“You wouldn’t hold it against me if I was rude to a rude person, right, Ayano?”

“I can’t see why I would do that. It would be rude of me,” Ayano said, “And I was always raised to be _polite_, after all. Though if somebody is being cruel, I’ll try not to just roll over and let them, of course. I’ll try.”

“You’ve been getting better at it, the last few years,” Jun assured her, “Standing up for yourself. So, what are you cooking?”

“I’m making stir-fry vegetables, with tortillas. Corn and flour ones were both in the cabinet. I don’t know if anybody has dietary restrictions yet, so I decided to make something that everyone _should_ be capable of eating… No common allergens, very little salt, no animal products, and a gluten-free option. I realized that dinner would be necessary and decided I would do it if nobody else already was.”

“You’re so thoughtful. Obviously nobody else already was, nobody has a cooking-related talent here, so they wouldn’t have thought of it. Tsubasa might have, but he was distracted by his lab,” Jun said, “So it’s very kind of you to do this. And to make sure not to exclude anyone, either…”

“During dinner we should collect people’s dietary needs and make a cooking schedule,” Ayano said, still just staring at the pan as she stirred the vegetables around. “I wouldn’t mind cooking every meal. But, isn’t it also nice to be able to get a taste of what your friends are capable of? It’s a bonding experience. Some night, you should make your pasta recipe.”

“Technically, it’s mom’s pasta recipe,” Jun said, “But it’s a really good one, so you’re right. I definitely should. I’d need to plan for it, though. The sauce takes hours.”

“Mhm, mhm. Well, I’d be willing to help if it meant that I got to eat it…”

“You can’t help. It’s a very precise recipe,” Jun said, “That’s why it’s the only one from her book that I’ve learned to make so far. It took me two years to actually get it right. I can’t just delegate something like this to a sous chef, no offense.”

“I thought you might say that. No trust, Jun. Just don’t trust me at all.” She sighed and pulled the pan from the stove to dump it into a serving dish. “Mm. Well, this isn’t the most interesting meal I’m capable of, you know! It’s just all I could think of which wouldn’t be offensive to anybody!”

“I know, I know. Simmer down.” Jun tapped her on the head with two fingers. “Look, when we get out of here, I’ll get you in on the ground floor for the next recipe I learn. We can figure that one out together.”

“You promise?” Ayano asked, puffing her cheeks out.

“Look, I don’t know a lot about these kinds of things, but isn’t making a promise usually a surefire way to make sure you end up dead? So, I’m not gonna promise you anything,” Jun said, “But it’s a _plan_. There’s a difference there.”

“Okay, okay. It is a plan. That I will hold you to. And certainly not by any means a promise.” Ayano leveled her spatula at him. “Is that satisfying?”

“Satisfies me, at least,” Jun said, “Most guys might not be this easy, though.”

“...Don’t.” Ayano frowned. “I don’t like those jokes. Make it up to me. Help me get the buffet table set. Tortillas. Toppings. Condiments. Beverages. I’ll get this bowl and plates and cutlery. Go do it now.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Jun answered with some defeat in his voice. His friends were… Well, he loved them. But Hikari just seemed to tolerate his presence, and it was always hard to keep track of just what would upset Ayano. He did as she asked, though he would have even if it wasn’t a matter off ‘making it up’ to her. She did a good job of allocating the work, as both of them finished their jobs at about the same time.

“May I ask you one more favor?” She wondered, grasping at his hand with both of hers as they stood next to the buffet table. “You have a much stronger voice than me. Could you announce that the food is ready, and, the specifications of the meal which I told you?”

“Of course, yeah,” Jun said, then did, again, as she asked. He was pretty good at projecting, so everybody heard him; And everybody _was_ present now, nicely enough. With his announcement made, they lined up to put their meals together, then dispersed back to their tables. Jun retrieved his own food as well, then joined Ayano when she led the way to the table Hikari was at, populated also by Tooru.

“Hey,” Jun greeted them, “What’d you guys do with your afternoons?”

“I just spent it outside,” Tooru said.

“He was taking a nap. I found him, and then we talked, and he is actually weirdly cool?” Hikari said, “So now Hanazaki is our friend also.”

“Er, well, I’m Ruka’s friend!” Tooru said, “I dunnooo… I mean, I’d like to be friends. But I won’t presume anything.”

“Nice of you. But we are friends.” Ayano smiled. “No presumptions necessary. Hikari has very high standards. If you meet her bar, then you obviously meet our bars.”

“Being our friend _is_ a privilege,” Hikari said, “But one that you seem to deserve.”

“Damn right I do!” Tooru clapped his hands together and held them there, towards the right side of his body. “By the way, Ueda. You cooked this, right? Thanks for the caution. I’m a vegetarian.”

“A vegetarian who… Insists on having actual taxidermies instead of replicas in his museum?” Jun wondered.

“That’s rude, Barasu,” Hikari said, “It makes sense-”

“Oh no, it doesn’t actually make any sense. Luckily, it doesn’t have to. My reasoning has nothing to do with any sense of morality, most types of meat just make me sick. It’s a matter of convenience to say ‘I’m vegetarian’ instead of going into that, though…” Tooru said, “Moral-wise, I dunno. People can think what they want. Doesn’t bother me, get why it bothers people. I aaam a historian first and foremost, so I can’t afford to be bothered by these kinds of things.”

“Ah. Now _that_ does make sense,” Jun agreed.


	21. Daily Life: Day One (Meal Plan)

** 6:00 PM / 1800 Hours **

Everybody got down to eating the meal that Ayano had made, for about ten minutes. It was surprisingly silent in the room, because nobody had really understood just how hungry they were until food was set in front of them. It had been a busy and surprising day, and besides. Playing into the fantasy, a good meal always tasted better when you were camping. Not that anyone really could commit to Syoko’s idea, but trying to, was at least a small comfort.

After having eaten, and with no sign that there would be any official announcements at this particular meal, Jun stood up and walked toward the center of the room so that he could be heard, and called out, “Ayano made today’s meal, but we were discussing our options. I’m sure that nobody here really wants to be put on consistent kitchen duty. We figured it would be best to compile a list of dietary restrictions, and set up a schedule for meal preparation?”

“I’ll second that it seems like a good idea. I’m just eating tortillas with sour cream this meal. Admittedly, yes, inoffensive to most. I just can’t stand vegetables of most kinds,” Nanjo said, “And in fact, I’ll volunteer for the next nearest meal. Breakfast tomorrow.”

“Awe, yeah! Nanjo makes killer breakfasts,” Yume said.

“I’ll gladly make a ‘killer breakfast’ for everybody but Yume. Yume gets dry toast.”

“May I also have some dry toast?” Ayano asked, raising a hand. “I’m afraid that most breakfast foods are just a bit objectionable to my, er, sensitivities?”

“Well, okay, this is why we need a list,” Jun said.

“Here, you can use a sheet from my notebook!” Saya said, jumping out of her seat to deliver the aforementioned sheet into Jun’s waiting hands. “I took the liberty of already scribbling down my own stuff. Oh, and here’s another sheet, for meal prep signups.”

“Thank you, Yoshiro,” Jun said, then siezed one of the still-empty tables. “One at a time, come talk to me, give me your info, sign up for a meal if you’d like to?”

“Built for bureacracy, that one,” Hikari said.

Soon enough, Jun was able to compile a list of what everybody wouldn’t eat, and a few days in advance of meal signups for the time being. He looked back down at the list to consider what alternate options he’d have to include on the side if he did make his family’s pasta recipe on his own dinner night.

Saya Yoshiro: I can’t eat anything spicier than a Jalapeno pepper :) Sorry! Nothing besides that.  
Jun Barasu: No restrictions  
Nanjo Mirai: Vegetable aversion  
Yume Mirai: Lactose intolerant  
Tooru Hanazaki: Vegetarian; Due to allergies  
Irarako Ebizakaya: No restrictions  
Yuji Sato: Bitter food aversion  
Ayano Ueda: Complicated sensory issues; Case by case, will feed self if inconvenient.  
Emi Oowada: No restrictions  
Evie Snow: Vegan, gluten-free; Due to allergies  
Hikari Ruka: No restrictions  
Homura Shinku: Fruit aversion  
Kagome Itadai: Minimal-fat diet; Will feed self if inconvenient  
Ryota Nageko: No restrictions  
Shin Tsubasa: Egg allergy  
Syoko Saihara: No Restrictions

So… That was a bit complicated, wasn’t it? Of course, cooking for a group of people was bound to come up with some challenges anyway, but luckily it did seem like it could be narrowed down. A large serving of one meal, and a smaller serving of a meal which was fully vegan and gluten-free. He scribbled this observation at the bottom the sheet for ease; Generally speaking, those categories should cover any of the other allergies and restrictions as well, excluding those pesky aversions. And… Ayano, who was right to list her restrictions in that way, because they were just about impossible to explain on one sheet of paper, let alone one line of it.

Either way, Jun figured, when the time came for him to cook dinner, he’d make the pasta dish as usual, and have a side of… onigiri with the tomato sauce in it should work, since there was a point where the sauce was at an acceptable quality and was yet to have anything disagreeable to those restrictions added in. That way, people with the restrictions could still get a taste of the recipe. Yes, he thought, that should work nicely for his own assignment. With that, he taped the lists to the table (of course he carried tape on him, what sort of an idiot did you take him for?) and walked away.

And a few minutes later, well.

“Excuse me, Mister Snow?” Yume asked, sounding strangely sweet.

“Er. Yes, Miss Mirai?” Evie answered, fidgeting in his seat.

“What the fuck sort of allergies make you need to have a finicky diet like that!?” She questioned, and smacked the table. “Come _on_, what makes you so special you can impose that kinda shit on whoever volunteers? Didn’t even have the courtesy to say you’d feed yourself if it doesn’t work out…”

“I. Well, I’m sorry. I’m just. If you must know, I have celiac’s disease. I’m also allergic to eggs, as Tsubasa is. Lactose intolerant, as well, but I do take calcium supplements. I just. Sorry. My health is a whole pile of complicated I don’t really wanna get too much more into?” Evie shrunk into his seat. “It’s not like I asked to be kidnapped.”

“Sure, sure. But you gotta handle your own shit?” Yume’s glare softened into a mere disapproving look.

“I wish that I could. But I can’t cook…” Evie shook his head. “At all, really. I mean. I can make sandwiches if there’s G-F bread, that’s. About it. I’m not supposed to use knives, or stay on my feet long enough to really cook over a flame, or eat frozen foods… Again, I’d rather. Not have to explain all that? Please?”

“Yume, it’s alright,” Nanjo said, “It’s one meal in a day, and at least right now, nobody’s on duty two days in a row. We can manage to make something tasty, and something agreeable. That’s what Barasu wrote on the paper, after all. It isn’t hard to make it agreeable.”

“If you say so. This is why _I’m_ not signing up, though. Seems like a fuck of a lotta work.” She groaned. “I mean, the gift shop has lactaid pills, so I can suck it up on _my_ restriction. Nothing to worry about there.

“Nobody needs to suck anything up,” Ayano said, “If you are the only one who dislikes the idea of catering to others, and you have no intention of cooking, then there is no contradiction there.”

“If you put it up that way,” Irarako said, “Then yeah! Makesense. Me, I’m happy long as there’s plenty of food.”

“I am, as well. You also need not worry too much about my allergy. As long as pantries remain stocked, I’ll be satisfied,” Shin agreed, “I believe that we all should just be glad that we’re being provided for in this place… And if you wish to make accomodating meals, we’ll all be grateful.”

“Oh, oh yeah, alsoo.” Irarako raised her hand as she spoke again. “Can’t really cook too well, I’ll admit, I am no perfect housewife in waiting, or anythin’! But I can use a knife. And I can keep on my feet pretty well? So. Snow, ever need it, I’ll make you somethin’ to eat on my own.”

“You’d do that for me, Miss Ebizakaya? Why?” Evie probably only even understood half of what she said, but that half got the idea across.

“Cause I met you first. Yer my responsibility now.” She crossed her arms and nodded once as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. “We’re friends number one, and I’m taller, so I’m the onee-san and that’s what I gotta do.”

“O-Oh! Well that’s! Oh, that’s very very kind of you,” Evie stumbled through his words, “Thanks so much, Miss, thank you. I’ve never had an Onee-san before, taller than me or otherwise.”


	22. Daily Life: Day One (First Dishwashing)

With all of that sorted out, Jun found himself drawn to stand up and collect plates. Yes, he had the natural desire somehow, to do the dishes. As he started working on it, Nanjo stood up.

“I’ll help with the dishes, too. It’s the very least that I can do.” He was already gathering the plates from his own table, but as he reached for Kagome’s plate, she stood up as well.

“I can help, also!”

“Itadai? You really want to do the dishes? And with two guys, no less?” Jun asked, furrowing his brow in her direction.

“Oh, about that.” She glanced away, twirling an end of her hair. “Shinku might have been a teeny bit correct earlier, when he said I was being irritable for… Other reasons.”

“Are you on your period?” Nanjo asked, “I think the gift shop has paink-”

“What! No! Stop!” Kagome protested, then dashed into the kitchen area before she could be further embarrassed. When the boys collected the rest of the dishes they followed her in, where she was now leaning against a wall with her palm pressed to her forehead. “I was trying to be _discreet_, but the theory was actually that I was having nicotine cravings, for your information, _Mirai_.”

“You can call me Nanjo, it’s perfectly fine.” He set his stack of dishes in one half of the sink and turned the water on. “I wasn’t trying to embarrass you or anything of the kind… There certainly are painkillers in the gift shop. I only wished to be helpful. But it seems, I continue to trip over social nuance in my path.”

“You and your sister seem like total weirdos. No offense,” Kagome said, “But, like. Have you _been_ around a normal person?”

“None taken. Surprisingly enough, we both went to normal, public schools until our third year of middle school. After that point, we did abandon traditional schooling to instead self-study. Given our talents, it was effective, was it not?” Nanjo lifted a sponge.

“Effective for learning your skills, obviously,” Jun said, “But maybe not so effective for, again, your human interaction? It seems a bit like neither of you think before you speak.”

“Oh I do think very much before I speak. The trouble is I only seem to think stupid thoughts.” Nanjo chuckled. “Yume, meanwhile. No, her brain and her mouth seem entirely disconnected from each other. I apologize on behalf of her, again, for her outburst.”

“Why? It wasn’t like she directed it at any of us. Apologize to Snow, if anybody,” Kagome said, squishing into the other sink to work on washing as well. Jun supposed he’d take the role of drying. “I don’t care what your sister thinks about ‘catering’ to people. I’m still gonna respect what people say they need from me. Cause, even if something seems stupid. Maybe it’s not. Or maybe they’re testing you to make sure you actually _read_ what’s put in front of you.”

“Oh?” Nanjo prodded.

“People always make fun of celebrities for shit like… No green m&ms in the bowl backstage. But, that’s there for a reason. If you see green m&ms, you know they either didn’t take the instructions seriously, or didn’t read the whole thing. And then, who knows what else they could’ve fucked up? It’s a safety check!”

“I didn’t know that. Thank you for teaching me this fact,” Nanjo said, “I would absolutely never make fun of somebody for a request like that, though. You really never know what somebody’s needs are. And given that Snow is my roommate, I’d certainly prefer to respect his needs.”

“I can’t say I really give a shit about Snow, but it’s the principle of it,” Kagome said, raising up the plate she was scrubbing. “If I was in that position, I’d wanna be respected, anyway. I don’t give a shit if people don’t like me or if I don’t like them but I’m still not about to do anything to just fuck ‘em over like that?”

“You’re nicer than you give the impression of,” Jun said, “Itadai. I kind of really didn’t like you after we talked earlier…”

“I still don’t want you to like me at all!” Kagome protested, “I don’t fucking… Ugh. I’m not gonna be nice to _you_ just because I believe in basic dignity, idiot!”

“Sure. But that belief in basic dignity is at least enough for me to think you’re not _all_ bad. Congratulations,” Jun said.

“I don’t want that! Ew! Take your congratulations back!” Kagome whined.

“It’s surprising to me… Just how many of you are being petty in this situation,” Nanjo admitted, “Shouldn’t we all be trying to get along and figure out a way out of here? Perhaps something to do with those outdoor hazards…”

“Like uh, what? Do you think if we somehow make our way through the hazards some way out will magically open up?” Kagome asked, “That seems kinda pipetic.”

“I’m 95% sure that isn’t a word,” Jun said.

“Pipetic. Y’know. In the nature of a pipe dream?”

“Certainly not a real word. Serviceable, if explained. But not real,” Nanjo said, “And not accurate. For all we know right now, there’s a bridge to another island or some such which is only available at night, and getting past the hazards would allow us to access it.”

“Well I sure don’t wanna take that chance!” Kagome held a hand to her chest, splashing water on her shirt in the process. “It’s bad enough I gotta worry that somebody here is gonna murder me, I’m not gonna willingly put myself in more danger just to test some theory!”

“Hm. I’d do it, but I do have a commitment in the morning, to make breakfast and all,” Nanjo said, “It would be very rude of me to put that responsibility on somebody else by getting myself killed, so it seems that I have no capability to test my own theory quite yet.”

“What about that Yoshiro girl? I bet she’d be willing,” Kagome said, then thought for another moment. “Too willing, though.”

“Too willing?”

“She doesn’t care about her own death! Sooo, she wouldn’t _really_ have the motivation to make it through, now would she? Simple. How bout you, Barasu? Wanna take one for the team?”

“I would… Prefer not to.”

“Typical.” Kagome rolled her eyes.

“I’m kind of glad that it’s typical to not want to endanger yourself?” Jun said, “It’s typical of you, too! You already said you wouldn’t dream of doing it!”

“That’s because I’m beautiful. Beautiful people don’t need to risk their lives. You, on the other hand…”

“Why does everybody keep dissing me today?” Jun questioned, pressing his drying cloth against his forehead. “First Hikari, of course… Then Nageko, and now you? At least Syoko won’t diss me when I go to her lab later.”

“What does Syoko want with you?” Nanjo wondered.

“She’s gonna draw something. On my face. You know, because I’m a willing victim and all.”

“Aww, why don’t you go ahead and do that?” Kagome offered, leaning over her shoulder to make eye contact with him and… Smiling? “We can finish up the dishes here, no problem. You shouldn’t leave a girl like that waiting!”

He didn’t really understand why Kagome would be nice to him, but he wasn’t going to turn down the offer to stop doing a chore and get on with his life.


	23. Daily Life: Day One (Blank Canvas)

** 7:00 PM / 1900 Hours **

There were three hours left until the sun finished setting, nighttime began, and the mysterious hazards that everybody seemed so preoccupied with came into play. Jun, in fact, had no desire to really know what the hazards were. It wasn’t important to him, not really. He wanted a way out of here, but his own thoughts consistently floated more to wondering about the people in charge. Mercury, and whoever helped her. That seemed. Well, he didn’t know why, actually. It didn’t rationally seem any more likely that figuring out ‘why’ they were here would set them free, than navigating the unspecified nighttime hazards would.

The beach looked really nice at this hour, but Jun was not going to the beach, he was just going back to the lab building to meet up with Syoko. And as soon as he got to her archway, it was clear that she had been expecting him.

“Oh, lovely, you’ve arrived!” She took him by the shoulders and dragged him inside. “I’m so glad that you remembered, really, I haven’t been able to stop thinking so you said that I could use you! Not that, I mean. Well obviously I can always practice on myself, but there’s something special about using somebody else’s face, I’ve been brainstorming designs the entire time and trust me you’re going to _love_ it. I was struck with the utter electricity of inspiration. Something about you. You aren’t near as blank a canvas as you think!”

“Well, uh. I sure do feel like one,” Jun said, “Can you keep a secret, Syoko?”

“Can I? I mean, yeah. I’m keeping like, seven right now,” Syoko said, “Up to you if you think any of them are actually mine. May as well make it eight. What, did you think I’d be _bad_ at keeping a secret?”

“No, no. Really, there’s no reason to think that,” Jun said, “You haven’t proven to be bad at anything except being humble, so far.”

“I hate compliments. Put ‘em in the mortuary.” Syoko winked. “That was a joke. I have a spectacular sense of humor! But, no, it seems you’re right. The only thing I’m bad at, is claiming that I’m not perfect.”

“Heh. Thanks. Anyway…” He glanced away. “I think there’s something up with my memory, actually? It just feels foggy. Lots of things are foggy. And, it’s weird. When I’m chatting with you or Oowada, it feels like we’re a lot closer, than I know we were back in Dome City.”

“Maybe it’s just because we’re familiar, in an unfamiliar place,” Syoko said, “But I know what you mean, actually. I didn’t want to say anything, but it just _feels_ like I’m missing things from my memory. Like I go to remember a certain date, and sometimes it just isn’t there? But, I’m sure it’s just a side effect of the Killing Game stuff.”

“You think so?”

“I’m a genius, so I’m ninety-eight percent certain that’s all that’s going on here,” Syoko said, “Anyway! Let’s~ Not~ Worry about those kinds of things right now. I am going to exercise my number-one skill on you!”

“Uh, sure. Should I just sit down here?” Jun pointed to the vanity.

“Exactly, yes!” Syoko nodded, then gestured to the table as she pulled up a separate chair next to Jun. “Here we have every product that I intend to use, please review them to make sure that they don’t contain any ingredients you know yourself to have a bad reaction to?”

“Oh, they won’t. I don’t have any allergies or anything. I’m in top condition!”

“Impressive!”

“I just consider it another contributor to my normie-kun status.”

“Who called you that? Homura?” Syoko asked, holding her hands close to her chest. Jun nodded. “Well, that’s just… Hm. I admit I may have been happy to joke around with him and Oowada earlier today, but I can’t agree with that. We _are_ all Ultimates here. Nothing normal about us. We’re extraordinary.”

“I don’t really mind it, being ordinary,” Jun said, “My talent isn’t of much use for anything, anyhow…”

“Are you sure about that? I seem to recall that you were able to navigate the stranger halls of the main building with ease. And you can project your voice so well, it helped at dinner! I just don’t like… Well, you know. Maybe I do have an inflated sense of self, but I don’t like seeing people get put down. You should at least appreciate your own full potential. What are some other things you’re good at, besides your talent? It’s good to take the time to realize what you can do!”

“Er. I can make really good pasta,” Jun said, “And I try my best to be considerate with my friends. I like stargaz- _hey_!”

“What?” Syoko blinked.

“They gave me a telescope in my room and I can’t even use it because nighttime is dangerous! That’s not fair!” Jun threw his arms up. “What the heck!”

“Oh. Yes, that doesn’t seem very fair at all,” Syoko said, “The hobby provided for me has no such restrictions, though it is quite small. A box with a few decks of cards. I enjoy most card games, and my dad taught me some tricks, too… Here.” She grabbed Jun’s chair and turned it so he was facing her a bit more. “I’m not drawing anything on your mouth anyway, may as well get to work while we talk, yeah? I’m also skilled in multitasking!”

“Of course you are.” Jun chuckled. “Doesn’t it ever get tiring, being the best at everything?”

“Hmm, no. Not really. It’s a burden that I am glad to carry!”

“That much is clear, but what if people start seriously buying it? Can you handle it if everyone starts looking to you for all the answers?”

“I… They won’t. No matter how much I say I’m a genius and the best at everything, which is pretty much _true_, nobody’s gonna actually believe me on that, at least. Not enough to think of me that way. You have to admit, I do come across more like an airhead who just _thinks_ she’s hot shit, don’t I?”

“Well, not to me. Because I know you. But if I think about it objectively, maybe. They might think of you like that.” He paused to think for a minute. “But, they probably get a certain impression of me, too… So I don’t know. Maybe they think I’m just a drag.”

“We can’t ever really know how other people think about us.” Syoko dabbed at his cheek with the makeup sponge. “But I want to try and understand. It’s funny. Even before you said you had a telescope, I had this in mind… Take a look?”

He turned toward the mirror, and blinked as he stared at himself. Across his nose and cheeks, a galaxy was painted, fading out to his skin at the edges and speckled with prominent stars like freckles. He smiled, and his dimples fell right to the centers of the design’s spirals. “I guess you’re good at reading people, too, then.”


	24. Daily Life: Day One (I Guess a Part Of Me Likes To, Who Knew?)

** 8:00 PM / 2000 Hours **

After showing Jun what she’d done so far, Syoko asked if he’d be fine with sticking around so she could expand on the design; She didn’t have any other plans for the evening, after all, and neither did he. Why would they, at this point? Neither of them had time yet to make other friends, and not enough of an understanding of the daily routine around here to plan anything else, so may as well just paint on a face for an hour.

Jun really liked the design, too. He wasn’t sure how Syoko had been able to tell that he had some interest in space before he’d actually mentioned it to her, but given everything, he had no trouble believing that it really was just another manifestation of her overwhelming capabilities. It wasn’t that he was incredibly interested, he probably couldn’t actually identify anything (especially in Earth’s night sky, frankly) but he did appreciate the aesthetic quite a bit, and that was exactly what Syoko put into practice on his face.

“You know,” Syoko said, putting a hand on top of his head as she looked at her handiwork. “It’s kind of funny. I like spending time with you.”

“What’s so funny about that?” Jun asked.

“Well! Sorry, what I mean is. If we get along this well, why didn’t we hang out more back in Dome City?”

“Probably because of the age gap,” Jun offered, “The three of us were older than you, after all. There wasn’t much reason for us to end up spending time together back then. I’m more surprised that you and Oowada aren’t closer, since you were in the same year and all.”

“You heard what she said, didn’t you? She’s envious and intimidated. I don’t blame her, of course. I would be too, of me. I'm just glad that now that we're roommates, I can clear up some of those misconceptions. I don’t mean to… Put anybody below me? It isn’t so much that everyone is awful and therefore I’m better. I just consider myself, well, _the_ best. That doesn’t mean that everybody else isn’t right up there contending?”

“I mean, I think that I understand it. But, even for people who do understand, that’s not the whole problem. I don’t feel inferior compared to you; I feel the same as ever, and you’re impressive. More, it’s… Well, most of us could never get away with being as self-assured, socially speaking. Further, well. Basically, it comes down to, I bet most people wish that they could love themselves as much as you do.”

“...A lot more people could,” Syoko said, “If they put in the work, I bet they could. It isn’t like it was easy, for me to get to this point where everything’s easy now. I mean, step one. Get away with it socially speaking? First mistake. That means you’re already valuing other people’s opinions of you more than your own. The only person who needs to like you, is you. And the smart will follow.”

“Does that mean you think I’m smart, for liking your company?”

“Hm. You know, I _do_, but if you want to hear me say it, then you really aren’t taking my advice to heart!”

“I don’t need to take your advice, myself. I do like myself and I don’t mind where I’m at in life. When I care what other people think of me, it’s because I’ve got anxiety, not because I think stuff like ‘if only I was popular, my life would be amazing’. I’m satisfied. But… Plenty of people aren’t. I’m not sure that Oowada is.”

“Oowada has… A lot of work to do,” Syoko admitted, “But, isn’t it really stunning? Did you hear that, earlier? She made fun of me! It’s almost like she thinks there’s one attitude she ‘should’ have, and another that she wants to have. The latter’s more genuine. I wonder about that…”

“Yeah. I mean, I want to think that we all had good parents, in Dome City. And especially when they’re Founding Ultimates… But it makes me wonder-”

“The Oowadas are perfectly good parents. As are mine.” Syoko’s voice faltered for the second time. The first had been when Jun called himself normie-kun in her presence. “Two people can do absolutely everything in their power, try their best, be loving and provide for a child’s needs and maintain a reasonable balance of protection and freedom. And bad things still happen to those children. I mean, does it reflect badly on our parents that we all ended up here? No. So, certainly, if Oowada _does_ have a confusion of ‘should’ and ‘is’, it’s irresponsible to assume her fathers are to blame.”

“You’re right,” Jun admitted, “Sorry, that’s just where my mind went. Since parents usually teach their kids how to behave, and what you’re calling the more genuine Oowada isn’t, er, polite…”

“Have. Have you _met_ those dads? Teaching politeness in that house had to be an uphill battle.”

“...Fair point.” Jun stood up then, stretching his arms out over his head. “This has been fun, Syoko, but I’m a little worried about those outdoor hazards, so I don’t want to push the envelope too late, in this building.”

“Well, let me give you some cold cream to-”

“Hey, knock knock!” Homura called into the room from the doorway. “Just checking in on my roomie. He’s in here, right?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Jun said, then turned around to see Homura there, and smiled to show off the bonus effect of the design. “How do you like my new look?”

“...”

“...Homura?”

“It’s. Very nice.” Homura stood absolutely still, and the words hardly sounded like he spoke them. “You should take it off before coming back to our room, though.”

“Oh? _What_, is it too nice for you?” Syoko asked, “Do you think if Jun dares not to be the ‘normie-kun’ he’s gonna stand in your weirdo spotlight, or something? You’ve got some nerve-”

“You’re right. How dare I. That was out of line.” Homura turned away, lifting his headphones from his neck to put them over his ears instead. “I’m in the wrong here. Goodnight.”

And just like that, he was gone again.

“You er. Should show me how to use that cold cream,” Jun said, “To take this off.”

“You don’t have to listen to-”

“I’m not listening to him. You heard what he said, right? He took it back. But, I’m just not totally sure how to remove it on my own. Could you take some pictures on my Monopad first, though? I’d like to be able to look at the design again.”

“Alright,” Syoko said, motioning for him to sit down again as she opened a jar of cold cream. “But I’m not… I meant what I said, okay? You don’t need to just let him call you normal. You’re not, and you shouldn’t stand for it. You’re a very talented young man. And, you’ve had a high honor bestowed upon you.”

“A high honor?”

“That’s right. You’re one of Syoko Saihara’s friends.”


	25. Daily Life: Day One (Participants, Moderators, Invaders, Hazards.)

Syoko finished removing the paint from Jun’s face, though of course, she took photos first. Both on his Monopad for him to keep, and on her own. She too would want to keep a memento of her handiwork, even if it was just another in a long string of successes. There were a few scraps of paint left over in the end, because cold cream was only so powerful without taking up a ton of time, but Syoko assured him that if he got a shower before bed, or in the morning, whatever was left would come right off.

So with that settled, Jun left her lab. This time, he exited the building through the other door, just to take a look at that part of the island. It opened up directly to a beach, probably the nicest one here. The rest of the island’s perimeter of course was still composed of beaches, but this one had soft sand all the way down to the waves, and a dock which extended out into the ocean. There wasn’t anything on the horizon, like the island was in the middle of absolutely nowhere. That made sense, though. All that putting anything out on the horizon of a simulation would do, was encourage them to try and reach those things.

Which would make for a pretty boring Killing Game, if everybody just drowned.

“Barasu. Hey.” Tooru appeared out of seemingly nowhere and tapped him on the arm. “Whatcha thinking about?”

“Where’d you come from?” Jun asked.

“I was just sitting against the wall. Reading this book.” Tooru held up what looked like a bad ‘bodice-ripper’ type novel. “Found it in the gift shop. Then I noticed you walk out here and stare off into the distance.”

“Oh. I was just thinking about the fact there isn’t even anything on the horizon. We’re totally alone on this island, aren’t we?”

“It’s better for us to be totally alone,” Tooru said, “Than for there to be people we don’t know about. Isn’t iiiit?”

“Jeeze, why would you say that? Now I’m going to be worried that somebody _is_ secretly here…”

“It’s possible. No, really. The rules say that there are sixteen participants, but ‘moderators’ and ‘invaders’ are classified differently. For all we know, there’s a basement underneath us full of other people with those other classifications.” He waved his hands at the sides of his face. “For all we know, they’ll come up while we’re all sleeping and break into our rooms and kill somebody and frame one of us for doing it. And then the Killing Game will start and we’ll _never know_ the truth.”

“That kind of sounds like a crackpot theory to me…” Jun glanced away. “I mean, sure, it’s possible. But if we start thinking that’s possible, then any ridiculous thing is possible too? It’s kind of scary to think about that sort of stuff. I mean. Whatever happens has to match the rules, right?”

“What I just told you about _does_ match the rules, is the thing.” Tooru started to wander away, and Jun tripped over himself to catch up and keep walking with him. “And that Mars person, she’s unpredictable. She already changed up the way the dorms work just because Monokuma talked bad about her.”

“Wait, her name’s just Mono, if you-” Jun started as the bear in question popped out of the sand in front of them, making them both stop walking again.

“I told you to avoid summoning me by accident! Come on.” Mono groaned. “Just because I’m your ally doesn’t mean that I really want to be at your beck and call. Er, while I’m here. Any questions for me?”

“Actually, yeah, since you’re here. Are you able to give us an exact number of people who are in the program right now?” Jun asked.

“Oh! I should be able to do that. Currently there are sixteen participants inside the Neo World Program. There is one moderator, me, who’s inside. Mercury is observing from the outside world. There are no invaders yet. There probably shouldn’t be any, but given what Kirara did in that last game, it’s safer to use that category than to let anyone new become another participant.”

“What Kirara did… Aren’t you Kirara?” Tooru asked.

“No, no. Certainly not. Kira Kirara is dead, she’s gone from this world. I’m the product of mapping Kirara’s memories onto the existing Monokuma AI,” Mono said, “So I’m something _very close_ to being Kirara, but I’m not her, there is no her anymore. I’m just Mono.”

“I see. That makes sense,” Jun said, “Honestly, that’s kind of a relief to understand, now. I probably would never get along with Kirara if I met her.”

“And you think you can get along with me?” Mono struck a demure pose.

“It’s possible,” Jun said.

“Same here. If you really are trying to help us, youuu know. I’ve got no trouble calling you a friend,” Tooru added in, “If you’d like that.”

“Yes, absolutely! I wanna be friends with you guys! I hate Mercury just as much as you all must for putting you here. Even though I’m a moderator, and even though I’ll find it exhilarating if any killing does happen, it’ll make me really glad if you’re able to make it through this thing. Another Killing Game really never should have existed. And forcing me to moderate it? Come on, it’s bad enough that I exist!”

“Oh, I bet. It must be tough to have the motivations of a Monokuma, but also remember having the ideals of Kirara. And actually being put in a Killing Game with that contradiction going onnn…” Tooru crouched down, putting his hands on his knees. “I apologize for summoning you. I’m sure there’s some nice, relaxing activity that you do in your own time to cope with all of this, that I took you away from…”

“Yes. I watch documentaries. I love to learn,” Mono said, “The more information I add to my brain, the less prominent _her_ memories-”

Mono was rendered unable to finish that sentence, because there was a horrible sound of claws tearing through metal. She fell forward, her back sparking, and something stood behind her which may have once resembled a rabbit. Jun couldn’t think of the words for what to call it, other than a rabbit gone wrong. It had claws as long as its legs, and a wild look in its eyes.

“Whoops! I’m _very_ sorry about that, Kira. I’ll get you fixed up in just a bit,” Mercury’s voice echoed in the air around them. “As for you two, sorry you had to see that. It appears that one of the hazards woke up a _bit early_ tonight!”


	26. Daily Life: Day One (Outdoor Hazard)

Jun tensed, ready to run away from this thing- the “hazard’, as Mercury called it, but that was when it suddenly disappeared and she continued speaking.

“I don’t need to punish you for Kira’s insolence this time, so I put it back to sleep for now. But you see why I recommend staying inside at night, when they all wake up for real? That cutie’s the weakest hazard by far, and you looked _so_ scared! You might just have a heart attack if you see how big they can really get.”

“Why… Why put these hazards on the island?” Jun asked, “What’s the purpose of them? Don’t you want us to kill each other, not get killed by those things?”

“_Don’t_ worry, I never said that the hazards would kill you, did I?” Mercury sighed, and a nearby palm tree rustled, as if she were a giant breathing down on them. “Actually, I’ll admit it. I didn’t put them there! I can’t even really control them, though I can encourage them towards certain behaviors…”

“So it’s a virus in the program?” Tooru wondered.

“Exactly. Oh, you’re a smart one, Hanazaki. Those ‘hazards’ appeared during my testing phase and I just haven’t been able to be rid of them. I’m just rolling with the punches, though. Putting them into the game rules so that they’ve got their own time to thrive and don’t interfere with _my_ game. Who knows, maybe eventually you’ll figure out how to kill them?”

“Is that our alternate objective? Is it something like, kill every hazard on the island?” Jun asked.

“If you’d like to believe that, be my guest,” Mercury said.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Jun shouted, and there was no reply. The arbiter of their fates had decided that this conversation was over.

**9:00 PM / 2100 Hours**

“I’m gonna go ahead and say it. What the fuck was that about?” Tooru asked.

“I mean, I sure don’t know the answer!” Jun shrugged. “It’s… I have no idea what Mercury’s motivations are, or why that just happened, or what kind of computer virus would do _that_. I can’t even tell if she’s lying that they’re a virus and she actually put them in on purpose, or she’s telling the truth.”

“Maybe it’s not really an objective to kill them allll… But if we did that, she’d be grateful enough that we fixed her program and let us go?”

“...Maybe.” Jun frowned. The image of that creature haunted him, no matter what its origin was. It had appeared when Mono was speaking ill of Mercury, which implied she really could control them after all. Then again, why would Mercury give the impression that she wasn’t completely in control? If anything, he thought, that should make somebody look weak, if they can’t fully control their creation. Lying about the nature of the hazards didn’t fully make sense, and Jun’s mind was running with it again, with the theory he couldn’t shake. There was no way that Mercury was working alone, he thought. Somebody else had to be doing something.

And that somebody else, for some reason or another, added the ‘hazards’, right? That had to be it. That was why one of them could appear seemingly on cue, without being ‘under Mercury’s control’. It was a virus, but it was one developed by someone who agreed with whatever Mercury’s end goal was. Maybe it was a crackpot theory too, and maybe he just couldn’t see it himself. Or maybe he was right. It probably didn’t matter if he was or what he thought about this situation. There was no objective connected to finding out more about what motivated this game. There was no objective at all, aside from getting away with murder. An objective which set two people free.

Which set two people free, well. Jun had no plans, but he could see how, without any other option to finish this game, somebody might be willing to. Somebody might be tempted to, Hell, he could be tempted to. He had no ability to do something like that. Killing, or getting away with it? He wasn’t sure which part, but as a whole, it wasn’t even worth trying. For him. He couldn’t trust the others nearly as much. And having seen that hazard… Tooru…

“I need to go back to my room right now,” Jun said, and took off. He didn’t even think again until he was back in his own room, the door shut behind him, alone. Homura wasn’t back. Homura who… Jun did trust Homura. He’d trust him, not to kill him in his sleep. He worried about Shin, being Tooru’s roommate and all, but. He wasn’t a hero, he was just a coward with fears that were probably unfounded. Telling Shin about these worries might just make him come across as paranoid.

Then, trying to tell Shin could put him in the vicinity of Tooru again. Tooru Hanazaki who also saw the hazard. Who, no doubt, was also coming to understand the situation. They were trapped on a dangerous island. Going outside at night would bring them face to face with those, and much more frightening creatures, if Mercury was to be believed. The only way out was murder. At any second, you could be murdered. Maybe Jun was afraid for no reason, maybe he was!

But he didn’t know Tooru very well at all. Who even was the guy? Hikari and Ayano said they were all friends now but all Jun knew about Tooru… He was allergic to certain meats, he hated having false models in museums where he worked, and he napped often. That was the extent of it, and that did nothing to imply to Jun that he wouldn’t be capable of murder. And they’d been alone. So he ran.

Tomorrow, it was probable that more people will have seen the hazards. Everyone was curious, they’d at least look out windows or crack doors to see what could be going on at night on this island. And they might come to the same conclusion as Jun, that they couldn’t just pretend everything was fine, that they’d been kidnapped just to have a nice time and get to know each other. Jun had, somehow, not a single doubt in this moment.

If the Killing Game didn’t take place, those hazards would eventually overtake the entire island.

It was only a matter of time till somebody died, some way or another. And that… Was not a very nice thought to fall asleep to, was it?


	27. Daily Life: Day Two (Suspicion Resolution)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

In spite of the troubling thoughts which had carried Jun Barasu to bed, he’d managed to fall asleep about an hour after the canned nighttime announcement played. Just like Kagome’s lab, it seemed the dorm rooms were soundproof. He didn’t hear anybody else arriving back to their own rooms, and following nightfall, didn’t hear any of the noises outside he was sure that the hazards should have been making. That was good. He certainly wouldn’t have been able to get the sleep that he did otherwise.

“Good morning, everyone! Remember that breakfast is in two hours. Sorry to say, but I do have an announcement to make during the meal,” Mono’s voice was what woke Jun up. “So get freshened up and come along to the dining hall, now that it’s open again. And, I’d like to give you a reminder. It’s recommended to sleep in your own rooms, as it’s incredibly unsafe to be so vulnerable somewhere without a lock.”

Jun sat up. He would normally spend some more time under the blankets before actually being ready to face the day, but the way Mono said that made him think of something. He glanced over to the other half of the room, and frowned with his suspicions confirmed. Homura wasn’t there. Given where he’d last seen him last night, and how he wasn’t back in the room by the time Jun fell asleep… Actually, it was probably for the better he wasn’t here now. If he’d still been in the labs building, it was safer to sleep there than to come back at night.

Jun climbed out of bed and stood in the middle of the room. He had a routine of morning calisthenics that he tried to keep up with, and this morning would be no exception from it. They only took him about ten minutes, then he walked over to his closet. He hadn’t bothered changing into pajamas last night, even though they looked quite comfortable. He’d have to remember to take the time tonight. He grabbed another pair of his everyday wear, though, and brought them into his bathroom.

It was a very basic bathroom, but all he needed was a shower. There was a shelf with a few products on it; He kind of chuckled, looking at it. Sure, it reflected the unnerving fact that whoever put them here had also picked their brains for all kinds of information, but on the other hand, it was a haphazard mind-picking. After all, rather than take enough time to know what shower products he actually used, the program just had a replica of his home’s shower caddy. Everyone else in his house had longer, nicer hair than him, so only two objects were actually his. A two-in-one shampoo, and a bodywash.

Newly cleaned, Jun got dressed and combed his hair. In spite of his best efforts, that one cowlick still stood straight up. Even gelling, which he’d tried before, didn’t actually help. It was a pain, because his hair was really quite smooth and flat other than that one bit. Short enough to prevent the cowlick, however, just didn’t look good on him at all, so it was a sacrifice he had to make.

Doing his morning routine like this helped. Going to bed with a panic attack wasn’t exactly a first for him, and it always helped to get on with normalcy the next day. And if he thought too much about how he was only playing at normalcy and nothing was actually normal here, well, that wouldn’t help him at all so he just kicked those thoughts into submission in his brain and-

What was he saying, kicking them into submission? Why would he do that? He buried them, is what he did, and got on with his day. When he walked into the lobby area of the dorms, he saw that Tooru was waiting for him, and just about ducked back inside-

“Wait!” Tooru called out, which got Jun to at least stop in the doorway. “Hey. Are you doing okay? You kind of just ran offff, last night. Is it somethin’ I said?”

“Nothing you said,” Jun said, “More just… What we saw. I sort of panicked. I, well. I realized after seeing it that committing a murder really is the only way out of here. And then that I sure wouldn’t do it. But that I don’t know you well enough to know you wouldn’t do it, and we were alone together, and you could kill me right then if you wanted to.”

“Good for you I don’t want to. You’re right about the opportunity. Could even pin it on the thing that killed Mono. Speaking of. You hear her on th’ intercom? Good to know she’s okay and all.”

“Oh. Right!” Jun stepped out and closed the door behind him again. “I kind of assumed she would be fine, the way Mars said it, and the fact that she’s a moderator and not a participant, and all. But it’s nice to have it confirmed.”

“She’s our friend, after all.” Tooru crossed his arms and shut his eyes. “Well, look at me. Six whole friends on the first day of the Killing Game, I am on a _rooooll_.”

“Six?” Jun wondered.

“You and the girls. Yoshiro, Tsubasa. And Mono. That’s six by my count. And, yeaaaah, getting along with Tsubasa. We spent some time chatting after I got back in last night.”

“I guess if you put it that way, I probably also have six friends already. Though, that’s a bit of an overstatement since I already had two when the game started. Still. Those two, you. Tsubasa as well. Saihara. Mono.” He tapped the side of his cheek. “Er, hm. It might be seven? Honestly, I have no idea… I thought I was getting along well with Shinku, but there was something kind of weird between us last night. He didn’t even sleep in the room. So I don’t know.”

“Preexisting friends count. I knew Yoshiro beforehand, too,” Tooru said, “See? Your revelation’s all wrong, we can totally use this opportunity to make friends an’ have a nice time.”

“...Mind if I ask you something a bit rude?”

“Ask away. Won’t hold it against you.”

“Where’d you grow up? I grew up on another planet and all, so I’m not really versed on accents, but I’m pretty sure you have one. If you’re actually from Earth. Somebody I knew in Dome City did talk an awful lot like you.”

“Awe, yeah, you got me,” Tooru said, “But not quite the way you think. My grandpa. Grew up living with him, and he spoke Ainu a lot. So my whole family’s got a bit of a peculiar dialect. _And_, I know an aunt of mine ended up there, so it’s possible you’ve met. Ooor maybe just somebody else with similar heritage. It’s just a liiiil tinge away from standard Japanese. If you can understand Ebizakaya and Snow, mine shouldn’t be any trouble for you…”

“Right. Because Ebizakaya’s is…”

“It’s not any regional dialect, she’s just a mess. And Snow-”

“Snow’s accent isn’t what I’d expect it to be,” Jun realized, “He doesn’t have any sort of British accent, on his Japanese. It’s more like he’s an American English speaker. Do you think he’s lying about where he’s from?”

“Whoaaa, there. Paranoid man.” Tooru raised his hands in front of himself. “Don’t assume that he’s _lying_. There’s regions of the UK which don’t have as strong an accent, you know. Plus, some of it’s probably not as noticeable because of similar sounds. Notice how he pronounces his ‘ah’ sounds and you’ll see it. He’s not conscious enough of pronunciation rules to fake that one.”

“Oh.”

“You’re pretty quick to jump on concerns ‘bout your peers, aren’t you? Come on. Eeease up. I don’t really think anyone’s lying about who they are. If they were, well. Why would Itadai be so distasteful if fakin’ it was a valid option?”

“I guess you have a point,” Jun said, “I’m just scared.”

“S’Okay. I think all of us are.”


	28. Daily Life: Day Two (Intention Theory)

** 7:00 AM / 0700 Hours **

With the confusions between them settled, Tooru and Jun made their way over to the Dining Hall. Once there, they joined Ayano and Hikari, who had already arrived and claimed a table. Most of their peers were already there, in fact. Even though dinnertime was officially at eight, it made sense to arrive early. It would be nice to have some food before whatever Mono’s announcement was, and Nanjo was already hard at work by the smell.

“Morning Jun.” Ayano threw up two peace signs. “Day two! We’ve made it through!”

“Well, just barely,” Tooru said, “We had a run-in with one of the hazards last night. Did either of yoou take a look outside?”

“Nah. Wasn’t worth it,” Hikari said, “What was it? How’d it look? How close to dying did you really get? Why were you outside after nighttime?”

“Slow down!” Tooru exclaimed.

“It was a creature. It looked like a rabbit, but wrong, and had really long claws,” Jun answered the questions in order, more than used to Hikari’s rapidfire. “We weren’t really close to dying and we weren’t out after nightfall. It was just a bit before nine. Mono got attacked by it, and Mars said something about it being a punishment for refusing to ‘accept she’s Kirara’, or something? And also said that she didn’t actually plan on them being here. Which is just _swell_. Lovely when the Mastermind of the death game you’re stuck in doesn’t actually have control over the horrifying monsters which come out at night.”

“Oh. Yes, that seems bad,” Ayano said, “I do not like the sound of that much at all. And you’re sure she’s telling the truth?”

“I’d be more likely to think she was lying if she said she could control them perfectly. Admitting that you didn’t mean to put monsters in your Killing Game seems like something you’d have no reason to lie about,” Jun said, “She said it was a computer virus, but my theory is that somebody else’s been involved and put them in.”

“Well that’s a stupid fucking theory. If somebody’s willing to be involved in something this awful, why would they go ahead and sabotage part of it at the same time?” Hikari asked, “It’s not like there could be somebody else like Mono, forced to take part and just looking for ways to help. The thing you described doesn’t even seem like it _could_ help us, so what’s the deal?”

“Maybe that person and Mercury have similar, but not exactly the same, goals?” Jun offered, “One person wants to have a Killing Game and the other wants to test their Hazards Program, and they both want the same end result?”

“That makes sense, actually. What cooould that end result be?” Tooru wondered, putting his chin in his palm.

“That’s… I don’t know that one,” Jun admitted, “I don’t even have a little bit of a theory there. If it was to punish our families for leaving the planet, there wouldn’t be participants from Earth. If it was to show that Earth is still in trouble, there wouldn’t be participants from Dome City. So it probably isn’t something that political? And if it was just somebody who wished the Killing Games never ended, I would think that they’d keep more to the traditional structure than this. Plant a Mastermind among us, not say outright who’s in charge…”

“Maybe this Mars bitch is just crazy and she wants to see people suffer,” Hikari said, “And we were the only Ultimates that she was able to find. The ‘Killing Game’ is a pretense, she follows the rules as loosely as she wants and hopes that it still makes its participants as fucking miserable as it always has in the past?”

“The name does sound familiar,” Homura said, suddenly standing directly behind Jun. “Like she might have been tangentially involved in one of those old games? I dunno. Just a possibility. I’m gonna go sit over there now.”

Just like that, he was gone before Jun could ask if he was alright. And further, before anybody was able to continue the conversation, breakfast was ready. Nanjo announced it while standing by the buffet table that it seemed he had set up with Kagome, who was already serving herself some egg whites. She wasn’t kidding about her diet, was she? Jun got up to serve himself. Somehow, Ayano ended up right in front of him in line even though he was sure he stood first, and just like she said she would, she took only five pieces of dry toast for breakfast; That, and a glass of milk to wash it down with.

Meanwhile, Jun actually took full advantage of the options here. A piece of french toast, some bacon, some scrambled eggs, because Nanjo really went all out making this breakfast, with plenty of options. As for the vegan, gluten-free option, he’d made grits with coconut milk. Jun wasn’t actually going to try those, but they seemed like a solid choice, and he spotted Evie filling a bowl near to the brim with them.

On his way back to his seat, he passed the table where the Mirais sat with Kagome and Saya. Strange group, but since it seemed that Kagome had… Well, even walking past, he could hear her make some weird comment about how Nanjo would make a wife very happy someday. Seemed strange that Kagome had attached herself to him, given her attitude earlier yesterday. But then, maybe she was _really_ addicted to tobacco, and such a drastic shift made sense. He didn’t understand those things well enough to pass judgment. He sat back down.

Breakfast was delicious, and there was plenty of time to spare before ‘official breakfast’ and the announcement that Mono had for them. He imagined it could be nothing good, of course, but at least he had some incredibly tasty food in the meantime, to balance out the day’s good-to-bad things ratio early on.

It was very kind of Nanjo, to go all out on making breakfast, and Jun could already anticipate an alright dinner, too. Homura had volunteered on that one, and despite their possible falling-out, Jun got the feeling that his roommate would be at least a little skilled in that area.


	29. Daily Life: Day Two (First Motives)

** 8:00 AM / 0800 Hours**

And at exactly eight… Mono didn’t quite show up yet. Jun was watching the clock, and she actually didn’t make her appearance right away. Nobody was going to go anywhere, given that she did say she’d have an announcement, but it was still a bit surprising that she didn’t show up right on the dot. After about five minutes, Ryota spoke up, “What do you think…”

Before he could finish, that was when Mono appeared, bursting forth from a table nobody was sitting at. She completely flipped her grin into a frown briefly, then hopped over to Jun’s table, since it was closer to the center of the room. “Hey everybody! Sorry I’m late. I was still working on fixing myself up from a litte ~incident~ last night. Lost track of time. But I’m here now to give you my announcement!”

“Incident?” Homura asked, “What happened, Mono??”

“Oh, I mouthed off and got attacked by a hazard, no big.” She shrugged. “I’ve been killed worse for less, I’m kinda used to it. But it did make me a few minutes late today… And I’m doing this because she told me to, so that’s pretty rude. Ehh, moving on, moving on. Let’s play a game! It’s called, guess what my announcement is!”

“You’re setting us all free actually, and this was all just a sick prank,” Shin offered.

“That’d be one _shitty_ prank. Somebody could have died on the first day you know,” Homura said, “So if it is a prank, well, I’m _very_ disappointed!”

“It isn’t a prank,” Mono said, “Sorry to say, this Killing Game is the real deal, and if I had the power to set you free, I sure would have. As it is, I am but a figurehead. Take another guess!”

“Gee. Look, we all know it’s going to be some dumb fucking shit.” Yume had her feet up on the table. “Stop tryna be cute. Making us _guess_ like the answer isn’t going to be something terrible. _Rea-lly_. You want us to throw it out there, shit that’s gonna be bad for us. Like, oh yeah, here’s my guess! The rules have changed and now you’ll kill all of us if somebody doesn’t commit a murder!”

“That’s been used before,” Homura said, “It’s cheap.”

“And how are we supposed to know that Mars isn’t a whole-ass cheapskate!?” She snapped back.

“Don’t worry about that one… It’s useless to her if a motive like that has to be used.” Mono fidgeted. “But if you put it like that, well. Making you guess might actually be a bit insensitive…”

“A bit?” Yume scoffed.

“Hey now, hey!” Saya jumped out of her seat and raised both hands. “I agree, it’s insensitive, in very poor taste. _But_ I have a guess anyway.”

“Hoooh?” Yume chuckled. “Well, Yoshiro. Why not take a stab?”

“I’d prefer not to do any stabbing, but I’ll give it a shot~” She winked. “It’s the second meal of the game, so obviously, you’re here to deliver our first motives. Aren’t you?”

“And the win goes to Yoshiro!” Mono confirmed, pointing in her direction.

“Oh, yay!” Saya giggled, and sat back down. Yume leaned over and patted her shoulder.

“The first motive is called ‘would you rather’. I’ll be posing two people a question at each meal, and they’ll say which they would prefer. Then, I’ll reveal the absolutely honest answer to that question,” Mono explained, “Since it’s a motive, they will be pretty revealing, but you know yourselves pretty well, _right_? So you can make the decision of which option will put you in less danger.”

“Don’t think there’s anythin’ bout me what makes for danger?” Irarako said, looking up at the ceiling with both hands on her cheeks. “That’s… Unfair! Shouldn’t a motive make everyone in danger?”

“She has a good point,” Syoko said, “If it’s a motive for murder, then it shouldn’t discriminate. Everybody should be motivated to kill, or have someone motivated to kill them, by their motive. If certain people don’t have any dark secrets to contend with, then it just doesn’t work, does it?”

“Well, er. There’s no one-size fits all motive,” Mono said, “So uh. Unfortunately? As you seem to think it is? This motive will be tougher on some of you than others.”

“Obviously it’s unfortunate…” Evie dipped his head. “People who are more likely to get targeted are definitely going to feel bad…”

“It’s a Killing Game. We’re not really concerned about making people feel bad for having worse secrets than others,” Mono said, “Like… Can we just get on with it?”

“Yeah, may as well rip the band-aid off,” Yume said, “Like, which two are even dealing with it right now? If it’s a decision, sure, I’ll take a fall.”

“The order’s predetermined,” Mono said, “And up first will be Homura Shinku, then Kagome Itadai. Without any further ado, Shinku. Would you rather share your deepest fear or your worst memory?”

“_Wow_, we’re really just getting right up into it?” Homura said, “Really. Motives like these usually hold off a little longer, you know. Exposing secrets to everybody else when we barely even know each other yet. Well, I guess you can go with the fear one for me.”

“Right.” Mono nodded. “Shinku’s worst fear is of one of his close friends suddenly murdering him. This does not refer to ‘being killed by a close friend’, but rather, a heel-turn from a pleasant event to a murder.”

“Weird clarification, but go off I guess,” Kagome said, “Are my options the same?”

“No,” Mono said, “Each time a question gets used, it gets bumped to the end of the list of questions. So yours is… Would you rather share your worst memory, or your most hated person?”

“Oh, most hated person, for sure! That one probably won’t be a surprise to _anyone_.”

“Er. Well, actually. It might be.” Mono looked away. “Are you sure you don’t want to change your decision?”

Kagome’s tone was suddenly venomous when she responded, “I’m positive.”

“Okay, okay. That’s fair. So, Kagome Itadai’s most hated person… Is her own mother.”

“...Huh?”


	30. Daily Life: Day Two (Trust and Fear)

“Why would you say something like that?” Kagome questioned, completely frozen where she sat. She glanced around at her tablemates for just a second before returning her gaze to Mono. “That doesn’t make any fucking sense!”

“I don’t come up with the truths, I just share them,” Mono said.

“But it isn’t the truth! How could it possibly-”

“I mean, it’s completely possible to hate your mom,” Evie interrupted, then brought his arms in close to himself with a start. “Sorry, sorry! Don’t know what came over me, I didn’t mean to interrupt you, I just…”

“Honestly, by my count,” Shin said, “It’s not just possible, but common, to hate your own mother.”

“What the Hell? Even if I did hate my mom, which I _don’t_,” Kagome snipped, “There isn’t any way she’d be my _most_ hated person. I mean, think about it. I work with terrible people for a living, there’s gotta be somebody else, just thinking logically. And given baseline, I mean. I’m pretty sure that I hate _most_ men more than I’d ever hate my mom. Your motives are bullshit, Mono.”

“They’re taken straight from your minds, so sorry to say, they’re not capable of being bullshit. It isn’t my fault that you’re too emotionally immature to know yourself. I even tried to warn you. At least with your worst memory, you would have seen it coming, what I’d say.”

“It’s exactly because I saw it coming that I couldn’t just let you say it.” Kagome crossed her arms. “But I thought I saw this one’s answer coming, too. Well. I mean, I guess not exactly. I wasn’t sure who exactly I hated most but it wasn’t gonna be her!”

“It _is_, though. So you’ll have to come to terms with that. Reevaluate yourself,” Mono said, “Surely, if you actually think about it, you’ll come to a better understanding of who you are and what you think of the people around you. It isn’t even by a little bit. By a long shot, deep in your heart, you hate her the most. It’s up to you if you want to figure out what that means.”

“I don’t and I won’t and having the memories of a psychologist doesn’t make you one!” She took a few deep breaths, then glared in Homura’s direction. “What about you? That fear was pretty weird. Do you think you can answer for that?”

“Me?” Homura asked, pointing at himself. “Well, I thought that Mono did a pretty good job of clarifying it, didn’t she? I’m scared of having a friend suddenly betray and kill me. It’s pretty specific, I know, but… If a close friend killed me in my sleep, or showed up at my house to murder me. I’m not really worried about that at all, I’d be okay with it. Maybe it’s just a side effect of watching so much True Crime? But I… It just really freaks me out, to think. Everything could be fine one moment, and then, it’s not. If somebody wants me dead, I want to be able to tell. I don’t want to be deceived, that somebody still cares about me before they kill me.”

“That’s _really_ specific,” Ayano said, “And it’s kind of exactly the worst fear to have during a Killing Game, isn’t it?”

“Oh, it would be. Except that I won’t be considering any of you my close friends. I’ll be ready at any minute, for you to turn on me.” Homura smiled. “No matter how charming or friendly you might seem, there is and will remain only one person in the whole world who I trust with my life! Please don’t be offended. My parents, who I love dearly, and my siblings… They don’t even count.”

“That’s a little bit heartless, isn’t it?” Nanjo asked, furrowing his brow. “Even with as much of a firestarter as Yume is, I believe she’d defend me to the death if need be.”

“What sort of a dumb shit belief is that? No need to _believe_, I obviously would! But, you’d do the same for me, so… Huh. Maybe we’d both just end up dead.”

Homura held his hands out as if this proved his point.

“I understan’ what you’re getting at here, Shinku!” Irarako called out with her hands cupped around her mouth to be heard even though she was plenty loud on her own, “I been on the back end of a stabbing before, myself. Trusting people is a scam!”

“Oh. Is that so?” Syoko asked, “Well, perhaps I could gain your trust. Much like a kind soul nursing a hurt puppy back to health and slowly letting it come to realize that this person won’t hurt it…”

“You think I’m a pupper?” Irarako asked, still yelling even though Syoko was right next to her, but at least her hands were dropped now. “That’s kinda sweet! I guess I sorta trust you. You’re all nice and cool and alla that.”

“Why thank you.”

“Hm, well. This game is kind of built on us distrusting each other, isn’t it? Sooo… I’ll trust everyone! Just to stick it to the Man-a-sensei.” Saya flexed an arm.

“That wasn’t a very good joke,” Tooru pointed out, “But, Yoshiro _is_ correct. Teeechnically, the least Killing Game thing we can possibly do is actually believe in each other.”

“On the individual level, putting your trust in somebody must be the worst option,” Shin said, “But when it comes to the preservation of the group, trusting each other is actually the best we can do. It’s a difficult situation. Our natural inclination is to believe everybody is an enemy, as that seems the way to maintain personal safety in this setting. But if people trust you, you should be safe from them. And if you trust them, they’re safe from you. Everyone is safer if we can put our personal hangups aside.”

“But that’s the thing about personal hangups. You kinda… Can’t?” Hikari said, “You just got them. Even if your brain says they’re stupid, you still keep on being stupid. So we can’t really find a solution.”

“Well if nothing else…” Shin grimaced. “We need to make an _effort_! We can’t just trust one or two people, because that puts everyone else in danger. If we try to pretend it’s not happening, that doesn’t help at all. We’ll be reminded at every turn, this _is_ a Killing Game. And God, obviously it’s going to be tempting, to escape with the person you trust or to let the two people you trust escape without you! I don’t want that to happen!”

“And we have a show of emotion from third-place cool goth,” Ryota observed, clicking his tongue. “For any curious of the cool goth rankings, it goes Nanjo, myself, Tsubasa, Yume. Not that Yume isn’t a cool goth. But she is a hot-tempered goth.”

“You know, that’s fair,” Yume said.

“Won’t anybody listen to what I have to _say_??” Shin questioned, slamming an elbow into the table in front of him.

“I don’t really think these people are interested in being addressed as a group…” Emi tapped him on the shoulder. “I think you have a good point, but _right after_ a motive delivery might not be the best time…”

Jun, on the other hand, was just tired of the hectic conversation that was managing to include nearly every participant. He started gathering up dishes again. He’d rather do a chore than keep on listening to these arguments.


	31. Daily Life: Day Two (Dishwashing, More Than Meets The Eye)

** 9:00 AM / 0900 Hours **

Jun had gathered up everybody’s dishes, and already had them soaking in the sink when he noticed a hand reach out, snatch one that he’d already scrubbed, and start drying it. He glanced over to see that hand belonged to Homura. “Uh, hey.”

“Hey there,” Homura said, “Sorry about last night. I know that it was weird.”

“Are you alright? You didn’t try to get back to the room at night, did you?”

“I just stayed in Nageko’s lab. I lay on one of the cots, but I wasn’t able to get to sleep…” He smiled, but it seemed to take up all of his attention to do so. “I took a look outside, though. Those things are pretty cool, even if they’re scary. I wasn’t gonna risk it.”

“So it wasn’t because of them that you couldn’t sleep.”

“No, it was because of you,” Homura said, holding up a plate. “Not anything that you _did_. Just you.”

“How? I won’t be offended. I just want to know.”

“It’s stupid.”

“Did my facepaint, uh, remind you of somebody who betrayed you once? Like that deepest fear thing?”

“H-Huh!?”

“So, not that?”

“Er...” He glanced away. “That’s an uncanny guess. I won’t deny it, though. It’s… Something along those lines, anyway. A friend of mine did make an attempt on my life once, and I’ve been terrified ever since that it’ll happen again. But, you know. Letting on to the others that I have that kind of experience in my past? Please do me a favor and keep it a secret?”

“Of course. It can just be between us roommates. Er, assuming… That it’s still okay with you? It would be complicated, but Ayano and Hikari wouldn’t mind letting me room with them, or somebody could trade with me, if it’s a problem. There’s no rule against using a different room, just whose Monopads can open the doors, so…”

“You don’t have to do that! I was just, you know. Having a moment? It’s not your fault, and if you don’t mind that I’m actually a lil bit of a _mess_... Basically, do you still want me to be your roommate? If yeah, then I will be.”

“I do want you to be. Assuming that you want to be? I mean. Well, I know you don’t plan on trusting anybody, but it would be nice to at least have somewhere that you’ve only got one person to watch out for, right?” Jun said, “And, I mean, who knows. You know almost nothing about me. Maybe in that kind of situation, I’d actually be able to protect you!”

“Oh, _sure_ you would.” Homura rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

“I mean, you’re just as worth protecting as everyone else here, and I can't pass up that sweet hero fantasy!” Jun said, “I think so, anyway. Even if the others don’t like you very much. You’re kinda fun to be around, and… I think I’m starting to understand a little bit, why you are the way you are.”

“No, no. I’m definitely _worth_ protecting on a base level! I just mean, well. Look at you. You really think you could, even if you would?”

“I’m stronger than I look!” Jun insisted, “Definitely not as much as Oowada, but, you know. I don’t exactly _lift_, but I’m not actually that weak.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself.”

He rolled his eyes, and just like that, the morning dishes were done. “Well, thanks for helping me out with these… I kind of just started because I wanted to get out of that argument out there. I noticed you didn’t actually chime in, even though it was your thing that got everyone talking about trust like that…”

“You didn’t chime in either. So I’m curious.” Homura hopped up to sit on the counter. “Well, I’ll tell you what I think first. I can’t trust anybody, personally, on my own. I know it’d be better if I could, but. I’m, reminder, kind of a mess. And so’s just about everyone else. That’s the _point_ of a Killing Game, after all. You don’t put happy people in the game to start with, so that they’re more likely to give in to the stress. But I still think we can be different. I still think it’s possible that nobody will actually die. Even if we can’t play hot potato with our lives.”

“I think so too? I mean, I wouldn’t have put it the way you just did, but, that’s about where I’m at. I want to trust people. I think that I can, mostly, but… I’m chronically anxious, too. Just last night, I got paranoid that Hanazaki was going to murder me,” Jun said, “I want to trust people, but my brain isn’t so keen on that. So I understand how you must feel. And, uh. Thanks for at least trusting me enough to tell me about what happened to you before.”

“I just confirmed what you suspected. Hopefully, nobody else can figure it out… Ugh. Just my luck that my shit gets exposed so early on. These types of motives are already intense for the first set, and being one of the first people… Means that fourteen people haven’t had their own dirty laundry hung out yet. Early in the cycle means people judge you and think about it more.”

“Is that what usually happens?” Jun asked.

“...Well, uh. There’s not a precedent for it. It just feels that way to me.” Homura shook his head. “Like I said, first motives usually _aren’t_ two-per-meal types. Everyone gets their own motives all at once. So by the time these motives roll around, someone’s already dead. There’s less judgment to be had there, than it feels like here, now, like this.”

“Maybe that’s why,” Jun said, “We already saw Mars change the way things work here once. Maybe she pushed the second set of motives first because she could tell that we weren’t going to be easy to convince to kill.”

“Huh. Maybe.” Homura adjusted his glasses. “Actually, that’s a nice thought. I’m cool with being thrown under the bus if that’s what it means. We’ve been here a day and we’ve already got the Mastermind scared that we won’t do what she wants.”

“Do you have, uh… Any idea why this is what she wants?” Jun wondered.

Homura clicked his tongue. “I think it’s got something to do with Mono. But, that’s just a theory? I mean. If it was just to put on a Killing Game to try and impress her Mono-Crush, I don’t see why she’d bother picking up anyone from _space_. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. Whatever motivations I could think of. I just don’t know why she’d go to all the effort to get participants from two different planets.” Jun sighed. “Not that it matters. I really doubt that it’d be an objective, to figure out why she’s doing this to us.”

“It matters. Not because of an objective. Because we deserve to know why this is happening. Because I wanna know. Why us? Why now? And why so important to her that she’s not just using stock programming where she could? It’s a lot.” He looked down. “And, uh. I’m not sure I wanna think about it too much right now. I think that I’m going to take a nap, since. I didn’t sleep last night and all.”

So, Jun watched Homura leave.


	32. Daily Life: Day Two (Commotion)

Jun didn’t really feel like leaving the kitchen right away. He’d finished doing the dishes more quickly than he expected to, and even taking the time to talk with Homura hadn’t quite given his nagging anxieties time to quiet down. There were a few of them. The root was evidently just the fact that he was surrounded by arguing people, sure, but he couldn’t also ignore the concern that he’d be picked for the motive sometime soon. Given Kagome’s reaction… Did he know himself? Would he be able to predict what Mono would say about him?

He thought that he could. He was pretty sure there was nothing in his past which he wouldn’t want shared, but how could he be sure? What if, like Kagome, he ended up saddled with ‘most hated person’? He couldn’t think of who he hated off the top of his head. There were some candidates, but nobody stood out. So what if it turned out to be one of his parents too? Or, worse for this situation, one of his friends? He really didn’t think it would be, but there was no way to know, was there?

Especially since he wasn’t even sure how intact his memory was right now.

He sighed, and pressed his palm against his forehead. Maybe sitting in here alone wasn’t actually going to to help him, but it wasn’t like the people out there were calming either. There wasn’t any opportunity for normalcy in this situation, that was the real problem. He couldn’t calm down, there wasn’t any chance for him to actually catch his breath. He was either alone with his thoughts, or overwhelmed by other people. Once more, he understood how the idea of getting out through murder might appeal to somebody. Somebody with less anxiety about committing the act itself, than he did.

It was strange to think, if he did survive long enough, that this could _become_ normal for him at some point. He didn’t have time to go off on that tangent, though, because there was suddenly a loud noise from back in the dining hall, and an ensuing clamor in which several people were yelling things that he couldn’t really make out. That sounded… Serious. Did he really have to go deal with that? He had to go deal with that. He’d just be more anxious staying in here and not knowing what happened.

He walked out and felt distinctly out of place trying to figure out everything that was going wrong right now. Homura had already gone back to the room, it seemed; He was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the rest of Jun’s own table, or Syoko, but everybody else was there. Evie was on the ground, propped on one elbow. Kagome and Irarako were both crouched next to him. Emi was holding one of Yume’s wrists in a single hand, while Saya had the other in both arms.

Yume herself looked absolutely shocked, frozen, and like this act of keeping her in place was absolutely unnecessary. Everyone else, the rest of the boys, were standing a bit away seeming just as unsure of the scene as Jun was having just walked into it.

“I- I didn’t mean to!” Yume whipped her head around to see Jun, defending herself to the only person who seemed to have a chance at making a judgment in her favor. “I swear! I don’t know what happened, I just. I’m not _that_ fucking strong!”

“You’re clearly not,” Emi said, “But… Well, let’s calm down? Figure out what actually just happened and stop just yelling?”

“Yeah, what… _did_ just happen?” Jun asked, looking to Evie. With his direction, everyone else turned their stares on the injured party as well.

“I, uh. Bumped into Miss Yume, so she pushed me away. Perfectly understandable.” He waved one hand in dismissal. “She didn’t know, so please don’t hold it against her, but. Well, it’s on me a bit too, for not expecting it and letting myself fall over, so-”

“So get to the point?” Saya said.

“Right. Right, see.” Evie looked away. “My leg is broken? And, it’s true. Miss Yume probably isn’t strong enough to break somebody’s leg just by pushing them over! But, I do have. Hypophosphatasia.”

“What now?” Irarako asked.

“It’s uh… It could be described as congenital osteoporosis? It’s why I have to take calcium tabs to make up for my lactose intolerance. My bones barely know how calcium works as-is, let alone if I were, uh. Deficient in it. If you wanna get really layman; I was born with glass bones.”

“And paper skin?” Shin asked.

“No, just the bones.”

“Even so…” Kagome turned to glare at Yume. “We all know you weren’t on good terms with Snow. Maybe you did do this on purpose, having figured it out…”

“That’s not fair to her!” Saya spoke on Yume’s behalf, “There’s no way she could have figured it out, and besides, she’s as surprised as the rest of us…”

“Nonetheless,” Nanjo said, “Yume, there’s no way you could have known, that’s true. But considering that there’s no way for you to know if any given person might have a vulnerability like this, you might consider being a bit less physical with those who mean you no harm…”

“And _how_,” Yume hissed, “Am I supposed to _know_ that he means me no harm? Come on. You know as well as I do, even if nobody here’s gonna commit a murder, there’s plenty of other crimes. And _anybody_ is capable of doing bad things, no matter how goddamned innocent they might look…”

“Well, I can’t really change your mind,” Evie said, “I won’t try to. Just, uh. Please don’t do this again?”

“Stay away from me and I won’t _have_ to.” Yume looked away, glaring at a wall now. Emi had let go of one of her arms, but Saya still held the other. “Look, I am _sorry_ for making this happen. But at the same time, if you’re this fragile, maybe look where you’re going a little better and _don’t_ bump into people who just might have the reflex to shove you away?”

“You’re really blaming _him_?” Nanjo questioned, “Yume, you’re in the wrong here.”

“...Fucking coward-ass,” She muttered, and jerked her arm away from Saya to take a few steps toward her brother. She just had a few words to say as she passed him on her way out of the room. “You always do this to me. I’m always in the wrong. Even _if_ it was your fault, it’s mine somehow, huh?”

And she was gone before Nanjo could respond.

“Obviously you had nothing to do with this…” Kagome griped, “What’s she on about?”

“That’s… Not about this situation,” Nanjo said, “I just. I’ve let her down before, with something much more serious than this. Situations like these just open up old wounds. Please, it’s… Just try not to hold it against her too much?”

“I won’t,” Evie said, “Anyone who wants to can be angry in my stead… But, I _could_ probably use some crutches.”


	33. Daily Life: Day Two (Not All The Way Stupid)

Nanjo and Kagome volunteered to go to the gift shop to find crutches, or something which could at least be used as them, for Evie. Jun and Irarako took up the other job of getting Evie back to his room to rest for now, instead of just sitting with a broken leg in the middle of a public area. Saya decided to find Yume and try to talk to her, and everyone else scattered to their own activities that Jun was not made aware of. He helped Evie with the shoulder of the uninjured side, while Irarako took the injured side, as she was a bit taller and therefore would support more of Evie’s weight on the way to his room.

Upon arriving there, they set him down on his bed, and Irarako dropped to a knee to grab that leg. “I went ahead an’ picked up some gauze from the giftshop, yesterday’s afternoon and all. Comfy if I set it for ya?”

“...I think so?” Evie tilted his head. “If you’re asking to set my leg… My mom used to do that for me, mostly, so I don’t know how. You can’t do any worse than I would myself.”

Irarako gave a nod, then pulled a length of gauze from her sweatshirt pocket. She rolled up the leg of Evie’s pants to get directly at the skin, which luckily hadn’t been broken in the process. Jun trusted that with a disorder like this, Evie did know when his leg was actually broken, so…

“Feelin’ like… A greenstick?” Irarako questioned as felt at his leg to figure out the best way to set it. She gave him a puzzled look.

“Oh! Yes, most of them are that kind because of the way my bones are underdeveloped. It wasn’t really the impact of falling over that broke it, but the way I moved when I was falling,” Evie said, “I’m surprised you could tell, though. Do you have any little siblings?”

“Nah. But I do get helpin’ out round the dojo quite lots,” Irarako said, “Plenny lil kids get injured bout these ways. Sorry, this’n gonna hurt bits.” She hardly finished her last word before she picked a certain spot on Evie’s leg and slid the gauze behind it before pulling it taut, and wrapping it around the rest of the leg. He didn’t even squeak.

“I’m used to it,” Evie said, “You did that really efficiently, though… Are _you_ sure that your talent is as the Ultimate Kendoka?”

“Yessir. Much not smart ‘nough to be a real medicalfessional. Just know a lil bitta practical skills.” She flexed an arm. “Great for you, ain’t it?”

“It really is!” Evie confirmed, “But… Now that you’ve got me back here, I might like to be alone for just a bit? I need some time with myself.”

“Oh! Sure thing!” Irarako proclaimed, then hopped up. Before Jun could, naturally, agree, she instead grabbed him by the upper arm and pulled him along out of the room. Seriously? What about him made people so sure that he could just manually moved about? Obviously he _could_, but that was besides the point.

“That was impressive,” Jun said once they were out in the hallway, reclaiming his arm but otherwise ignoring her transgression. “The way you set that bone, I mean. I guess I wouldn’t have expected that from you? I don’t know.”

“Well.” Irarako laced her fingers and looked up at the ceiling. “S’not like I’m all the way stupid, ya get? Just get things mixed up somewhere long the way between my brain and my mouth. And a lil bit idiot, too, sure. But not _all_ the way. So I got skills that make sense for me. Base first aid, stuff like that? I’m Ultimate Kendoka. Not just skilled myself, but reppin’ the values of the sport. Helping and carin’ for others who wanna learn, that’s important!”

“If you put it that way, I feel like an asshole for being surprised…”

“Good. Teacha not to go all covered book-judging.”

“I wouldn’t say I was judging. I didn’t think you were a bad or unskilled person when I thought you didn’t have the mental fortitude for first aide! I was _assuming_. There’s a different.”

“Know what they say about assume. Ass gets made of me _and_ ‘u’.”

“...I guess you’re right, I’m the asshole either way.” Jun groaned, and knocked at his own forehead. “And I was just talking to Syoko, too, about wondering what sort of impressions you make on people. She thinks that you guys all just think of her like an airhead who’s full of herself, and I bet you don’t think much about me at all, since I’m pretty boring and all…”

“Bep. Bep.” Irarako completely accurately imitated ‘incorrect’ buzzers from a gameshow. “Wrong both ways. I been thinking Saihara is a _genius_ who’s fulla herself. And fulla others too? She never thought I was all the way stupid, unlike you. You ain’t borin’ though. Do think bout you. You got… Potential.”

“Potential?”

“Shine with the power of who you might become!” She pointed both her index fingers at him.

“Are you saying that’s what I am right now? Shining with the power of who I might be in the future? Like, I’m gonna go far in life?”

“Yeah yeah. Might fly under some people’s radars but I ain’t some peoples. Can tell. You’re just brimmin’ with potential. Saihara might be good as she’s gonna get, max goodness. You? On ya way.”

“Well, thank you,” Jun said, “If nothing else, Syoko does consider me her friend. So that’s worth something?”

“Pbthb. Lame-o. Don’t rely on being put valid by folks! Worth somethin’ is the stuff you already got.” Irarako crossed her arms and looked away. “Wouldn’t be here if’n it weren’t.”

“...That’s true, huh,” Jun said, “That’s not exactly _comforting_, but you know. It tracks, at least.”

“Sure does.”

“You know, when I heard the commotion in the dining hall… When Snow got knocked over, I was terrified that somebody had died,” Jun said, “That’s what this place will do to you. This situation, I mean. I was really worried. And… I was relieved when I saw that wasn’t the case.”

“Snow’s bout gonna be vulnerable, eh? What with crutches. It’s worryin’. I don’t… Don’t want him to die. He seems a good kid. Don’t want anyone to die! But.” She gritted her teeth. “Least some of us, me, might deserve it. Ain’t him deserve any o’this.”


	34. Daily Life: Day Two (Syoko is Here Now)

** 10:00 AM / 1000 Hours **

“Hey you two.” Syoko had arrived. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, hey Syoko,” Jun said, “Snow bumped into Yume and she pushed him over and his leg broke. We helped him get back to his room just now, then we started talking because I’m a massive tool who assumed that Ebizakaya was dumb just because she talks in a weird way.”

“...Ah. That is not what I was expecting to hear.” She stopped short. “Sounds serious. Is he alright?”

“Yeah, s’all fine.” Irarako confirmed, “Set the bone! ‘Nd Nanjodai’s getting some crutches.”

“Nanjodai?” Syoko asked, but seemed to interpret it mere seconds later. “Oh, Nanjo and Itadai! Of course. Though you must know if you say it like that, it sounds like you’re implying that they’re involved. You know. ~Romantically~.”

“They might be.” Irarako shrugged. “Howm I s’posed to know? How’s any of us?”

“...Yeah, when you put it that way,” Syoko said, “Anybody can have any sort of secret, can’t they? We only even know that some of us knew each other before this because they disclosed. It’s completely possible there are more connections that people haven’t mentioned…”

“Do you think it’s possible that Itadai was acting up like that because she wanted us to think that she _wouldn’t_ associate with Nanjo?” Jun wondered.

“Pretty counterproductive to set that up, then begin openly associating with Nanjo anyway, isn’t it?” Syoko asked. She raised a finger. “It doesn’t make sense to assume something like that. Rather, didn’t she give an explanation for why she stopped behaving so badly? Shouldn’t we believe that?”

“That’s… Worrisome,” Jun said, “I mean. It isn’t like being in an irritable mood would completely change her ideals. Just make her less skilled at hiding them if she realizes that they’re not exactly social things to believe…”

“Oh. Hm, yes, that explanation isn’t quite on the optimistic side, now is it?” Syoko admitted, “But, there are of course other options. Perhaps Nanjo is simply such a charming lad that she’s willing to change her ways for his sake. Or, maybe she gets a thrill out of making us debate like this, and it was still an act for _this_ purpose.”

“But we’d… Never actually have this conversation in front of her,” Jun said, “That doesn’t line up either.”

“Does it hafta line up?” Irarako wondered, “It’s just Nanjodai concerned there. Those two, an’ not us or nothin’. We don’t hafta have this connersation neither! It’s nonna _our_ business.”

“That’s actually a good point. I suppose I was so eager to flex my brain muscles of excellent investigation that I didn’t stop to think that this might not need investigating. I can be a bit headstrong that way, I’ll admit it.”

"Bein' headstrong's fine. Mean, if Killing Game actually goes an' starts," Irarako said, "Then, all this stuff might be rel-vant again. And that vestigative streak too, for sure. Hopin' it don't need to be, shore, but ifn it does? Then it'll be great."

"Awe, you don't need to say that, I know." Syoko giggled. "Really now. Then, I guess that most of you here don't really know your full degrees of perfection, so for most people, reassuring them of their abilities is a valid social strategy!"

"Well. I wouldn' say perfection, but I got full out awareness what my abilities are." Irarako clapped a hand to her sternum. "Even if the estimatin's under par!"

"Come on, I already apologized for that..." Jun complained.

"Yeah, ya did. Don't mean others ain't underin' me too."

"Oh. Yes, I guess that's true. Even though I know better now... Well, it's unfortunate, but it's kind of natural to assume that language corresponds with intelligence," Jun said, "Even if it turns out to be incorrect. Most people probably _do_ think the same way about you."

"I don't," Syoko said.

"We know, Syoko," Jun said.

"I think that Ira is a wonderfully capable young woman."

"I know, Syoko!" Irarako clapped her hands together. "But it's still nice to my ears going hear it again! You're so kind."

"Just another one of the many things that I'm excellent at," Syoko said, and lifted a hand to perform a full-blown oujousama laugh. It was starting to get a bit repetitive, all this singing her own praises, Jun thought. But at the same time, he'd gotten through them last night and seen a bit of Syoko beyond the pedestal that she placed herself on, and he felt that she had a good heart. Irarako seemed to be able to tell that too.

"Hey!" Jun had an idea. "Syoko, why don't you do some makeup for Ebizakaya? I really liked the facepaint design you gave me last night, and it was a lot of fun."

"I never worn makeup before, not really," Irarako said, "But any sort'd be fun! Could make me all pretty an' stuff like a proper lady... Or look like my face been split open turnin' into a horrible monster! Oh oh, orrr, what if both? Proper lady what with face splittin'?"

"...Oh, you're the one I've searched for," Syoko said, and put her hands on Irarako's shoulders. "Is it really true? Would you like both FX and Makeup? The full extent of my abilities put to action on the canvas of your beautiful face?"

"Face ain't so beautiful yet, Syoko. Thas what the makeup's for?"

"Oh, no no, you're lovely already. Makeup makes you look _different_, not _better_. You must understand that to have a healthy relationship with the concept. After all, if you think you don't look nice without makeup, then you've become dependent on it, and it's important to value your own, unaltered features."

"Well, mostly unaltered," Jun said, "I mean. If your unaltered features don't actually work right, then you don't really need to value them, right? Like your normal eyes if you need glasses to see. Or your normal body if it doesn't match your identity?"

"Good point, good point. But then again, you can look at it a different way!" Syoko struck a pose. "For things like that, it's not normal or unaltered at all! Your unaltered state is what is correct and best for you, and anything that's different is a mere alteration made from the way you were meant to be! Correcting that is actually bringing yourself to a more natural state!"

"You really have an explanation for everything, don't you?" Jun chuckled. "Well. Anyway, you two have fun. I'll probably just figure out something to do in the gift shop... I'll walk you to the door?"

"Mm, yeah!" Irarako agreed, "You could keep on hangin' with us, yanno..."

"No, no. I wouldn't have had such a nice time with Syoko last night if anyone else was also there," Jun said, "I want you two to be able to have the same sort of experience. I'll be fine on my own, don't worry."

So he walked them to the door, then turned around to take a look around the gift shop on his own.


	35. Daily Life: Day Two (Invitation)

** 11:00 AM / 1100 Hours **

"Barasu?" Saya's voice hit his ears immediately. So much for being on his own, huh? That was probably for the better, though. When he was alone he thought too much anyway.

"Yes, that's me," Jun said, and turned to see the girl in question was standing right there, clutching a good eight DVDs to her chest. "Uh, you good there Yoshiro?"

"Mhm, mhm! Well. Could you crouch down and catch a few of these as I am about to drop them?" Saya asked with a tilt of the head. Jun took a second to process the question, but did have the reaction time to manage as three of the eight DVD cases landed in his hands instead of crashing to the floor. As he stood back up, Saya had adjusted her grip so the remainingg ones wouldn't fall down.

"You need to be careful with this. Aren't there bags somewhere?" Jun wondered, then wandered off. He came back with an ugly canvas tote bag, having put the DVDs he held into it, and held it open in Saya's direction. She dumped hers in as well, then took the handles from him and sighed.

"Sorry about that... I wasn't really thinking. I thought, surely I won't need a bag, I'm just going to pick a movie to watch. But, but, then I couldn't choose at all and suddenly I had so many of them and I was only holding on by the power of my boobs!"

"...I see," Jun said. Admittedly, he couldn't have kept eight DVDs from falling for that long if he held them against his own _flat_ and scrawnily masculine chest, but did she really need to clarify that?

"They're useful for so many things. I made them myself, you know!" Saya chuckled.

"I think... Don't most women make their own boobs? Have I been mistaken about how puberty works this entire time?"

“Silly. I mean, first of all, I had puberty manually,” Saya said, “So jot that down. Then, I mean, I am a taxidermist. With skills like mine, why _wouldn’t_ I make some improvements?”

“I. Think I kind of understand what you mean by that, and I didn’t want to,” Jun said, “So. Let’s move on from that topic you inexplicably decided to bring up?”

“It’s very explicable. I’m proud of my work.” Saya pouted, then lifted her canvas bag like she was hiding behind it. “But, yeah, moving on… Actually, you know. Do you wanna join us?”

“Join you doing what?”

“Watching a movie. Me and Yume. She actually feels really bad about what happened earlier, so I wanted to get some movies to distract her… But if it’s just me, then, maybe it isn’t the best. If you came along too, then…”

“Do you not want to be alone with her? I don’t think she’s _that_ dangerous or anything…”

“No, no! I didn’t mean that at all! But it’s, good to hear you don’t think she’s too dangerous. Because it would be good for her. To hear that. I think?” Saya lowered the bag again to give Jun puppy eyes. “With me she might think I’m only being nice because we share a room and I don’t want to be on her bad side. But you have no reason to really want to get along with her… So if you do, then it shows her that, she’s not just scary! Doesn’t that make sense?”

“Actually, it does make sense. I don’t really think she’s scary… Maybe a bit volatile, but I mean. It was an accident. She isn’t blameless, but it isn’t like it was completely her fault either…”

“She needs to hear that from somebody other than me. And you can tell her through your actions, today! By joining us for this movie. So are you in or are you in?”

“If you put it that way, I guess that I’m in,” Jun said, “But only if you let me add a couple options to the movie pool. It’s probably best if Yume makes the final decision, but I at least want to have a chance at my tastes being represented! And that would even out the choices to ten. I’d have a twenty-percent chance at something I like being picked, right?”

“I guessss that’s only fair.” Saya gave a mock curtsy, then held the tote bag open. “Contribute your offerings, sweet Barasu, so we might bring cheer once more to our liege queen of nightmares.”

“Yeah… Wait, isn’t talking like that more Nageko’s speed? And isn’t queenhood more Syoko’s?”

“Saihara can be the queen of the waking world. And I’unno. I can make jokes if I wanna, right?”

“Well. Makes sense. Nageko seems to be taking it all at least a bit seriously.”

“Mhm, mhm. I’m just a jokester. He’s a chuuni. You know that archetype, right Barasu?” Saya wondered.

“I think so? Isn’t it usually a thing that middle-schoolers do, though?”

“Pft. That’s the _origin_. Anyone older still adhering to that personality type is being immature, not excluded,” Saya said, “He thinks that he’s a vampire, right? Well, that’s kinda cute I guess. Given his talent and all.”

“Weirdly enough, he says that it’s not just because of his talent. His big sister taught him everything he knows about vampirism,” Jun noted, “But, that’s not really any of our business, I guess. Here’s my picks.”

He put two DVDs into the tote bag, then nodded towards the door which led back into the building proper.

“Mhm! Right. We should definitely get back to Yume. I’ve already taken a lot longer than I expected to, so she’s probably wondering where I ended up…” She gave a short, awkward laugh before bouncing past Jun to the door. Ah, finally somebody who wouldn’t physically drag him along when they were going somewhere. He gratefully fell in next to her to walk back towards the dorms, and took the tote bag so that she could get the door open with her Monopad. “Hey, Yume! I bring movies and Barasu.”

“Barasu?” Yume asked.

“Ah, I thought I might join you when I heard that you were planning to watch a movie,” Jun lied, realizing in that instant that it would sound better if he’d gotten involved of his own volition. “Of course, I can leave if you’d rather that I didn’t…”

“Nah. Kinda surprising that you wanna hang around with me, but I ain’t gonna complain.” Yume put her hands behind her head. “What movie?”

“We brought a few. Thought you’d want final say from the options!” Saya snatched the tote bag back and emptied it onto her bed. Yume stood from her own to investigate.

“There’s two copies of Four Weddings And A Funeral.” Yume immediately noticed.

“...Ah.” Jun flushed. “You must have, already had that one in the bag, when I added my picks…”

“Well obviously I did. It’s _right there_ and it’s a total fucking classic.” Saya rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t you look at what I had when we put them in the bag? I think you were even holding that one!”

“Obviously _I_ did for the same reasons as you. It is a classic. And it was right there. And I didn’t look at the movies you had because I was trying to respect your, uh, privacy I guess? And it’s an old movie, so I’m kind of surprised we both know it…”

“Oi!” Yume snapped her fingers. “I get final say, right? So, we’re watching that one. I haven’t seen it. If it’s so good you both wanted to put it in the movie pool, then I gotta find out what’s up with that, don’t I?”

“That makes sense to me!” Saya exclaimed. She got the movie set up, then moved the DVDs to sit on her own bed. Yume sat on hers as well, and Jun sat himself on the floor between them, using the dresser for back support.


	36. Daily Life: Day Two (Tell me I'm Okay)

** 2:00 PM / 1400 Hours **

“...Pretty solid movie, folks,” Yume observed as the credits were rolling. Jun nodded along. He was still sitting on the floor, but Yume had given him a pillow and a blanket to be more comfortable. It seemed that where he’d had a telescope in his closet, her biggest hobby was observed to be ‘sleeping’, thus resulting in her closet basically just doubling as a _linen_ closet. It did help his movie-watching experience, though, and he didn’t blame either girl for not wanting to share their immediate space with him. They didn’t know each other _that_ well yet.

“Isn’t it?” Saya proclaimed, “I mean, obviously some bits are a product of the time. But then, also, it was known for having a pretty good portrayal of a gay couple _for_ the time. On the one hand, suuure, bury your gays, not solid. On the other hand, kinda the point that the funeral was the only occasion actually showing true love in the movie. So I just wanna sit in ‘it’s good and I like it’.”

“I agree,” Jun said, “It’s a weirdly romantic thought… I’d like somebody to love me enough that without even saying it flat-out, people can tell from the eulogy they give me.”

“That’s only romantic if you love them too, though. Right?” Yume wondered, turning over onto her side to be more physically in the conversation. “Otherwise it’s kinda creepy.”

“It depends. If I’m already dead before they reveal they were in love with me the whole time, then I can’t really be creeped out. But maybe then it’s still not romantic… Not because it’s creepy, but because it’s tragic,” Jun said.

“Somebody who’s gonna give a touching eulogy like that probably isn’t the sort to be creepy. If they were creepy they’d do it when you were alive, too, and then they wouldn’t be nearly that poetic because creepy people have no rights. Creepy as in romantically inappropriate. Creepy as in Halloween have many rights. Unless they’re also the other etymological form of creepy,” Saya gave her input.

“I mean, my twin brother works with corpses,” Yume said, “So I have the insider knowledge. Creepy people can definitely be creepy to you after you are dead. He’s seen _many_ of them.”

“Many?? Does that mean he doesn’t _stop_ them?” Saya asked.

“Oh, he does, to an extent. If they bribe him, may as well. They’re only hurting themselves, really. He _has_ seen people die themselves within a few weeks from some bacteria they picked up off the corpse…”

“Rest in peace?” Jun questioned, “That seems like a really weird job to have. Dealing with that sort of thing, I can’t say I expected it…”

“He’s used to it.” Yume shrugged. “It’s become dinner table stories in our house, we’re all kinda desensitized thanks to him. Lil blabbermouth, he is.”

“All?” Jun wondered.

“Well, me, and our parents,” Yume said, “We don’t have any other siblings, so that’s it.”

“What you said to him earlier…” Jun sort of mumbled, not sure he should be bringing that up right now when they were having a nice conversation, but too curious to stop his mouth from releasing the beast unbidden.

“That’s nothing you need to worry about. We live in the same house, and I’m kinda a wild beast and all? So I get in trouble a lot. And sometimes, I could use his backup. Cause I _always_ try to back him up. But, the shit I do just ends up too much for him and he doesn’t even try to be on my side.” Yume groaned. “It’s… Did you just come here because you felt bad for me, Barasu? What do you think of all that?”

“I… I have anxiety,” Jun said.

“And?” Yume asked.

“And I’m kind of freaked out by the idea of picking a side in a conflict?” Jun admitted, “I mean. I just don’t want to get on anybody’s bad side…”

“I won’t say you’re on my side or against me or whatever,” Yume said, “I just wanna know. Cross my heart, what you say won’t leave this room. I just _wanna_ know.”

“Okay. Well. I think that people are overreacting if they condemn you for this, especially since Snow himself says that it’s no big deal… And it’s a little cruel that your brother didn’t at least give you a token defense. In general, you _were_ in the wrong, but it also was an accident,” Jun said, “And I’m sure you have your reasons, too.”

“My reasons… For accidentally hurting somebody?” Yume asked.

“You said you did it because he bumped into you. And something about crime, so. I won’t ask you to explain anything or open up to me,” Jun said, “But I will make an assumption that there’s _something_ in your past that makes your first reaction to being touched, a harsh shove. That doesn’t make you a bad person, it just makes you do bad things sometimes. Yeah?”

“That’s… Huh. You know, I asked you that question without really thinking there’d be a right answer, I was just curious anyway. But, fuck. Think you got a right answer.” Yume looked down at her hands. “I don’t wanna get all serious and shit on you now. Or probably ever. My shit is my shit and I don’t really intend to share it unless I _need_ to. Like the motive makes me or some other bull like that. Thanks for understanding my shit exists, though.”

“The fact that you were worried about what I, a total stranger, would think of you…” Jun said, “That’s the important part. The proof it wasn’t cruelty. At least, that’s what I think. A cruel person wouldn’t really worry about that?”

“They would if they had a reputation to maintain. Or if they’re normally cruel in a subtle way but they fucked up and showed the cruelty differently this once,” Yume said.

“There’s nothing subtle about you,” Saya said, “And you cemented a bad reputation for yourself kind of right off the bat. So…”

“So there’s no reason for me to lie about being a dumb stupid mess who just wants the validation of being told that I’m not just fucking evil?”

“Precisely,” Saya confirmed.

“I don’t really think any of us can be ‘just fucking evil’ yet. We’re still young with mushy brains and mistakes to make,” Jun said, “You know, Yume. Even though I’m not holding it against you, you probably realize we don’t really have much of a platonic compatibility…”

“Mm. No. You’re way too easily startled to keep up with me as my _actual_ friend. Why you gotta bring that up when we’re having a nice time, though? We can be _friendly_ and all.”

“Oh yeah! No I just meant!” Point made, he already misstepped and got flustered when he was called on it. “Well, I think that you might actually get along with my roommate, if you took the time? Homura’s kinda wild enough to match you. I’m just making a recommendation. Just. Try and reach out to people who _will_ be on your side. Does that make sense?”

“...Actually, it does.” Yume grinned. “Thanks, Barasu. I’ll do that.”


	37. Daily Life: Day Two (Checking In)

Jun talked with Yume and Saya for just a bit longer before they parted ways, and he found himself standing in the dorm lobby once more. It seemed this was just that sort of day, wasn’t it? Having spent basically half of it already here, it felt a bit like his day was already excluded from being able to do much else, specifically. He knew in theory he had several hours still available to him, but it just didn’t really work. Well, while he was here, he figured that he should check in on Evie. See if he was up and about again yet or still in his room. So, he approached the room with his name on the door and knocked.

There wasn’t any response at first, so he turned to leave, but saw the door open out of the corner of his eye. He turned back, and Nanjo had opened it. “Ah, Barasu. Do you need something?”

“I just figured I should check in on Snow,” Jun said.

“Why, exactly?” Nanjo asked, tilting his head to one side.

“Because I was in the dorm area anyway,” Jun said.

“Is that all?”

Jun fidgeted where he stood. “Well, I also. Watched a movie with your sister, and I guess part of me felt a little bit guilty for, uh. Trying to get along with both sides of this conflict, and-”

“Well, there’s no need. There isn’t any conflict here.” Nanjo leaned against the doorframe. “Evie said it himself, after all. It was an unfortunate accident, and anybody who _would_ go on to say that there are real ‘sides in this conflict’ is mistaken.”

“I mean! Uh. Not…”

“I am, how do I put this… Messing with you. Still, no need to feel guilty. But if you really need to talk to Evie to feel better about treating Yume with respect, by all means.” With that, Nanjo stepped out past Jun, letting him see that Evie was sitting in the room the entire time, a set of quite-well makeshift crutches propped against the footboard of his bed.

“Hey, Barasu.” Evie waved as he walked into the room. “Don’t mind him. I just think it’s nice that you thought about checking in with me.”

“I do try to be nice,” Jun said, scratching the back of his head. “But, he was kind of right, too. I did feel guilty about hanging out with Yume…”

“I really don’t think you should. She’s… I mean. She probably doesn’t want to be my friend after this happened and all, but I’d be willing to be. Not like it’d really work, but I mean. I totally forgive her, and all. There’s plenty of worse things to get hung up on. I didn’t respect her space, and she protected herself without any knowledge that it could have actual consequences…”

“What would you think if it happened again?”

“Now that everybody knows, it wouldn’t be an accident again, now would it?”

“That’s fair.”

“So I wouldn’t be able to forgive them so easily, if it happened again. Once somebody knows about the potential consequences of their actions, it’s negligence at _best_ to do it anyway…” Evie sighed and lay back on his bed. “When you’ve dealt with plenty of people like that, you can’t really be mad at people who legitimately don’t know any better.”

“I mean, you could. Look at Yume herself, I don’t think she has a finite amount of anger,” Jun said, “You’d be right, to get mad at everyone who hurts you. If you wanted to.”

“I just don’t have that kind of energy,” Evie said, “And if I really wanted to be mad, I’d disclose everything that’s wrong with me upfront. But I’d rather people think of me as normal for as long as possible. I don’t want to be thought of as ‘fragile’ or whatever.”

“Not to say that it’s stuff ‘wrong with you’, but do you have anything else going on, along these lines? You’ve got those dietary restrictions, and your bones thing… I won’t tell anybody else if you don’t want me to, but on the other hand. I’d really rather not hurt you, even by accident. I’d rather not hurt anybody if I can help it.”

“If I tried to describe every single one of my medical issues, then we’d honestly be here all day,” Evie said, “And they’re not worth keeping track of. Most of them are just things that I can deal with myself, if they come up. Or else, I’ll ask for help. But I don’t just want to give out the information like it’s nothing.”

“...Right, telling somebody all of that stuff kind of is just giving them your weaknesses, in a way. Even if you have no reason to think my intentions are bad, it only makes sense, in this kind of scenario, not to do that.”

“That’s part of my reasoning. I don’t want to distrust anybody, but, well. I have to. I’ve already ended up revealing myself as basically _the_ most vulnerable person here. I’ll be seriously surprised, if the game actually starts, if somebody doesn’t at least try to kill me based on this alone.”

“You never know. If you’re nice enough, then nobody will _want_ to kill you!” Jun offered.

“That’s my strategy.” Evie gave a thumbs-up. “It actually is the best option for me. I’d wanna make friends anyway, if this wasn’t a bad situation, of course. But it’s also just my only chance at survival, looking at it. I am a tactician, after all. And my tactic here is… Become likeable.”

“I mean, you’re definitely not _unlikeable_ to start with. You saw how many people automatically jumped to your defense when that thing with Yume happened,” Jun said, “You’re kind of surrounded by people who aren’t very likeable for one reason or another. They’re all so… Catty, or weird, or _something_. All you’ve got going on is a diminuitive stature and a somewhat poor grasp of the Japanese language, and that’s all pretty much charming.”

“I’ve got more going on than _that_. But, I guess from where you stand, that makes sense. And since it is charming, it’s fine!”

“Oh yeah, so those crutches… Are they going to work for you?” Jun wondered.

“They should. Itadai and Nanjo took apart one of the shelves from the gift shop and just cut out enough bits for handles, so even though they’re kind of ugly looking, they should be perfectly functional! Here, I’ll show you.” Evie reached for the crutches and got to his feet using them, then went towards the door. “Want me to unlock this for you, while I’m up?”

“Sure, if it’s easier for you. I wouldn’t mind chatting more, but, I’m cool with going too.”


	38. Daily Life: Day Two (Overhearing, Intentionally)

** 3:00 PM / 1500 Hours **

Jun Barasu did have one secret skill that he hadn’t mentioned to anybody yet, and didn’t really intend to mention either. It was a skill that he wasn’t very proud of, but he also couldn’t deny that he did have this skill and he did use it in spite of that lack of pride in its existence. This skill was that of eavesdropping, and maybe it was more accurate to call it a guilty pleasure than to call it a skill now that he really thought about it. If he heard people talking, he couldn’t quite help himself but to hang back and find out what it was they were talking about. After all, they could be talking about _him_. Talking badly about him, for that matter.

It was, if he had to explain it, a poor and definitely inconvenient to others, coping mechanism for his anxieties. If people didn’t know he was there and he could hear that they weren’t talking about him, then it quieted the part of his brain that said that everybody secretly hated him and always spoke ill of him behind his back. All this was to say that when Jun decided to just wander the building and heard Nanjo’s voice around the corner, he ducked into the hidden room where they’d first encountered Ryota and sat down with his back to the door to indulge the small cruelty he called his own.

“...But the thing is, I really would prefer it if you could at least try to get along with her? I mean. Maybe it’s selfish to say, but it’s easier for me if she approves of the people that I spend time with. Just a bit. It’s annoying to have to hear her criticize everything that my friends do the minute they leave,” Nanjo said.

“I know, I know. That’s gotta be a pain. And do you think I like people talking bad about me, either? But I can’t really get along with somebody who doesn’t wanna make an effort to get along with me.” That sounded like Kagome. Made sense.

“She would. Yume’s just got a rough exterior, if you actually let her know that you wanted to try, she’d try too. You have to understand, she’s dealt with a lot of stuff in her life.”

“We _all_ have. That’s not really an excuse.”

“Isn’t it, though? From where I stand, you both act abrasive as a way to avoid letting people close enough to cause you real pain. Hers is just a bit more genuine.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“You said a bunch of obnoxious stuff and then immediately dropped it when you realized that you have a crush on me. That’s faking to avoid people if I ever saw it. At least Yume is actually as full of rage as she acts.”

“E-Eh? What makes… What makes you think that I have a crush on you??”

“Well, don’t you? You’ve kind of latched onto me, and I’m quite aware of my own charms. Ladies love tall, dark, and handsome after all. I’m the Hubert von Vestra who won’t make threats on your life.”

“I don’t know who that is and I’m taller than you.”

“That’s not refuting your affections for me, now is it?”

This was exactly the sort of conversation that would make Jun _regret_ eavesdropping. He had no interest in such juicy gossip! And not only juicy gossip, but juicy gossip that he personally thought was a very, very bad idea.

“We have known each other for all of one day, Nanjo, obviously I don’t…”

“Attraction doesn’t need _time_ to form, only love does. At least, for the great majority of people. Bar culture is a thing for a reason, _Kagome_. It’s not at all ridiculous for me to believe that you’ve very swiftly realized that I am a ‘major fucking hottie’.”

“I. I am not going to entertain this conversation any longer!” Kagome shouted, but then spoke so quietly that Jun’s eavesdropping ears could barely make it out, “If this theory of yours actually _means_ anything to you, then you can come by my room this evening. Put your money where your mouth is if you’re not just making fun of me.”

Then, fast footsteps as Kagome evidently ran off. Nanjo made one step, then stopped, and a few moments later his footsteps as well faded away, in the opposite direction of Kagome’s. Hm. Ill-advised, quite ill-advised, Jun thought. Knowing what he knew about Kagome. Was she really faking her bullshit views yesterday? Was this a setup to try and kill Nanjo? No, that was his brain running wild, as it tended to do. If Kagome really wanted to kill him, then she would have brought the concept up on her own.

It just seemed like, this attraction that Nanjo brought up, could be of the disrespectful sort. That if Kagome really believed the things she said she believed, and that she really only liked girls, it implied that she might not really see Nanjo as _himself_, and he was too preoccupied with the attention of a cute girl to realize that she was, by nature of liking him, disrespecting his identity? Should Jun say something? Was he mistaken?

He never _understood_ people. If he said something about this, rather than letting it come out on its own, then he could be ruining something. After all, it was just as likely that getting to know Nanjo as a person was the only kick that Kagome needed to reevaluate her outlook on things, wasn’t it? He couldn’t jump to conclusions in a situation that, as Irarako had mentioned earlier, he had no business in. He didn’t. This was between Nanjo and Kagome and he wouldn’t have even known about it if not for his compulsive need to know what people are doing all the time.

He took a deep breath, then stood up and opened the hidden door. Then he jumped back. “What the fuck!”

“Hi Jun,” Ayano said, “You were trying to eavesdrop, weren’t you?”

“I was actually finished eavesdropping. I didn’t uh. Expect anybody to be in the hallway. When did you get here??” Jun questioned.

“Just now. You know that I walk quietly. And I imagine that whatever you overheard left you lost in your own thoughts, anyhow. You shouldn’t make a habit of that here. People might take it the wrong way.”

“Is there a right way to take being eavesdropped on?”

“I suppose not. But it’s much more threatening with the idea of ‘anybody can murder you at any time’ in play…” She clasped her hands together. “I won’t ask what you learned, of course. It’s your prize, I have to do my own eavesdropping if I want to learn secrets. Invite me along next time?”

“I didn’t really plan to eavesdrop right now. But sure. If you’re with me then it feels less like I’m being a bad person.”

“I don’t understand why having a partner in crime somehow validates the crime to you. But if it lets me have a nice time sneaking around with my friend, then I’m game for whatever you want to tell yourself.”


	39. Daily Life: Day Two (Cooking Dinner)

Despite Ayano having found Jun out eavesdropping, she couldn’t stick around long. She’d actually been on her way to meet up with Ryota to discuss ‘vampire things’, because she was a tangled ethereal enigma that Jun could never truly understand and if she decided that she wanted to be a vampire now, that wouldn’t surprise him. Since she left him in the dust, he figured that he’d just go back to the dining hall, carrying on with the fact that being occupied for so much of the morning incapacitated his ability to make any other plans for himself for the rest of the day.

There wasn’t anybody else in the dining hall right now, which didn’t surprise him, it was early after all. He initially just sat down at one of the tables, but then he heard rustling about. It was coming from the kitchen area… So he stood up and walked back there to investigate. As soon as he opened the door, he saw two things. Two people doing things, that was. One was Homura, taking pots and pans out of a cabinet and looking somehow very overwhelmed. The other was Shin, standing off to the side and watching with his chin cupped in one hand.

“Hello Barasu,” Shin said, then gestured toward Homura with his other hand. “I promise you, I did offer to help.”

“Yeah, I… Don’t doubt that at all,” Jun said, “Hey, Homura. What’s the deal here?”

“I am cooking dinner,” Homura said, “Like I signed up to. What else would the deal be?”

“I mean, you seem a little overwhelmed.” Jun watched as Homura got unsteadily to his feet. “Why not accept help from Tsubasa?”

“Because he thinks I can’t do it. I need to prove him wrong,” Homura said.

“That’s true,” Shin said, “I don’t think that you can actually pull off making dinner on your own, from what I’ve seen so far. Much too scattered. And forgive me for taking an interest in my own nourishment, I’d rather help you than still be waiting for a subpar meal well past dinnertime.”

“_Excuse_ me?” Homura set the pans down so he could put his fists to his hips with a huff. “Why do you think I’m starting work at three-thirty in the afternoon, if not to make sure that it’s ready in time in spite of my scattery?”

“Is that so?” Shin asked, “I just assumed that nobody wanted to suffer your presence, you got bored, then suddenly remembered that you were on the roster for dinner and thus had a method to alleviate your boredom waiting here for you.”

“Ohhh, maybe it’s just a _little_ bit of that,” Homura admitted, “But if it gets dinner done, isn’t it for the best? My _roommate_ could help me, but that wouldn’t satisfy you.”

“If it’s a compromise…” Shin said, “At least, Barasu can keep you from setting the kitchen on _fire_, I guess.”

“Huh? You don’t think I could make a good meal either?” Jun questioned.

“Of course not,” Homura said, “You’re normie-kun. Normie-kuns don’t know how to cook! But they do know how to supervise dumb firecrackers like me~”

“But I…” Jun started to argue, but then just slumped his shoulders and stepped further into the kitchen area. “Very well. I’ll supervise Homura.”

“Thanks much!” Homura grinned, then walked up to Shin, “So I don’t need _your_ supervision any more, do I? Just kick back and wait for me to prove you wrong at dinnertime.”

Shin pushed off the wall and turned toward the door, his shoulder brushing Homura’s chest as he did. Then, he was out the door, leaving Jun and Homura alone in the kitchen, so Jun could actually defend himself now that it was just one person that he’d be mildly confronting. “I actually know how to cook pretty well. I can make a great pasta sauce. My mom taught me.”

“Figures. That’s the _other_ culinary state of normie-kuns,” Homura said, “But Tsubasa doesn’t need to know that! Right now, he just thinks that we’ll take way too long to make a mediocre meal, but since you’re here there at least won’t be any disasters. Here’s an important factor to consider, though. I, Homura Shinku, am _powered by spite_!”

“What does that mean?” Jun asked.

“It means that I don’t really care enough about stuff to be good at it normally. But if being good at something will _stick it to someone_, then obviously, I will be excellent.” Homura struck another one of those weird poses. “It is my hidden power.”

“Does that… Doesn’t that imply that you’re good at everything?”

“It does! And I am,” Homura said, “But I just have such a rotten personality that I can’t just tap into that potential for the sake of it. Roger Rabbit rules, roomie.”

“I… What?”

“Roger. Rabbit. Rules.” Homura dropped the pose. “Like, ‘I can only do it when it’s funny’. But for me it’s ‘I can only do it when people think that I can’t’. If I make another meal after this one, it’ll still be fine. But not amazing, like this one will be to spite Tsubasa. The fact that he underestimates us both is _very_ powerful. It’s double spite hours.”

“I see. Er, do you do everything like this? Even schoolwork?”

“Of course. I’m a straight C student most of the year, but nobody expects me to totally ace the final, so I make up for it then.” Homura gave a thumbs-up. “I mean, it’s on them for making _one test_ such a big chunk of the grade anyway, isn’t it? Expecting the kid who does alright on tests in general and never bothers to do the homework to do just as mediocre on the last one. Setting themselves up for failure. When that kid is me.”

“So you just never apply yourself,” Jun said.

“Yeah. Aren’t I just the worst?” Homura turned to the fridge to start pulling out ingredients. “Pretty useless. But I can pull one out of my hat, just every so often. Somebody like me, I’d never really function in the world. Maybe it’s for the better if I die here.”

“Wouldn’t you function great in the world, if you get everybody to expect you won’t?”

“...Yeah, you’d think, right? But, there’s only so much bullshit that spite can overcome,” Homura said, “Not like I’m pitying myself or anything. Really, I feel fine, I’m just being real about it. ‘Proving people wrong’, who needs a motivator like that to accomplish shit? Somebody who’s got no motivation otherwise. So, fuck me I guess. Let’s make dinner.”

Jun wanted to say something. But the words were just out of reach. Something to reassure Homura that whatever he was feeling underneath all of this, and there was something underneath, wasn’t as bad as he thought. It couldn’t be. There was something wrong there, but Jun just…

Couldn’t think of it. He never really could.


	40. Daily Life: Day Two (Melodrama)

**4:00 PM / 1600 Hours **

Having found himself at a loss, Jun remained quiet. Homura didn’t even seem to feel the silence as he diligently got to work, only occasionally speaking to give Jun directions. From these directions, he absolutely could not tell _what_ they were making, but he didn’t think that Homura was lying to him about his capabilities. If it was some grandiose lie, then surely, it would have been more on the scale of actually being… grand.

Saying that you were good at everything, as a lie, begged to be stopped at that point. Saying that you’re good at everything, but only if somebody expects you not to be, that’s not a lie anybody would bother telling. Homura seemed upset with himself, to be in this position. To need such a driving factor to tap into his potential. And yet, when he was tapping into it, he seemed perfectly in the zone. Entirely moved forward from that brief moment of self-loathing.

Try as he might, Jun couldn’t do the same thing; Move forward from that. He kept beating himself up internally for not saying anything. He knew he should have. He knew that there was _something_ that could have solved it. Or, well, could have helped, at least. And he couldn’t find it. So he couldn’t just let it go.

Then, Hikari walked in.

“Oh, it’s the boys,” Hikari said, “Making dinner, are we?”

“We are,” Jun said, “Not you.”

“Yeah. If you helped it would mess everything up!” Homura added in.

“Well that’s just rude. Why would you say that to somebody who just walked in? Obviously I have no intention of helping. Why would I want to?”

“Good point. I don’t know why you’d ever want to,” Jun said, “But, why _are_ you here?”  
“To be a nuisance?” Hikari offered.

“Right, that’s a good reason to go anyplace,” Homura said, “I do it very often, myself. Figures that I should be on the receiving end of these things sometime.”

“Yeah, figures,” Hikari said, “You deserve it. Everybody deserves to be bothered sometimes. And it’s your time, to be bothered, by me. Is it working yet?”

“No, you’ll have to try a hell of a lot harder than that,” Homura said, “I am the expert in bothering, so…”

“What are you making?” Hikari asked.

“Even I don’t know that,” Jun admitted.

“We are _making_,” Homura said, “An assortment of dumplings. A buncha different flavors. Yknow, to cover people’s tastes and restrictions and stuff. Not just gonna half-ass a bland vegan option, I’m going all out. Tsubasa thought I couldn’t make a good meal, but oh, I’m doing it.”

“That sounds like a _lot_ of work.” Hikari crossed her arms. “I think I’m with him. That much variety, no way it’ll be good…”

“You only fuel my fire, Ruka!”

“I dunno what that means! Anyway. I don’t get why you’re really bothering with this… Even if it’s just to stick it to Tsubasa. Do you really think that these people are gonna appreciate whatever you do? Like, no offense to anyone or whatever. But… Is anyone really all that worried about good food?”

“I mean… I think that Syoko cares,” Jun said, “And since he was so willing to put in the work for breakfast, Nanjo would. Tsubasa also seemed to care, when he expressed his doubts that Homura would do it well.”

“~Syoko~, huh? Since when are you and Saihara on first-name basis?” Hikari questioned, leaning around Jun’s shoulder to get in his face despite the fact that he was currently chopping cabbage. “That’s really suspicious, Barasu. You know that I don’t like her. And now you’re all buddy-buddy? Hm. And with what happened yesterday. Ohh, are you two planning to swipe Aya away from me? Shake up our friend groups now that you know how cool our kouhai is?”

“No! That’s not… Come on!” Jun kept his knife on the board, not wanting to move with Hikari taking up so much of his personal space.

“Couldn’t you all just be friends with each other?” Homura asked, “Cause, I bet you could. Doesn’t sound like Saihara hates you back, Ruka. It’s on you. If your friend gets ‘stolen’ it’s just cause you’re too stubborn to let someone new into _your_ group.”

“That’s… Weirdly sage advice,” Jun said.

“I don’t wanna admit it. But okay, I’ll admit it. You might be a tiny bit correct. And I did not expect that from you!”

“That’s the point.” Homura winked.

“Uh. But anyway,” Hikari continued, “It doesn’t actually matter to me if Saihara doesn’t ‘hate me back’, cause I think, she’s a totally stuck up bitch who thinks that she’s better than all of us. She probably doesn’t hate _anyone_ but that doesn’t mean I have to like her. I don’t think we could ever be friends. She’s just. ~All that~.”

“Pft. You could _never_ be friends with Saihara, sure.” Homura laughed under his breath. “Sorry. But you know, I’ll be saying ‘I told you so’ if you end up buddying up after all!”

“Oh yeah, yeah. I’ll buddy up with a girl whose presence lights up the room… With a _blinding spotlight_.” Hikari rolled her eyes. “It’s just. Ugh. Can she just shut up about how great she is for two seconds? Like, we get it. You have high self esteem. So do I, I don’t make a _personality_ out of thinking that I’m the best! I make a personality out of being a loveable prick! Do you get what I’m saying?”

“Hikari,” Jun said, “Could you please step back so I can keep cutting cabbage? Also, I’m just trying to be friendly. I didn’t try specifically to get along with Syoko, it just happened. I’m making friends. How would you feel if I accused you of the same sort of stuff with Hanazaki?”

“...But Hanazaki is cool,” Hikari said, “And you’re already also friends with him. So you _couldn’t_ accuse me of anything about him. I actually have _good_ taste in people.”

“That makes it sound like you’re planning to eat him,” Jun said.

“I know you’re trying to poke fun right now,” Hikari said, “But I don’t wanna entertain this shit, actually. Like. I’m actually kind of upset with you right now. You know I don’t like Saihara. So I… Whatever. I’ll leave you alone.”


	41. Daily Life: Day Two (Dinner's Early)

“...Take that, Tsubasa.” Homura looked over the spread that he’d set up on the buffet table, hands on his hips. “I did it, and in record time.”

“Homura,” Jun said, “I do think that part of the point of making dinner isn’t to do it in record time. There’s still over an hour till official dinnertime.”

“...Oops.” Homura dropped his hands to his sides. “You’re right. That is a complication. Isn’t it. I guess that I’m just _too_ powerful. It’s because Tsubasa underestimated both of us and Ruka underestimated me.”

“Ruka…” Jun looked away. “I feel kind of bad for how I left things off with her. She was kind of right. I knew she doesn’t like Saihara but I made friends with her anyway.”

“I mean. If this was normal, high school drama stuff. Then I’d say, sure, you pulled a dick move,” Homura said, “But this isn’t a normal situation. Every friend is an ally, when you’re someplace dangerous. And with those hazards… It’s dangerous, all right. Even if we are pretending we aren’t threats to each other. So if Ruka gets upset with you for making a friend, she’s getting upset with you for defending your own life.”

“If you put it that way… It kind of flips it. I don’t feel like shit for it, but that kind of paints her as being shittier than she was. Like, I understand. It makes sense,” Jun said, “I get why she feels that way. She’s not trying to set me up to get killed.”

“Not consciously. But see. If you consider it from both sides at once, then you don’t have to feel like shit for ‘betraying’ her, but you also don’t have to blame her for wanting you to die. Because she doesn’t get the implication there,” Homura said, “So, it makes sense if I put it that way, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it does,” Jun said, “But, anyway. There’s still this issue of, dinner is ready way too soon. What are we going to do about this?”

“Right, right. Monokuma?” Homura called out, and the bear in question made her appearance in front of them. “I’ve made dinner too early. Could you do me a solid and make an announcement about it?”

“If I do announce that for you, then I _will_ have to move up the next motive delivery to when everybody arrives, instead of the usual time,” Mono said, “But yes, I could do that. My, these look good. Do you mind if I take a few for myself? I don’t technically need sustenance to survive, but I can still experience the sensation of taste!”

“There’s plenty, so go ahead. And I mean, what do I care about an early motive delivery? Mine’s already been done. I have nothing left to fear,” Homura said, “And, as for other people? I’m awful curious about those secrets myself!”

“Oh, I’m curious too. Mercury’s got me on such a short leash, I’m actually not privy to the answers right up until it’s time for me to say them. It’s a small blessing that I can even know both answers before you choose.”

“So you do know both of them?”

“Right. That’s why I tried to change Itadai’s mind on which one she preferred to answer,” Mono said, “When it’s delivery time, I do know both of the answers. You’d do well to listen to me, if I start implying that your choice is incorrect. I do have the capability to tell which answer is worse for you, after all. Being a psychologist.”

“I made the _right_ choice, didn’t I, Monooo?” Homura asked in a baby voice.

“Yes. Generally speaking, your deepest fear will always be spoken in more vague terms than a worst memory. To give a deidentified example, where a deepest fear is ‘being bitten by spiders’, a worst memory would state ‘being bitten all over your body by your own pet spider at age eight’. So between those two, it’s obviously better to go for something more vague.”

“But worst memory would have been better for Itadai?” Jun asked.

“I knew she was unaware of who her actual most hated person was. Her worst memory would have been unpleasantly revealing, but at least she knew what it would have been…” Mono dipped her head. “It’s the least I can do, to try and steer you in the… Less damaging directions. If you’ll trust me with that.”

“Most of the others wouldn’t,” Homura said, “But I will, in the future. And Jun will too. Won’t you?”

“Uh, yeah, of course. I don’t really have a backbone to begin with so even if you didn’t tell me that you’re looking out for us, I probably would change my mind anyway if you did that whole ‘are you really certain’ thing to me.”

“Good to hear! Also bad to hear. You deserve to have a spine, Barasu,” Mono said, “Anyway. I’ll just take some of these.” She swiped up some dumplings. “And go to make that announcement for you. Thanks for thinking to ask me, Homura. You’re a good kid.”

Then, she was gone. Moments later, her voice came over the PA system making the announcement as she said she would. She noted that Homura was sorry for having dinner ready too soon, but everybody should go and eat anyhow. While waiting for anyone else to arrive, Jun and Homura both made up plates for themselves and went to sit down. Jun was going to claim a separate table, but Homura tapped the table he’d already claimed with a look, so Jun joined him after all.

He took a bite of one of the dumplings, and was caught off guard. Even having it explained to him how Homura’s skills worked, and even having contributed to the creation of this meal, Jun couldn’t help but be surprised by just _how_ good it was. It was, in a word, spectacular. He… Wasn’t expecting to have food like this here. His mom (the one who gave him that pasta sauce recipe, recall) was an excellent chef. And this meal was on _par_ with one of hers.

So Homura really did have a talent like this, huh?

Now, if only Jun could figure out what that talent would be _called_, then he’d understand Homura a bit more. He didn’t think that Homura had forgotten his talent at all; He was just keeping it a secret. The talent of ‘being skilled at anything people expect you to fail at’? It sounded like nonsense, putting it that way. But it had to be something. Somehow, just like the words which were just out of reach to reassure Homura, Jun knew it had to exist.


	42. Daily Life: Day Two (An Increase In Motivation)

** 5:00 PM / 1700 Hours **

People started to filter in for dinner, early as it was. Hikari made a point of not sitting at the same table as Jun, and brought Ayano with her. That was no surprise, really, and he wouldn’t hold it against her. Syoko didn’t come to sit with him, which did help keep the situation smooth, despite her having no knowledge of it. She instead sat with Irarako, Evie, and Emi. Hikari and Ayano were joined by Tooru and Ryota.

Jun’s own table filled in with Yume, Saya, and Yuji. Shin looked in their direction, turned red, and picked a different table, which did make him feel a bit smug that they had been able to prove that guy wrong. Not that Jun had any beef with that guy. But, he noted, Shin was the person here that he found himself most thinking of as ‘that guy’. Even though he did consider him a friend by virtue of meeting him first and working together yesterday, he had to admit, he didn’t know actually know much about him.

He’d have time to resolve that issue, though. For now, he could be smug that he and Homura had proved him wrong, and he now had a plate piled high with the fruits of that effort. And though they finished early… Jun did realize, making food for _sixteen people_ was difficult. He’d have his doubts about any person working alone being able to make enough. Somehow, Ayano had managed to do it on the fly last night. Extra impressive.

“Soooo.” Saya clicked her tongue, drawing his attention. “There’s gonna be more motives once… Uh, Nanjo and Itadai, get here. They’re the only ones missing, I think. We know one of ‘em is gonna be Worst Memory, but do you have any theories on what else might get tossed our way?”

“It’s difficult to imagine that anything will actually serve a less appealing option than ‘worst memory’, for this group,” Yuji said, “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we loop all the way to the beginning without anybody choosing that option.”

“Hm. At least it’s mostly the devil you know though. Itadai would have been better off picking it, than finding out the she subconsciously hates her own mother more than anybody else,” Jun said, “So. I donno, I might pick it if it comes to me. My worst memory’s not all that bad, I think…”

“It’s not always the devil we know…” Yuji glanced around, then lowered his voice. “I mean. You never know what sorta stuff you mighta forgotten, huh? Darling, repression’s a bitch.”

“Do. Do forgotten memories count?” Saya asked.

“Let’s find out! It would really be a gamechanger,” Homura said, “Monokuma? Sorry to call you again?”

“Hey there. No worries, as long as you have a reason, I don’t mind!” Mono had appeared as the table’s centerpiece. “What’s the question?”

“Does that worst memory thing consider forgotten memories?” Jun actually piped in to ask the question. “I mean, is it only ‘the worst thing you can remember’, or is it ‘the worst thing that has ever been in your memory’?”

“Ohh! That’s a good question, and exactly the sort of loophole-hunting that I hope I can count on from you kids for days to come,” Mono said, “After all, if I’m asked directly, I can give you information that I would otherwise be barred from dispensing. Yes, memories which have been repressed or forgotten can still be involved in these motives. If that’s the case, I’ll probably steer you away from making that choice. Unless the other choice would be even worse than recalling that memory.”

“Kira.” An unfortunately already-familiar voice came over the PA. “You’re conspiring with the participants again, aren’t you?”

Mono hesitated for a moment, then answered, her voice sounding strained, “I wouldn’t say that it’s conspiring. I’m doing exactly _what_ the Kira memories prompt me to. Offering whatever help I can to the participants is what I’d do if I were her, isn’t it?”

“...Technically, that’s true. But practically, I don’t care,” Mercury said, “So it’s going to be three motives.”

“What?” Mono asked.

“Three of them. Go on now, the others arrived while you were busy stabbing me in the back. I’ll provide them for you, of course. There you go. Move the timeline up. Make things more interesting. Stop fucking with me, Kira, and I’ll stop punishing your precious participants. Understood?”

“I’m… Ugh.” Mono slumped over in frustration. “Uh… Attention everybody. Since you all heard that just now. It’s time for more motives, and I guess that there’s _three_ of them this time, because Mercury has no respect for the structure of a Killing Game. Anyway, uhh. Tooru Hanazaki. Worst Memory or Most Twisted Ambition?”

“Huuuh, what?” Tooru asked, looking up like he wasn’t expecting that. “I mean. I don’t think either of those will really… They’d be at worst, equally embarrassing. I’ll grab Worst Memory to get it out of the rotation for a chunk, yeah?”

“For you, that’s actually… Fine, yeah. Hanazaki’s Worst Memory was when he realized he had fallen out of love with his long-term boyfriend Adachi Murimura. Next up. Hikari Ruka, Most Twisted Ambition or Darkest Secret?”

“Aww, let’s just have a go at the ambition one.”

“Interesting choice. But, still a solid one. Ruka’s Most Twisted Ambition is to have somebody willing to kill for her. And really, don’t start talking about this till we’re all finished, okay? There’s one left. Nanjo Mirai, looks like it’s looped back to the start, Darkest Secret or Deepest Fear?”

“Hm. It’s only right of me to round it out, isn’t it? I’ll answer the one that we haven’t heard an answer for yet. Darkest Secret.”

“Are you sure about that?” Mono asked.

“Yes. I don’t really know the meaning of the word shame, so my curiosity is more important than any ‘exposure’ or ‘psychological impact’.”

“Fine then. Nanjo’s Darkest Secret is that he’s faked autopsy results to cover up a crime before.”


	43. Daily Life: Day Two (Meaning of the Motives)

“Oh,” Nanjo said, “I’m not sure what I expected… Yes, that seems about right.”

“When we met you, you specifically said that you did not do exactly that,” Ayano said, “You are an outright liar, Nanjo.”

“I swear, I’m not. I have never said that a body was dead when it wasn’t. That’s all I told you; That all my corpses are dead. It may have been a lie by omission, presenting myself as a fully upstanding man of my career, but it was no direct fib. I’ve tampered with results before to hide the real cause of death, it’s true. This reflects badly on my integrity, but not my character.”

“What do you mean?” Jun asked.

“It isn’t like they were _my_ murders. I’ve never killed anyone. But I’m sure Yume has already been talking about certain things I’d accept bribes for. If I’m of weak enough integrity to allow people to defile corpses for a sum of money, then it’s a natural conclusion an exponentially greater sum could prompt me to overlook signs of foul play. I think that your own friend, Ruka’s motive, is more suspect than mine.”

“Twisted ambition? Come on.” Hikari raised her hands at her sides. “I picked that one because there’s no way that it could ever be a problem. Look, it’s just the way it’s worded that makes it seem like a big deal! You could call it a ‘most depraved fantasy’ and suddenly it’s not serious at all, it’s really just poking the recesses of your mind for the kinda stuff you appreciate in a dating sim. The phrasing makes it sound like it matters. But, it doesn’t. Everyone’s probably sound just as creepy as mine, or gross, or just plain stupid.”

“If you put it that way,” Yume called out, “Then, you’re pretty much right! Phrasing is all over that answer too. That’s a common-ass romantic fantasy, to have someone love you so damn much that they’d take a life to protect yours. Just the context and the wording makes it sound sus. Sorry Nanjo, but you’re still pulling the short straw on this one.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Nanjo said, “Luckily, as I said, I do not possess shame. I don’t much mind if you choose to think less of me for this… At worst, it may hinder my romantic prospects. Which is a shame, but so be it.”

“If you could still get the title of Ultimate, while taking bribes to do things like that…” Syoko said, “Then, you really must be amazing at your work. It may not imply integrity, but does reflect well on your _ability_.”

“Really? That’s your takeway?” Hikari questioned.

“Are we not going to address Hanazaki’s thing?” Emi raised a hand. “It seems, by comparison, really tame. Isn’t that kind of suspicious, that he could have a motive that easy to ignore?”

“Goootcha.” Tooru somehow groaned with his entire body. “What’s so suspicious about me that I get interrogated twice in one day? Laid-back types just rub you wrong or somethinn’? Look. Sure, it’s tame to you folks. But it’s still _my_ worst memory, understaand? Only seems tame cause there’s too many details to even fit in a motive like that. It was a shit relationship, and the shittiest paaart was realizing that fact. So. That’s all I’ll say about it.”

Jun’s thoughts went to the person he thought was Tooru’s aunt. Yes, bad taste in men checked out there. “Don’t worry, Hanazaki. We know that there isn’t a cooperator among us in this game, so there isn’t any real reason to suspect you of that. And there’s nothing else that ‘a tame motive’ leads to. Except maybe,” He looked around, addressing the group now, “You’re ‘suspecting’ him of actually having a pretty nice life?”

“...That does sound pretty stupid,” Emi admitted, “Sorry. I just, you know. I guess with a motive like that one, I kind of expected every answer to be really horrific. Even though, mine probably would be ‘tame’ too. So… Sorry about that, Hanazaki.”

“No big,” Tooru said, “Still, I gotta wonder why they hafta call him out by name, aaas if you’d care what it was… Any of you fine folks met the guy? Swear, won’t hold it against you, even if you thought he’s cool.”

“The name actually does ring a few bells… In a really vague, definitely didn’t know him personally, kind of way,” Saya said, “But, that makes sense. Since I knew you and all. Maybe you introduced me one time and I forgot, silly-billy that I am-”

“No, no. You probably just saw his name on a few emails,” Tooru said, “After all, he was the main staff manager at the museum I curated last year. I’ve never been in a room with the both of you, that much is for sure.”

“That must be it.” Saya concurred with a nod.

“Main Staff Manager? Doesnit that imply a bit maturity?” Irarako asked, brow furrowed, “Less he was Ultimate too?”

“I do doubt that,” Yuji said, “Ultimate museum staff manager is no title I’d ever imagine existing. So, Hana-haki. You’re one for the older men, I suppose?”

“Not like I really thought about that.” Tooru looked as detached as usual, but for the slight blush on his cheeks. “Looks young for his age, I just thought he was a part-time worker. So we were already involved before I knew how old he was. And that’s _part_ of why it didn’t work out, so I’d appreciate if we could drop it?”

“Right. I’m sorry, that was insensitive of me,” Yuji said, “I… Completely neglected to think before speaking.”

“S’fine. Seems that’s a prettyyy common affliction around here, so I can let it slide,” Tooru said, “If we all agree to let this shit, as a concept, slide. Three motives. None of them _mean shit_. That’s the point of them, right? Make us uncomfortable with ourselves or each other. But I don’t see how anything we’ve heard so far could make anybody commit a murder.”


	44. Daily Life: Day Two (You Can [NOT] Remember)

“...Yeah, put it that way hon, you’re right,” Yuji said, “These things ain’t ‘this is why you should commit murder’ stuff. It’s ‘this is why you shouldn’t get along’ stuff. Keepin’ us from caring about or trusting each other. I’m not gonna hold any of this stuff against anyone, that’s my stake in it all. Anyway. Hey, Barasu?”

“Huh?” Jun looked up.

“I’ll help you with the dishes this time.” With that, Yuji stood and started to gather plates. Jun had just a moment of confusion there, before realizing that, yeah. He kind of had established himself as the dishwasher so far, hadn’t he? He didn’t really mean to acquire the chore for himself, but having taken the job both meals so far, he supposed that he had it. At least he found this out by somebody volunteering to help.

So, he got started on gathering the dinnerware as well. What was he going to do, deny that he was the dishie of the group now that the role had been placed upon him? Of course not, what did you take him for, somebody with a spine? It would be way too confrontational for him to say that he didn’t actually mean to take it on as an always job, so instead, he accepted that this was now his lot in life. This was fine.

** 6:00 PM / 1800 Hours **

Upon arriving with the last batch of dishes to the kitchen, Jun rolled up his sleeves and took a step towards the sink, but Yuji held up a hand to stop him. “Hey, let me do the more unpleasant part, right? It’s the gentlemanly thing to do. Since I kinda threw you under the bus back there. Sorry to cement this as your job, darlin’. But on the other hand. Since this chore is, legally unnecessary, I imagine the past two times have had a similar motivation to mine anyhow.”

...It was legally unnecessary, wasn’t it? Trash left behind would be cleaned once the room was empty, unless it was dirtied with blood or otherwise involved in a murder. Huh. Well, Yuji was right. It was more of an excuse to get out of situations, and to have semi-private conversations without seeming strange. So that meant Yuji intended to have a semi-private conversation with Jun? “What is that motivation, anyway? What could you want to talk to _me_ about?”

“Now what’s that meant to mean?”

“I’m kind of the least interesting guy here. Least interesting person, period. So…” Jun took the first washed dish from Yuji to dry it. “I don’t get it. Especially if your intentions are to give some more focus to that flirting of yours. I’m not really a prize, and anyways, you’re just short of being my type.”

“Oh, you _wound_ me!” Yuji mocked, “Worry not. Though I certainly wouldn’t call you average enough to pass up, it’s a little-known secret about me, I actually already have a special somebody. My muse, you might say. Lights and guides my way through the long dark night. I actually wanted to talk to you about those theories I overhear you having.”

“Ah! Um. Well, it’s not like any of them are really founded in, anything. I’m just. You know, I’m full of anxiety, so I can’t help thinking about things. Way too much, overthinking them, really. So-”

“I suppose I was a bit vague there. Actually. I don’t mean your theories about what is going on in this place, rather. What came up just before dinner, I’m sure that you have some more thoughts on that than you let on,” Yuji said, “Rather. I’ve heard enough of those other theories. I want to hear about a theory you’ve had but haven’t spoken.”

“You mean… About memories?” Jun asked.

“Precisely, that’s just it. Barasu.” Oh, this was serious if Yuji was actually using his name. “Do you think that you have any repressed memories?”

“Oh. Wow that’s just going right into it.”

“I apologize. But, I do want to know what you think. Which, as you’ve just admitted, you do in excess.”

“I do think in excess. It’s true. I, uh. Wouldn’t say that I think I have repressed memories, by that term, you know? It’s totally possible that there are things I’ve forgotten, but repressed kind of implies something so awful that your brain can’t even stand to remember it. I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve got gaps and fogginess, but the surrounding context, it really seems like what I’m missing is just innocuous. I’m blaming it on the Killing Game stuff. They’re known for messing with your memories, after all.”

“...I suppose that’s fair,” Yuji said, “They’re known for that?”

“Yeah. Apparently most of them erase all memory of the games themselves. And some other memories too, usually, I guess?” Jun said, “I’m no expert, but. I know enough that I’m not really weirded out to be missing some stuff. Who knows, maybe I met Mercury sometime before and she just cut out every time at that happened, or something along those lines.”

“It’s admirable not to be caught off guard by gaps in your memory.” Yuji handed off the final dish. “But I couldn’t possibly brush it off that simply. It may seem innocuous in context, but if it’s something which you forgot for a reason, you’d never know. Things can turn sour in an instant, after all.”

“That’s… More pessimistic than I’d expect from you. You usually seem so, I don’t know. Sunshiney.”

“Okinawa is a sunshiney place! Or, you know. I thought so. But I’ve been having some doubts, myself. With some certain gaps in my own recollection, it seems that. Well, if the motives do come around to me, I think I will be _hoping_ for that worst memory aspect. Just for the peace of mind. Find out what I’m missing. Or, if the worst is something I remember after all, put it to rest that my missing memories are harmless after all.”

“That’s intense, dude,” Jun said, “Like. Really, intense. I’m sure that whatever you’re missing is completely fine. You’re from Okinawa? Been there your whole life? I’ve always heard about what a great place that is. So, of anybody to be missing some awful memory, you seem pretty unlikely.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” Yuji sighed. “Ah. It’s no worry, then. If somebody as self-professedly anxious as you can stand the holes in your memory, I’ve no excuse to be so uneasy about my own.”

“Would you have preferred if I had some awful theory about what could be there? Because what I just told you is definitely the best case scenario I’ve got. I’m just lucky that I can believe that best case.”

“...Fair, fair. Thank you. You’re right about that, I’m not sure what I wanted to hear.” Yuji took a few steps back toward the door. “I’ll leave you be, then. Won’t keep you around for my silly, strange questions any longer. Have a nice evening.”


	45. Daily Life: Day Two (Creative Self-Expression)

Jun waited a moment after Yuji left the kitchen area to try and think about that conversation. He was actually being… Optimistic about something? That really wasn’t like him, and now that it had been pointed out to him, why wasn’t he panicking about having a foggy memory? That was pretty easy to reason out. Hikari and Ayano wouldn’t both hold back from telling him if they had any fogginess. And if he had actually forgotten anything that was _important_, well. Those two were involved in just about every aspect of his life.

They’d have mentioned something, and he’d realize he didn’t remember it, and they’d have gotten it sorted out. But they didn’t. Though, he hadn’t told either of them that he was foggy, so he couldn’t completely write off their memories being in the same state. Or everybody’s being in the same state. Syoko’s were, and apparently, Yuji’s were. But when it came down to it.

Either everybody was forgetting things along the same lines, or a few people were forgetting things, and in Jun’s own case, it was unimportant. Probably, like he said, memories where he’d somehow met Mercury Mars. Or, at worst… Memories where he was alone with his family, that Hikari and Ayano wouldn’t be able to remind him of, anyway. That was a bit upsetting to think about, given that he _was_ very fond of his parents’ company, but there was a difference between important to him, and important.

Having once more come to terms with something he was already perfectly at terms with, Jun left the kitchen area and took a look around. A few people scattered about were still hanging out with each other; Emi with Evie and Tooru, Ayano with Ryota. Jun didn’t want to just insert himself into an existing conversation… But Shin diidn’t seem to be there. He might have gone back to his lab, so Jun decided to go and see if he was there. It was a bit disconcerting after last night, to walk outside in the evening. But Mercury didn’t go back on the rules there. She made the hazard go away after it attacked Mono. They only came out for real when it was properly night. Past ten. He had hours until he needed to worry.

His prediction turned out to be correct, spotting movement in Shin’s lab as soon as he got into the lab building. Admittedly, it could be anyone, but it wasn’t anyone, it was in fact Shin. He stepped through the doorway with a knock on the wall inside. “Knock knock?” He also said out loud because he was a middle aged man in the body of a much younger one.

“Hello, Barasu,” Shin greeted him from across the room. Jun rounded the corner to see what he was doing; this time, he didn’t actually recognize it. “If you’re wondering, this is polymer clay. I don’t really have artistic talent, or anything. But there’s a technique that, you guessed it, involves layering up and rolling the clay into something called canes. Then you cut them with a clay knife, which makes tiles with the pattern. They can be small enough to be beads, but I’m actually working on making some large enough to be coasters.”

“Oh, I see. Why?”

“Why not?”

“Because this is a Neo World Program and whatever you make isn’t going to carry into reality. There’s a reason that the NWP labs for education encourage that you don’t make any sort of thing that you’d want to hold onto, and make them back in the real world instead if you’d really like to.”

“I already have the skill, so I’m not learning anything… We don’t know how long we’ll be here. I just thought it would be nice if we had a bit of decoration, even if it hardly ranks above clutter,” Shin said, “I mean… There are a lot of empty spaces in this place. It’s pretty boring. It would be better if we could put up some wall art, or get some houseplants, or something… I don’t know. I just wanted to put in a bit of effort where I could.”

“...That’s actually really nice. Sorry for my cold and pragmatic worldview there,” Jun said, “I swear I’m not usually so caught up in only doing things if they have a point. Or, well. Wanting to make this place nicer while we’re here _is_ a point, and a good one at that.”

“I’m glad you think so. Empty rooms make me uneasy.” He stepped away from the table to retrieve more clay from the cabinet. “You know what they say about it, right? Minimalism is for people who know they can always afford what they need.”

“You kind of _look_ like you can always afford what you need. Shouldn’t you want your surroundings to match that aesthetic?”

“I didn’t buy these clothes for myself,” Shin said, and pinched some of the suitjacket in his fingers. “Well, technically, nobody here did, since these are just recreations of our usual style. But this style… I don’t dislike it. It flatters me. And I do make my own modifications from time to time. What I mean is that, and mind that I’m admitting this to you out of trust, I am not somebody who could actually afford an ensemble this decorative.”

“So how did you come across a style like this?” Jun had to wonder.

“A mix of things. My mother always desired my sister and I to look wonderful, so she took any hand-me-downs and charity that she could to keep up appearances. And when it comes to being on my own, and something _this_ nice, well. I do have a high class talent, even if I am not myself high class. The upper crust, when hiring somebody to make custom cigars at their cocktail parties, are more than willing to ‘tip’ with a proper uniform for the event.”

“You’ve never gone shopping for clothes on your own, then?”

“That makes it sound like something unpleasant. I haven’t, but does that have, pardon my rudeness, literally any significance?”

“Self-expression?”

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I have no discomfort in my current style, it suits my line of work, and it’s completely frugal. No reason to seek out ‘self-expression’ in that manner. I have other ways to accomplish that. And, are you really one to speak on the self-expression of clothing when you dress in such a bland way yourself?”

“Hey! I accessorize. For men, that precludes me from having a bland fashion sense. Is it bland to wear suspenders? Not in centuries. Since belts were invented, they’ve been a fashion statement. And I’m making that statement. Not bland.”

“Oh, whatever you say. These canes will be ready to cut in a bit. Stick around and you’ll see how cool it is, right? It’s my ~self-expression~.”


	46. Daily Life: Day Two (Trauma Factory)

** 8:00 PM / 2000 Hours **

Jun couldn’t argue with that. So, he stuck around to watch Shin work, and before he knew it, one cane had already been turned into coasters (and baked to a finished state), and he was helping Shin decide on the color scheme for the next ones. It really was interesting, how a tube of color could turn into a complex, patterned coaster upon being cut. Not interesting in the way that Jun really wanted to bother getting into this kind of hobby himself, but interesting enough to tag along on Shin’s enjoyment of it for an evening when he really could think of nothing better to do.

That seemed to be the trend with his life, didn’t it? Jun Barasu never really had anything _better_ to do. This wasn’t a problem, or at least he didn’t think so. Doing things because he didn’t have anything better to do didn’t imply that the things that he was doing for that reason were bad things. With nothing better, they were the best things that he could be doing, really. Just because he had no motivation to find anything better for himself didn’t change that fact. He enjoyed most of what he did. It wasn’t a bad way to experience life.

Shin was just about halfway through rolling up the next cane, with Jun watching intently for no other reason than to spend some time fascinated by the arts, when somebody else arrived at the lab. That somebody else being Emi, who did not say knock knock out loud, because she was her own age.

“What are The Boyz up to here?” Emi asked, suddenly not seeming her own age after all because Jun could somehow tell that she absolutely used that capitalization and spelling.

“Seriously, Oowada?” Shin asked, chuckling between words, “The Boyz? I sincerely doubt that Barasu and I fit that qualification. If anybody here does, wouldn’t it be Nageko and Sato?”

“I’m… Really not sure about that one,” Emi said, “But, you’re right. You don’t actually fit the highly specific criteria for The Boyz. I think… Maybe if Sato and Shinku became close, they might more accurately fall under that title?”

“Yes, that seems like a proper assessment,” Shin said, “A balance, of laid-back attitudes, with a mild-to-moderate propensity for shenanigans… Which Shinku did prove to me today, he is capable of. Making such a delicious meal just to spite me. I didn’t deserve that. Being rewarded for making needless judgments, that is. I deserved to be spited. But in such a delicious way…”

“He thrives on that sort of stuff, don’t worry,” Jun said, “I kinda think he might have baited you into assuming he would suck at cooking for the sake of being able to later spite you with a good meal. As for me, yeah. You underestimated my ability. My mom is a really good cook, so I learned a lot of basic techniques from her. And pasta sauce. I can make a mean pasta sauce. I’m going to, night after tomorrow, when I signed up for dinner. No eggs in it, so you should be game to try, right, Tsubasa?”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Shin said, “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“I will too!” Emi pressed her hands to her cheeks. “Mm… Your mom’s given pasta dishes to neighborhood potlucks before, hasn’t she? I have this wonderful memory of eating rotini covered in a perfectly balanced marinara, with just a sprinkle of romano cheese on top, and it must have been that one. Right?”

“If you can describe a food as ‘perfect’ then she’s probably to blame, I guess?” Jun scratched at one of his own cheeks. “You’re pretty enthusiastic about this. Do you prefer western food?”

“Nop. Just prefer food.” She dropped her hands, but only to her hips. “I mean, it takes a lot of calories to maintain this kind of muscle! Did you really think all of it’s a natural state?”

“I. Kind of did, actually,” Jun admitted, “You don’t really look like you work out. I just thought you were a freakishly strong little girl.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you? These clothes can hide a lot. If I switched to wearing normal t-shirts, you wouldn’t be able to look away from my biceps. And I have a strict morning bodyweight exercise routine. I’m just lucky that Syoko wanted in on it, and doesn’t mind me waking up an hour early to get it done! Now, if we had bunk beds, that would be even better, but I’m not gonna let myself get _weak_ in here.”

“That makes sense. Neo World Programs do have a direct impact on your physical body…” Jun noted, “So much that eating and sleeping in here can maintain your body for up to, I think two months straight is where it starts to cause real life deterioration? And if you lose an eye in here, without the failsafes on, you’d still be blind in it when you wake up, so better to get the injury for real and avoid the phantom pains.”

“That is… Unsettling,” Emi said, “Why do you know all that?”

“Extra sessions with Doctor Kirisame. I was curious what things were like before the failsafes.”

“I’m feeling a bit lost in this conversation,” Shin said, “So what’s the bottom line here?”

“There are probably no failsafes in this program, given its nature as a Killing Game,” Emi explained, “So we should assume that anything which happens to our bodies here will have some impact on our real bodies. I can maintain my real-world muscle mass by continuing to work out while I’m in here. If Snow woke up right now, he’d be stuck with really bad leg pain until he broke the same bone for real and let it heal normally.”

“Are you… Doesn’t that imply that Snow will need to experience healing the same broken bone for twice the amount of normal time?” Shin asked.

“Yea. But, that’s a future him problem. Or for all we know, Mars really did leave the failsafes on, and this is just a trauma factory.” Emi shrugged.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Jun asked, realizing he hadn’t even entertained in his theorizing the possibility that this game _would ever_ use the NWP failsafes which prevented those real-world effects.

“We have no idea why we were put here. Or why it’s us, specifically. For all we know, this is just some fucked up stunt to traumatize us all with a Killing Game, then let us back into the world, newly broken by an event which serves no honest purpose besides being an atrocity against fellow man.”

“That’s… Intense,” Shin said.

“It’s just a theory!” Emi’s serious expression turned to an innocent smile. Or, was it a smirk? “Obviously, we can’t assume I’m right. For somebody to decide to labor under that premise, they would need to be cruel enough to want to do this to us, and level-headed enough to realize that Killing Games cause pain and don’t meaningfully accomplish any greater purpose. So. We’ll need to assume, if somebody dies, they really are dead. But, just maybe. Mars just has a reason to want all of us to suffer, and she doesn’t really need to get _rid_ of any of us?”


	47. Daily Life: Day Two (We Want You Around)

** 9:00 PM / 2100 Hours **

“Heh…” Shin chuckled. “No matter how much you try to act like this is some serious revelation, Oowada, you’re just being foolishly optimistic. You can’t fool me.”

Emi’s attitude vanished. “Ohh, jeeze. You got me. I’m just entertaining the hope that even though living through this sort of thing is awful, we don’t have to worry about actually dying.”

“There’s another trick not to worry about actually dying. Make the conscious decision to stop valuing your own life. Worries gone,” Shin said.

“It’s not as easy as that,” Jun said, “I wouldn’t say that I value my life and I still worry about everything all the time. I do want to live and all, but, I won’t be too chuffed if I die young.”

“You guys are weird!” Emi proclaimed, pointing both index fingers at them. “I mean, really. What kinds of philosophies are those?”

“Eh. Just that nothing matters _that_ much. Wanna watch me cut this cane of clay into coasters? I hear it’s pretty fascinating,” Shin said.

“...That does sound pretty cool. Okay.”

“Hey,” Jun said, “I’m actually gonna head out, you guys should too on the sooner side. It just hit nine, and you really don’t want to see those hazards. Have fun finishing up here, though.”

With that, he nodded to Emi and Shin both, then stepped out of the lab. There wasn’t anybody in the hallway, so he went ahead and left the building as well. As soon as he was outside, he bumped into somebody, and after the initial apology, noticed that it was Ayano. “Oh, hey. What’s up?”

“Actually…” Ayano’s voice was quieter than usual. “I was kind of looking for you. Come back to the main building with me?”

“Uh, yeah. Of course. What’s going on?”

“I was just hoping for the chance to talk to you without Hikari around,” Ayano said, “I would have had it earlier, if I hadn’t already agreed to meet up with Nageko… He’s very nice, by the way. Interesting vampire lore, too. That’s not here or there, though.”

“Without Hikari?” Jun wondered.

“There’s no way that it’s completely passed you by, right? That she seems to like me better than you. Especially lately. I’m a bit worried that it… I don’t know. I don’t really know what I’m worried about exactly. I’m just worried.”

“She definitely likes you better than me, but, I kind of thought that’s how things have always been with the three of us. You two are best friends, and I’m the boring guy that you let tag along with you.”

“Nooo...” Ayano stopped still. “You really think that, Jun? Do you really?”

“I mean… Yeah?”

“That’s not true at all. It isn’t at all. Not at all. Not even a little bit, Jun. Why would you think that? Why?”

“Because you’re both interesting, and I’m not. And Hikari doesn’t like me, she just tolerates me. And you. I… I still don’t have the hang of it. Reading you. I really should by now, but. You talk the same way to people you love and people you hate. So I just assume I’m in the middle to lower part of your opinion.”

“That is very incorrect. You are in the uppers of my opinion, though you lost a point for making that assumption,” Ayano said, “I don’t know what would have given you the assumption that I don’t like you. You are my friend. It’s absurd to assume somebody who calls you a friend secretly does not think of you that way…”

“Anxiety can make you think absurd things sometimes. Anyway, uh. If you were worried that Hikari being mean to me would make me want to stop being friends, obviously, that’s incorrect. I just feel like it’s a privilege to hang out with you. To have friends at all. Even if I thought you were just letting me stick around because you pitied me.”

“If anybody were to be included out of pity, I think it would be me. I am not exactly… Inclined to making friends by nature.”

“But that’s not the case, because Hikari likes you a lot more than me.”

“I think that she likes me in an odd way,” Ayano said, “I don’t know how to feel about that. It isn’t quite the same as you. If you liked me that way I would consider it strange and uncomfortable, because I see you almost as my family. Not so with Hikari. But if she does feel that way, she should simply tell me that she does.”

“Would you date her if she did?”

“I don’t know. It might make things weird, right? And I don’t feel that way about her. I could, but not currently… I think that’s called alterous attraction.”

“It wouldn’t make things weird. I don’t think so, anyway. Maybe it would even make things better, if you were actually dating and she didn’t feel like I was fighting her for you. Which, I’m not. But I think that she thinks I am?”

“Ridiculous. You couldn’t see me that way.”

“Not in _this_ life,” Jun said, “Who knows. Maybe if we spent a few years apart or something. But, I mean. I kind of see you like a sister. And you probably see me like a cousin.”

“No I see you like a brother…” Ayano looked down, and Jun finally looked at her. Was she… crying? “I don’t understand why you can’t get that people care about you. You’re not a ‘boring’ person. Why do you think that? You’re so important to me and to so many other people. Look at Saihara. She decided right away that you were interesting enough to be her friend. Is that worth nothing to you? Why don’t you listen to what other people tell you?”

“I… just…” Jun looked down. “I’m nobody special. That’s what it means to be me, to be average and boring. With a boring talent. It doesn’t bother me. That’s just the way it is. Jun Barasu is a normal guy. That’s it, that’s all I am and all that I need to be.”

“You can be a normal guy without thinking that all your friends secretly hate you. I just don’t understand why you feel the need to assume the worst.”

Jun reached out and put a hand on her head. “I guess it’s because I’m surrounded by amazing people. It’s hard to believe you’d actually be invested in me. But… You’re being sincere right now, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. Even if you can’t figure me out. You have to know I’m telling the truth right now.” She brought an arm up around herself. “I wouldn’t… Ever want you thinking like that again. So please don’t. I want you to be here. I want to be around you. Don’t think that I don’t.”

“Hey, hey. It’s alright. You don’t need to get all upset about my own self-esteem issues…”

“That’s not what I am upset about! I’m upset that you seem to think that I have this capacity for lying about liking your company. It’s as if you’re trying to convince me that all the reasons I have for appreciating you are invalid, like I’m not smart enough to know that you’re ‘not worth it’. But I am. I know my own feelings.”

“A-Ah. That’s. Oh, that makes sense. I’m sorry. I never meant to make you feel that way. I guess I need to be more considerate of how my own issues come across to others. Or just, uh… Work on those issues.”

“I would prefer you do that, yes,” Ayano said, then gave him just a hint of a smile. “I’m sorry for the trouble. I hope that you understand, now? I’m going to go to bed.”

He couldn’t say he understood. It didn’t make sense to him, but it didn’t need to. It made sense to Ayano, that was the part that mattered. So he watched her go. His friend. She was his friend… And he was her friend too.


	48. Daily Life: Day Two (Bedtime)

**10:00 PM / 2200 Hours**

“Okay everyone, it’s now nighttime! I see that you’re all in the main building, so make sure you stay that way. Get some rest, because unfortunately, there’s three more motives in it for you at breakfast. You’ve all been real champs about letting them roll off of you like water from a duck, so I expect you to keep up that stellar track record! Have a good night,” Mono’s voice filled the halls, and Jun hadn’t realized it had gotten this late.

He was relieved to hear everybody was in the main building, so he went back downstairs. He and Ayano had wandered into one of the miscellaneous hallways while talking, but he had a pretty good grip on the area now, so he was back in the dorm lobby area in just a few minutes. He noticed that a few people were still out and about; Specifically, Irarako was sitting on the floor with Syoko talking to her, and Emi was standing off a bit to the side.

“Hey, Ira.” Oh, it seemed that Jun was walking it at the start of the conversation. “Why’re you sitting out here?”

“S’no big. Itadai told me she wants the room to hersel’ tonight so I was gonna sleep on the floor. Sorta wish she told me a lil sooner in the day cause then I’da took up one of those Nage-cots in his lab, but, not important.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Syoko said, “But you know, you really shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor out in the open like this… It’s not safe.”

“Really think somebody’d do that? Murder a defenseless sleepin’ lady?”

“No, but we can’t just rule out the possibility,” Syoko said, “The objective motivation not to kill your roommate is that it would be too easy to find out it was you. There’s no such motivation for people who fall asleep in public areas.”

“Awe. Guess that’s right…”

“Why don’t you sleep on the floor in our room, then?” Emi offered from where she stood. “That’s out of the way, and Barasu there can hold the both of us accountable. Since somebody else will know that’s where you are tonight.”

“Don’t hafta convince me I’ll be safer with you, barely even thinkin’ I was unsafe out here alone,” Irarako said, then got to her feet. “But I’ll take ya up on that. Convinced me right good that it ain’t safe here. Long as it’s good with the both of ya?”

“Of course it’s good with me!” Syoko exclaimed, “I would have made the offer myself, but I didn’t want to impose if it would bother Oowada.”

“Thanks,” Emi said, “But it’s fine with me, really. Long as you don’t go snooping around, hear, Ebizakaya?”

“What all would it be for me to snoop at anyway?” Irarako tilted her head.

“The dresser’s drawers, the closets,” Emi said, “I’d also kinda rather you didn’t use my shower, actually.”

“You can use mine,” Syoko said, “If you need it. But I do agree in general! Neither of us have anything to hide, of course, but it’s the principle of maintaining some personal privacy, isn’t it?”

“No worries, no worries.” Irarako waved her hands. “Understand, hundred percents. I’d ask the same a’ you guys in my room! For the principle an’ all. More than enough of you to make me the offer at all.”

“It’s simple courtesy. What sort of woman would I be, to leave my kindred sleeping out on the floor in a public area, prime prey to any who might have unsavory ideas such as murder, or other? Not that I actually think anybody here would do other.”

“Do you think people here would commit murder?” Emi asked.

“I can’t avoid thinking such things. But I can at least push certain atrocities off the table like a dainty pussycat.” Syoko clapped her hands together once. “Let’s all retire for the night then, the three of us. And Jun, you _will_ hold us accountable, won’t you? If any of us fail to make an appearance in the morning, you know exactly where we were and who we were with.”

“Yeah, of course,” Jun said, “I can keep track of something like that pretty easily. Er, sorry to eavesdrop. I just sort of showed up, and noticed you were talking, so I didn’t keep moving to my room, and…”

“Uh-huh. Eavesdropping is your hobby, dude,” Emi said. How exactly did she know that? “I don’t really care, but you don’t have to make excuses like that. Just know if you listen in on conversations, chances are pretty high you’ll end up roped into them. Like we just did. It’s only fair!”

“It… Is only fair, yeah,” Jun said, deciding not to question the bigger issue there. Awkwardly caught out, he raised a hand in farewell, and fumbled his monopad to get into his own room. Homura was already in there, lying on the bed on his stomach, one foot raised and chin in his hands.

“Hello, roomie,” He said.

“Must you always be posing? Nobody has a camera here, you know. You can sit like a normal person.”

“But I needed to make a good impression when you got back! Besides. I was eavesdropping too. If you’re _really_ close to the door you can just barely kinda hear what goes on outside!” Homura picked himself up to sit cross-legged, which was normal enough. “So Itadai kicked Ebizakaya out of the room for the night. Something tells me you might have some idea what that’s about?”

“You don’t need to do that. You’re baby, and it was none of my business to start with, so it isn’t anybody else’s business and I won’t tell you.”

“But... Don’t you wanna share the hot goss with a fellow fiend for knowledge?”

“Definitely not when you say it like that.”

“Then, how about if I say it like this? I’m not _that_ baby. I just haven’t hit my birthday yet, since it’s in December. I’m not a whole school year under most of the people here. Just a few months from seventeen. Being the youngest person here doesn’t make me young. And I _know_ you want to share the juicy details of what you’ve found out.”

“You make a very convincing argument!” Jun complained, dropping to sit on his own bed. “Fine. I listened in on a conversation between Itadai and Nanjo earlier. He flirted with her, she seemed to get angry, but told him that if he was serious he should come to her room at nighttime. So that’s probably… Yeah.”

“Ohh. Yes, I see. Good grief. Why are the lot of you so horny?” Homura questioned, adjusting his glasses. “That doesn’t seem like a great idea, to me. Itadai and _Nanjo_? Wasn’t she calling herself a lesbian? Doesn’t that raise some red flags?”

“So many of them. But it’s not really my place… Or anybody’s place, to interfere in this sort of thing,” Jun said, “For all we know, Nanjo is just a horny enough dude that he knows what she thinks and just doesn’t care, if Itadai considering him a girl gets him laid? Sure doesn’t sound healthy, but, who are we to judge?”

“Participants in a Killing Game is who we are to judge!” Homura protested, “Come _on_! If she thought you were the only one who knows, Itadai could be luring him to her room to murder him! Or, I don’t know, he isn’t aware of her views and when he finds out he’ll freak out and kill her! It’s like you’ve never studied murdergame trends before!”

“I have not,” Jun said.

“Yeah _obviously_!” Homura threw his arms up, then brought them back to cross them in one smooth movement. “...But let’s be optimistic and assume that we _will_ see both of them at breakfast. I’m willing to be proven wrong. You’re right, it’s none of our business right now.”

“Mm. Hey, have you looked inside these drawers?” Jun changed the subject, reaching over to pull the top drawer on the dresser open. It had a few useful odds and ends, basically a junk drawer. All that stood out was the duplicate screwdriver sets. “Oh. Why’s there two identical screwdriver sets in this junk drawer?”

“That’s a Killing Game staple,” Homura said, “Antiquated, but traditional, to include some item in a room corresponding to its inhabitant’s gender. Since we’re both guys, two screwdriver sets, a la stereotypes. Mixed in with other junk to throw us off that idea, I’m guessing.”

“Oh. How can you be sure that’s what it is?” Jun asked.

“Cause, I checked with Yume and Yoshiro about it. Two sewing kits there. Hey, at least the sexist stereotypes are respecting gender identity!” Homura half-pumped a fist. “But, yes. This does imply some level of respect for the way the games are conducted, but the burying means that’s all it is. It’s irrelevant otherwise.”

“I see. Okay, well, goodnight,” Jun said, and stood back up to get his pajamas and change for bed.


	49. Daily Life: Day Three (Everybody's Breakfast Hero)

** 5:00 AM / 0500 Hours **

“Hey! Hey hey! Hey roomie!” Jun was woken from deep sleep by the sound of Homura yelling at him. He opened his eyes already in a glare. “Oh good, you’re awake.”

“What do you want, and why are you leaning over me like some ridiculous bat instead of just shaking my shoulders?”

“Uhhh.” Homura tilted his head ninety degrees without shifting his overall position. It was a strange view. “Isn’t that obvious? I have no idea how you feel about being touched. It’s like, rude enough of me to drag you around by the forearm without considering that. But come on. Get up. Get up!”

“Why are you waking me up at…” Jun turned to look at the analog clock on the dresser. “Five in the morning? Did something happen? What’s going on?”

“I woke up in a cold sweat and remembered that Itadai was scheduled to make breakfast.”

“That’s… What?”

“She was scheduled to make breakfast! But she is either _dead_, or a _murderer_, or _sleeping off a night of rowdy casual sex with a guy whose actual job is to know his way around a human body_! Come on, roomie! We gotta _save breakfast!_”

“I have no investment in any of the words you just said. I want to go back to sleep.”

“Tough titty! As the only people in this world with the awareness that Itadai definitely won’t, for some reason or another, be able to make breakfast, it is our duty that we take it upon ourselves. So get up. Get a shower.”

“...I’m too tired to come up with an argument for that, so I guess I’m agreeing to go along with this instead. Doesn’t the dining hall not even open until six?” Jun questioned.

“I didn’t spend the night here. I dunno how long it takes you to get ready to face the day. I got some caffeinated drinks from the gift shop, too.” Homura pointed to a pile of full bottles. “I woke up in this cold sweat a good forty minutes ago. Drank an iced tea. Brought those back here. I’d rather shower at the same time you are. For mental health reasons. Don’t want a chance at getting Psycho-ed!”

“You are. An enigma.” Jun dragged himself out of bed and walked over to the pile of bottles, picking out a coldbrew coffee. “And kind of stupid. Strong Zero isn’t an energy drink, it’s alcohol.”

“You’re old enough to drink. For all I know, that’s exactly what you need to get you going in the mornings!” Homura shrugged. “What, you think I can’t tell alcohol when I see it? My parents are cool.”

“I’m not sure. Uh. How does that correlate to coolness?”

“They have alcohol in the house so I can sneaky fingers steal it when I wanna. This stuff’s pretty tasty, too.”

“Oh. My parents had some substance abuse issues back before I was born, so we only actually kept cooking sherry and rubbing alcohol in the house. You probably know alcohol better than I do, by that measure.”

“It runs in your family? Huh.” Homura snatched up the can of Strong Zero. “In that case, I’m taking this away from you. Don’t need to kickstart the new generation of alcoholism.”

“I think that stealing alcohol at age sixteen is a bigger kickstart to that sort of thing!” Jun protested, then lifted the bottle of coffee to his forehead. “Whatever. I’m going to drink this in the shower and see if maybe that lets me step out once more into the world of the waking.”

“Cool!” Homura saluted, then Jun stepped into the bathroom on his half of the room, with his household’s shampoos and everything. Why did everyone else in his family feel like taking nicer care of their hair than he did? Whatever. He turned the water on, let it warm up, got undressed, then climbed into the shower. Once the water was hitting him he could process enough to get the cap off of his bottled coffee, and started slurping it down.

The benefit of caffeinating in the shower was that one didn’t need to try too hard, anything spilled on oneself would immediately be washed away. This was good for those who didn’t have brains in the morning. Jun was among those people. He hardly had a brain when he woke up at a normal time, matching his circadian rhythms and a sleep schedule. Waking up an extra hour early, unexpectedly, to solve a problem that he was not involved in creating? Bad. Real brainless hours.

His brain had somewhat found its way back into his skull by the time he stepped out of the shower with the bottle empty. Enough so that he got dressed, brushed his hair with knowledge that one cowlick would remain, and stepped back into the room. Homura was already back there, hair wet and dressed in a slightly different outfit, given that the closet provided those. Jun’s shirt was a burgundy instead of gray-brown, that was the only change he made. Homura wore a t-shirt just as off-shoulder as the long sleeved one, but cut shorter at the lower hem, with higher-waisted skinny jeans making up the difference. He was a stylish kid.

“Okay! Thanks for going along with this for me,” Homura said, “Really. It’s nice to not need to handle this on my own. I almost gave up on convincing you! One more ‘no’ and I would’ve relented. So I guess what I’m saying is you have my sincere gratitude for breaking first.”

“Gee, you’re welcome.”

“It’s just about six, because you take a _pretty_ lengthy shower.”

“Not usually. Just when I’m woken up sooner than I’m expecting to be.”

“The bottom line is, we should get going to the dining hall and get to work. For folks to have a chance to eat a bit before three more motives at eight, we really should be starting as soon as the rules will let us. Do you need another coffee?”

“I need about five more coffees, but yes, one more will do the trick well enough,” Jun said, and wandered over to grab one. “That first one was actually pretty good, for the bottled stuff…”

“Are you a coffee connoisseur too? A true jack of all trades, you are. We make a pair of partners in crime, don’t we? Jack of all trades, that’s you. Master of none, that’s me, except in cases where I can prove somebody wrong by temporarily becoming master of one.”

“That doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.”

“It doesn’t! Well. Let’s go.” Homura seemed to bounce towards the door. “Doesn’t it feel nice? Being everybody’s breakfast hero?”

Now that Jun had gotten over being woken up, well. It kind of did.


	50. Daily Life: Day Three (Pancakes)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

Homura and Jun arrived at the dining hall just as the clock struck unlocked. Mono’s announcement was much the same as the previous night’s, carrying another apology for the motives but otherwise quite standard. Nobody else was here yet. Jun had to imagine some of the others were already awake, but none of them had a reason to come to the dining hall. Emi said she woke up early to exercise… Irarako would probably be all too happy to join in for that, so at least the hospitality wouldn’t lead to conflict.

The pair of breakfast heroes went straight to the kitchen, opening the door on the dot when it became possible. The doors did lock at night, so it was a bit redundant to say that there would be punishment for going there out of hours. So it was just for people who tried to squat in the room when night fell? Or maybe people who could pick locks. Or shove doors off their hinges, huh? There were options there. He of all people knew that a good rule was one which didn’t leave loopholes for people to break them in brand new ways without consequence.

Homura set to work, this time without any clumsiness. Everyone was now aware of his absolute capabilities, so he couldn’t access those again, but it was okay. He wouldn’t just become _incapable_ the minute he had nothing to prove, but rather, a solid C+ average. With Jun’s help, they could put their powers together to still make a B+ Breakfast. Nothing compared to yesterday’s SSS quality dumplings, but certainly not terrible. Especially if they kept it fairly simple, which was the plan here. Pancakes, a few flavor variations and one dietary variation, easy to make in relevant quantities on a stove this large and hard to sincerely screw up.

The Monopad did contain recipes within it, which was a great help for this. Basic pancake batter was an easy thing to recall, but Jun needed some guidance on how to pull off a batter which lacked, basically any ingredient somebody naturally concluded made up a pancake. An allergen-free pancake was about as easy, but required a few instructions on what to substitute.

Jun was in charge of making the batters, while Homura manned the stove, keeping it a relatively efficient line of production. They were already nearly finished making breakfast by the time that the kitchen door burst open at half past six and Kagome started to stumble in, but stopped in her tracks seeing them. “I uh. I was scheduled. To make breakfast today…”

“Sure you were, but.” Homura turned around holding the spatula up to wink at her. “We happened to notice that you kicked your roommate out last night. Now, I can only imagine _what_ purpose that happened for, but I kind of assumed you’d be a bit less inclined to making breakfast after your hookup and/or murder attempt.”

“W-What!? Hey, what are you… I didn’t kill anybody!” Kagome protested.

“So you had sex,” Homura said, “Interesting. I didn’t think anybody liked you even enough to call you a friend, so… Hate-fueled night of passion?”

“Excuse me?” Kagome questioned, and crossed her arms. “I have self-respect, you know. I wouldn’t sleep with somebody who I hate!”

“Nice confirmation that you slept with _somebody_ there. Y’know, you coulda said I was completely wrong and neither of my guesses matched what you did last night. You’re really bad at covering for yourself, huh?”

“I am going to leave this room now,” Kagome said, and turned, but stopped on her way out. “Thanks for picking up breakfast, though. That’s way nicer than you needed to be to me. Could have just let me get here late and deal with answering for why breakfast isn’t ready on time, so… Yeah. That’s the gratitude you’ll get from me.”

Then, she left for real. Well, that was about as positive an interaction as Jun figured he could get from Kagome, even with Homura’s decision to tease her.

“Hey, Homura,” Jun said, “Thanks for lying about what you knew, there?”

“Of course. I’m not gonna give away your secret.” Homura winked. “Knowing that Ebizakaya got kicked out of the room was a much more publicly-observable thing, wouldn’t you say?”

“Definitely. I knew about it, and so did Syoko and Oowada, since they invited her to stay the night in their room. Anyone else who walked by could have figured out as much too, whether they talked to Ebizakaya about it or not,” Jun said, “So. Uh. At least in making fun of Itadai, you didn’t let onto her the fact that I’m actually a kind of terrible person?”

“Eavesdropping isn’t terrible. It’s mildly chaotic at worst. And you can find out a lot of useful stuff by eavesdropping! There’s a reason that video games let you awkwardly stand next to people and overhear their useless everyday chatter. People wanna know what people are talking about. Thus, it’s morally dubious at a factor of like, two, to actually act on that want. I respect you for it, being such a spineless normie-kun most of the time but being able to do something like that.”

“You know, I’m not sure that being called a normie-kun by you all the time is great for my self-esteem…”

“And now, the courage to admit that! I’m impressed. Okay, I’ll cut it out, since you bothered to confront me. It _was_ kind of a dick move, huh? But what made you decide it’s worth telling me to stop?”

“Ayano said some stuff to me last night, about how it’s insulting her emotional intelligence for me to always be saying things like, I’m bland and not worth anybody’s time, because she’s always considered me worth her time. So I guess what it takes for me to stand up for myself is for somebody else to tell me that by having bad self-value I’m hurting _them_ too? I don’t really… Mind it personally. But I don’t want to hurt other people, and if me thinking badly of myself does that, then I should take steps to stop?”

“...Roundabout, but very respectable. I support your endeavors to become happier with yourself!” Homura grinned. “Maybe I should give that a shot, sometime. My family would be pretty relieved, if I did…”

“Mine should be, too. When I see them again. Ugh, who knows. Maybe this is all some elaborate ruse by all of our families to make us improve as people through hardship…”

“Would… do you really think your family would do that to you?” Homura questioned, his voice suddenly shaky. “Mine wouldn’t, mine never would. What makes you think… Why would you think something like that? I’m sure your parents would never ever want this to happen to you. They left the planet to get away from Killing Games. Right? Isn’t that what all of your families did? So why would they… I don’t think that’s possible.”

“You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. Of course my parents wouldn’t do that.” Jun was sincere, because Homura was right. His family would never want this for him, even if it _would_ build character. His parents were weird people, but not this weird. And Homura spoke fondly of his family, too. Some people here probably had bad parents. But neither of them did, and that on its own invalidated the theory. Not that Jun seriously considered it, but he did consider it enough to voice it, and that was more than certain theories which crossed his mind.

So he couldn’t even trust people who weren’t here? Was that the Killing Game, or was it just. Him?


	51. Daily Life: Day Three (And As Many More Motives)

** 7:00 AM / 0700 Hours **

Once the pancakes were completely ready, it was just a quick bit of setup on the buffet table out in the dining area, and thus breakfast had been prepared. Jun made himself a plate and went straight to the table where Ayano and Hikari were sitting, directly across from the both of them. “Morning.”

“Good morning, Jun,” Ayano replied with a smile. “You helped with breakfast, didn’t you? It’s a treat, eating your cooking twice in a row. And you’re still making sauce tomorrow, right?”

“That’s the plan, anyway,” Jun said, “I’ll have to take up most of the day working on it, though. Probably need to start by eleven at the latest, to really get all the flavors right…”

“I know you said that it’s too complicated for anybody to help you, but would it be too distracting if one of us hung out with you in the kitchen while you worked?” Ayano asked.

“It probably would,” Hikari said, “We should really leave Barasu to his work, tomorrow!”

“Oh, no, it shouldn’t be too difficult for me to chat while cooking, but that might get kind of boring for you. So don’t feel like you need to…” He trailed off, somehow noticing the tiniest little change in Ayano’s expression to realize she was disappointed by his answer. “But why don’t we all figure out something fun to do during the day today? I can’t really think of anything, but why don’t you both brainstorm and come back to get me once you figure it out?”

Hikari blinked a few times. “Huh. That’s uh… Reasonable? Okay. I’m cool with that plan!”

“You’re. What?”

“I mean, come on. Hanging out with you is boring so often cause your ideas are dumb and you always think that our ideas are too dangerous or too illegal,” Hikari said, “We’ll have fun if you actually give us the go-ahead to think of something to do.”

“Please still don’t do anything too dangerous or illegal. I do not want a 24-hour beach challenge. I do not want ‘let’s just team up and kill somebody together’, or anything that breaks the rules…” Jun trailed off. “I guess the reason I’m asking you to think of something to do is because there actually isn’t much that’s dangerous or illegal here short of things that would literally get us murdered. So we’ve got some leeway.”

“I also do not want to get literally murdered,” Ayano said, “So you can count on us to think of something which won’t do that. Where should we meet back up once we have prepared our shark tank?”

“I’ll hang around in the gift shop. Seems like there’s always something I haven’t noticed yet there,” Jun said, “So you can find me there whenever. Maybe I’ll get one of the others to go there with me for a bit? It’s interesting. I’m actually not having trouble making friends here.”

“It’s a captive audience,” Hikari scoffed.

“That’s because you are a good person to be friends with,” Ayano said with much more sincerity, “And the people here are smart. That way, they can see and understand that is true.”

Jun wouldn’t exactly say that the people here were smart. Syoko was smart, that much was obvious. Irarako was smarter than her dialect implied, at least. As for the rest of them? Well… Of course, that included himself. The brain cells on this island seemed few and far between.

“Thanks, Ayano,” He said, definitely not going to dismiss her on yet another point after what she told him last night. Instead, he took a look around the room. Ryota was sitting with Yuji and Evie. Nanjo and Kagome were, expectedly, at the same table. While Kagome had done well to get herself to her usual level of presentability, Jun came to a realization while looking at Nanjo. It seemed that the voluminous, wavy state that Yume’s hair was in was the natural one for the twins, and evidently enough, Nanjo hadn’t had the time to return his hair to its usual limp aesthetic. It looked kind of ridiculous, and was a definite indicator that what everybody assumed happened last night… most likely had.

Homura had already teased Kagome about it enough, though, so Jun wasn’t going to point it out. Instead, he turned to check the clock, only to see that time had already flown by to the unfortunate milestone.

** 8:00 AM / 0800 Hours **

“Morning, one and all.” Mono appeared. “As unpleasant as this fact is, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to deliver the next batch of motives now. I also realized that I failed to explain a certain aspect of the motives. If a motive goes unanswered through the entire cycle, and loops back around, then the choice _can_ end up being between two copies of the same question. So keep that in mind. Anyway. Ryota Nageko? Deepest Fear, or Worst Memory?”

“I think I have to go with Worst Memory,” Ryota said.

“Oh. Uh, are you sure about that?” Mono asked.

“What, do you think that I don’t _know myself_ well enough to figure out what the answers to those would both be? I made my decision. I’d rather have that shared, than the alternative.”

“Er. Alright, then. Sorry. Ryota Nageko’s Worst Memory is the time that his father, Kenta Nageko, nearly beat him to death. Let’s just move on then. Syoko Saihara, Deepest Fear or Most Hated Person?”

“Oh, I don’t really think I hate anybody, so that wouldn’t be very fair for me to take, would it? Let’s keep things leveled and at least give my motive a _chance_ at causing a problem. Deepest Fear.”

“How very noble of you. Well, your deepest fear is to ‘ever fail again’. Weird on the wording, but not unexpected for you, is it? Lastly, because I am again very sorry I fucked up and got the rules changed, Shin Tsubasa. Most Hated Person, or Most Twisted Ambition? Yikes, this is a tough choice.”

“That’s true. A fairly equivalent toss-up. So I suppose that I’ll take Most Hated Person.”

“Alright, then. Shin Tsubasa’s Most Hated Person is his younger sister Mika Tsubasa.”


	52. Daily Life: Day Three (A Good Reason)

“That’s interesting,” Shin said, “So I suppose that answers a question. The Most Hated Person only applies to people who are alive, does it?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Mono said, “If somebody’s dead, then they’ve become excluded from that motive. In this way, it’s possible that Mika isn’t actually the person you hate most in the world, just the person you hate most who still exists in this world.”

“Precisely. Were it to cover the dead, then my answer would be much the same as Itadai’s. I have no fondness for my mother. At least now I know that Mika is alive. I wouldn’t actually say I hate her personally, as much as I hate some amount of what she represents. That’s an advantage to that motive, then. If you do have self-awareness of who you hate, you can discover if somebody has lived or died since you last saw them.”

“I guess so?” Mono said, “That was definitely not an intended use of the motives, but… Well, I suppose that some of them have double uses like that.”

“Like how you could use the Worst Memory motive to recall something that you’ve forgotten or repressed,” Yuji said, “Right?”

“It’s true. The Most Twisted Ambition motive could also be used to help you figure out something if you’re having an internal dilemma,” Mono said, “Wow. I wonder what any of mine would be… Unlike what Nageko says, I definitely don’t know myself well enough to predict what these motives might amount to for my sake. You know, being a broken dual-entity created from the memories and programming of two beings with compatible but opposing goals and motivations.”

“Speaking of Nageko,” Evie said, “I’m sorry to hear that happened to you. That’s really terrible.”

“T-that’s…” Ryota seemed caught off guard that it came back to him. “Don’t pity me. It was a very unpleasant experience, but an eye-opening one. It was a mere test. And for a half-blooded vampire such as myself to be so thoroughly defeated by my human father… Obviously, I needed to man up and improve my training.”

“Is that so?” Syoko asked, “Well, don’t worry. We’ll _drop_ the issue.”

The pointed nature of her statement was such that Jun suddenly couldn’t even imagine the prospect of pressing for any further information. Yet another skill of hers, he guessed, to be able to communicate so clearly to an entire room that something was a bad idea.

“As for my own motive,” Syoko continued to change the subject, “I apologize. I made my choice in the hopes that it would be something of at least _mildly_ comparable severity to what we’ve seen so far, but I suppose that the answer was something that you could all assume about me to begin with. Ah, if only I could receive another with a greater harshness behind it…”

“I’m curious,” Saya said, “What do you think the Most Twisted Ambition would have been, that made you assume that this one would be worse?”

“Actually, I’m not so sure about that. It would probably be ‘For Everyone to Escape the Killing Game’, but that isn’t really twisted, is it? So then maybe it would just be something sexual… Maybe that would have been embarrassing. But I really was expecting my deepest fear to be something different! Ever failing again… Is a pretty meta fear. I thought it was going to be, like, ‘drowning in the bath’. Because I am also afraid of that. Household accidents in general. Those are the worst ways to end up dying, I think, because you almost could have been saved. But if you live alone, you won’t be. And you won’t be found dead for a while either.”

“That shit’s real scary!” Irarako emphatically agreed with her, “I don’t blame you! Thanks for lettin’ us know. More liking to a motive, than what Mono said.”

“It’s a motive only in the most sinking sense,” Nanjo spoke up, “Now, if anybody did wish to kill you, they know the most cruel method through which to do it. Drowning you in a bath, perhaps. Or rather, getting to the heart of the fear, and specifically hiding your body so it isn’t discovered straight away. Though… The point of mandatory mealtimes _is_ to avoid that sort of situation, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Homura said, “In some Killing Games that only really had participant-enforced mealtimes, people could sometimes be killed and the event covered up for days on end, usually until the body started to stink. Regulating us in this manner does prevent that from happening, likely to keep the game moving. It’s very difficult to investigate a murder that much later, especially without forensic equipment.”

“So it’s to prevent a murderer from finding an easy victory?” Evie asked.

“That’s right,” Homura said, “Just the same as taking steps to make sure that every murder mystery put forth in the Killing Game is ‘fair play’. If the point of a Killing Game was just for people to end up dead, it wouldn’t be in this format! It’s a complex crime.”

“The point of the Killing Game…” Jun joined the conversation, “It always has _some_ point, right?”

“So thinks the person who makes it, anyway!” Homura shrugged.

“I was just talking about that last night,” Emi said, “Technically speaking, everything that a Killing Game has ever claimed to accomplish is something that could have been done better in some other way, yeah?”

“Obviously. It’s not a very good plan. All it’s really _good_ at doing, even if it accomplishes some other goal, is making people suffer,” Homura confirmed, “For example. If Mars was holding this game because she wants to test us, like Ultimate Hope did, to figure out if we’re good people? There’s way better ways to do that.”

“I’m sure that we’ll end up finding out the real reason she’s doing this to us,” Saya said, “But I doubt it will be satisfying. There isn’t a _good_ reason out there for this stuff. And Mercury… Doesn’t really use good reasons anyway.”

“...How would you know that?” Yume asked.

“Oh!” Saya clapped her hands to her chin. “I really didn’t mention it before? Oh, I’m so sorry! I know Mercury Mars, actually! I can’t believe it slipped my mind to tell you all. She’s my legal guardian. I grew up with her. And so, I can tell you. Whatever reason she has for doing this, it’s not even a little bit justifiable.”


	53. Daily Life: Day Three (Disclosure)

** 9:00 AM / 0900 Hours **

“You definitely never mentioned that before!” Yume exclaimed, “What the fuck, Yoshiro?”

“It is pretty relevant… I think I just forgot to do it, and then I assumed that since it was so important, I must have already mentioned,” Saya said, “But, yes. I know Mercury Mars. I know that she’s an obsessive person who doesn’t care about hurting others as long as she can get what she wants. She has serious tunnel vision. She raised me with an ulterior motive. I really don’t think that I can tell you anything about her which helps with anything, but you do deserve to know about this. If this fact leads you to distrust me, I completely understand!”

“Distrusting you miiiight be a little too strong,” Tooru said, “Can you promise that you’re not working with her?”

“Pft. No, I’m not working wiith her. She’d never even _want_ me to work with her! If she asked, I dunno, I might do it. She’s hard to say no to. But, she never asked. And she put me in here as a participant, which is totally rude,” Saya said, “Even if I promise that, though. You don’t have a reason to believe me…”

“We absolutely do not,” Nanjo said, “I can’t imagine you’d expect us to. So I won’t believe you. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve outed yourself as a rat. It wouldn’t be unusual to expect that you’ll commit the first murder, to break that threshold that Shinku was referring to.”

“What! I would never! If anything, I’d be the first victim to break the threshold, remember? I offered myself up as a sacrificial lamb within my first ten minutes of being here!” Saya protested, “Even if you don’t trust me, you can’t just assume that I’d do a thing like _that_!”

“I _can_ assume that,” Nanjo said, “But I do hope that you prove me wrong. As far as I’m now concerned, though, you represent the number one suspect if anybody turns up dead.”

“Even after you called me out like that?”

“Of course. If you’re planted to begin the Killing Game, then you don’t intend to _get away_ with it. You’re willing to be caught. You just want to do what you can to prompt us to start killing each other.”

“Nanjo.” Yume’s voice was harsh. “Stop that. You’re being ridiculous.”

“...Or perhaps, you intend to convince my sister to murder you. That’s in line with your _own_ narrative, isn’t it? And she’s so easily fooled. I’m sure that you could con her into believing your murder is for the best.” Nanjo stood up, tucked his hair behind his ear, then started to walk towards the door. “Nobody dying? That’s absurd. Too optimistic for this bunch of bastards and idiots.”

“...What’s his deal?” Homura asked, with a look towards Kagome.

“Why are you asking me…?”

“Because, in connection to you, I was under the assumption that he’d be in a pretty _good_ mood this morning. So if he’s not, that means you’re to blame, doesn’t it?” Homura wandered over to her table. Since she was seated, he could actually slightly loom over her. “Really, soon as I figured it out, I thought. That doesn’t seem like a good idea at all. You must have said something to him which shattered some cheerful bubble. So, spill.”

“I… Didn’t say anything which should have caused a drastic decrease in mood,” Kagome said, “Leave me alone. Just because I like somebody doesn’t mean I have to always understand what they’re thinking.”

“Interesting. Okay, then.” Homura stretched out and walked away as well. “It’s unfortunate, all this conflict. Don’t you think it would be better if all of us could get along? But I guess that’s impossible. I guess I must have known that from the start.” He sat down on a different table. “Well. Let’s not dwell on the bad things. Get on with our days, while we’ve still got them.”

Kagome stood and walked out, obviously unwilling to have anyone else accusing her of anything.

There was a silence over the room for a bit, which was graciously broken by Irarako, “Hey, Oowada! I know you said not to be all snoopin’ your room, I tried not to but, couldn’t help but notice the dolls you got on your bed an’ I was wonderin’. Is not snoopin’ to ask to see them more closely, right? More of em if you got em? They seem super [Cool and Cute]!”

“English words?” Evie asked.

“All the English I know’s catchphrases,” Irarako said, “Sosorry! Wish I knew more an’ there were lesser a communication gap for us. We’re friends what can barely talk…”

“Awe, I think I got that one… It’s kind of nice, that we’re able to be friends even though I don’t understand most of what you say.” Evie rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Maybe being friiends with you will finally get me over the hurdle of understanding non-standard Japanese.”

“I wooouldn’t count on it,” Tooru said, “Not to be rude, but. I _speak_ a looosely nonstandard Japanese and I can hardly comprehend what she’s saying. Sorry Ebizakaya, but you have to admit, it’s a loooot of nonsense.”

“S’no big. Know that.” She raised her hands with a goofy grin. “Just speak what I’m thinkin’ and the thoughts keep comin’ and they don’t stop comin’ and that don’t leave the time what for making proper sentence sense.”

“...Yep. Didn’t get that one at all,” Evie admitted.

“At least _some_ of you are getting along,” Homura observed, “Sorry for my fatalistic statement back there!”

“It’s okay,” Jun said, “We all have those moments. Anyway, I was going to have another look around the gift shop myself, if anybody wants to join me? Could always use a buddy.”

“Sure, may as well,” Ryota said, standing up. “I could use a distraction.”

Jun understood why; Having a worst memory dredged up like that, even if it was determined to be the lesser of two evils, really had to suck. So he gave a welcoming nod, and Ryota joined him to wander towards the gift shop.


	54. Daily Life: Day Three (Vampire Lore)

** 10:00 AM / 1000 Hours **

Jun wasn’t really pleased with the way that things were panning out between certain people, he had to admit. Just like Homura had briefly dipped into pessimism, it wasn’t reassuring to witness an argument at breakfast. At least it wasn’t actually an argument revolving around the newly delivered motives, which did make it feel less likely to spiral out into an even worse situation, but that didn’t mean Jun couldn’t be concerned about the fact that people were accusing each other of things.

As for Saya… Did he trust her? She had readily mentioned the fact that she knew Mercury, and seemed honestly taken aback that she hadn’t done so sooner. On the other hand, she could be lying, and it wasn’t as if Nanjo’s accusations were actually _outlandish_. Really, nobody here really knew anyone well enough to debunk an accusation with even a shred of evidence behind it. Tooru, who knew Saya, hadn’t said anything during that argument. Did that mean even he didn’t trust her well enough to stand up for her reliability?

“Whatcha thinking about, Barasu?” Ryota asked, snapping him from his thoughts.

“Oh. Uh, sorry. I’m just trying to sort out whether I trust Yoshiro or not, after what happened at breakfast,” Jun said, “Not a big deal. I mean, it isn’t like it matters if I personally trust any given person.”

“Hm. I mean, doesn’t it? You are the Ultimate Hall Monitor, and all. That kind of makes you the closest thing that we have to a leader, since Saihara said she doesn’t want to be one.”

“Whoa. No way,” Jun said, “Me? I’m nothing like a leader. Just because my talent relates to enforcing rules doesn’t mean that I’m at all qualified. Besides, even if people decided I should be some kind of leader, there’s people here who’d disregard that anyway. It’s kind of pointless to try guiding people who don’t want to listen to anybody.”

“I guess that’s true. I’d listen, but… Yes, some people do seem quite disagreeable, don’t they?” Ryota pressed his fingertips together. “The twins, and Itadai, for certain… Ruka doesn’t seem the sort to bow to authority, but she is your friend, isn’t she? So I think if you put in the effort, she’d listen to you. Same thing with Shinku. That’s part of what makes you the best option. I mean, my vampiric blood gives me natural authority, but it sure wouldn’t work on those two!”

“Damn, Nageko. What _can’t_ your vampiric blood do?”

“Well, it certainly has no overlap with the properties of unicorn blood, that much is a given. No healing, no purifying toxins. And since I’m only a half-blooded vampire, I’m not even immortal.”

“As a phlebotomist, couldn’t you make yourself a full-blooded vampire? The Monopads listed everyone’s birthdays and blood types. You’re a universal recipient.”

“That I am, but you seriously misunderstand how transfusions work. I could temporarily improve the percentage of vampiric blood in my veins, but it wouldn’t last. Blood is ever-fluctuating. Using my mother or sister’s blood, it’s true. I could become, perhaps, eighty-percent vampire for a time. It would take complete transplantation of my bone marrow to maintain a heightened, or even complete, ratio. The process is much too risky to both parties to bother with for something as petty as wishing I were a fullblooded creature of the night.”

“So vampires can’t turn people by biting them?”

“Of course not. That’s a myth, developed because those who knew of ancient vampires wished there was some way to become one themselves. Vampirism is like nobility, it’s a matter of long-running bloodlines. Its passage is mere genetics, not at all transmittable through bodily fluid.”

“Genetics, huh?”

“Yes, yes. Two full-blooded vampires will always birth another. A vampire and a human, a half-blood. Two half-bloods can actually result in a full-blooded vampire, a half-blood, or a human. It’s simple punnetry. And of course, vampirism _is_ a dominant trait, so if vampirism is present in your blood, you are _a vampire_, no matter the strength of the bloodline.”

“I… Yeah. Simple punnetry,” Jun acknowledged, “Is there a particular physical trait that relates to vampirism?”

“None that are a certain giveaway. Though I am the spitting image of a traditional vampire. I take after my mother! Red eyes and grey hair are both associated often with my kind, though presence or absence of them doesn’t truly mean anything. My sister, more vampire than I, nonetheless acquired brown eyes from her father. And Hanazaki, I have _tested_, is fully human with those red eyes of his.”

“Interesting,” Jun said, “Do people often assume you’re a vampire? Who are in those circles, I mean. Not the people who make dumb phlebotomist jokes that are, uh… Accurate, I guess?”

“Yes, yes!” Ryota brought fists up to his cheeks with a grin. It almost looked adorable. “Anytime I ran into anybody who knew anything about vampires, they asked me right away! And you know, I was considered pretty cool in the goth club scene.”

“You? Went clubbing?” Jun questioned.

Ryota dropped one of his arms. “Yeah? I had a fake ID, may as well use it. What did you take me for, a square?”

“I am a square. By that measure, I take everybody for a square until I hear otherwise,” Jun said, then turned his attention to the giftshop around them. “Though, I guess you’re not the only one who’s an alternate shape. Somebody’s taken something else from the alcohol section…”

“Something else?” Ryota asked.

“Homura grabbed a can of Strong Zero this morning, along with a bunch of caffeinated stuff. He didn’t know how to bribe me to wake up. But, that’s kept in the cool case, and something’s missing from the shelf…” Jun furrowed his brow. “It’s from the row of Loopy.”

“The fruit loop vodka?” Ryota questioned, leaning over Jun’s shoulder to look. “Huh. I can’t help but feel like that’s got some significance… I bet Shinku would know.”

“What does fruit loop vodka have to do with the Killing Game?”

“I’unno. I just feel like I heard something about it. I can’t imagine it being noteworthy in any _other_ context,” Ryota said, “Anyway. I think I’m gonna head on out… I ended up just thinking about more things I’d rather not, while talking to you? Wasn’t much of a distraction at all. Not your fault. Think about what I said about being a leader, okay? I think it’d suit you.”

So Ryota left Jun alone, staring at the alcohol shelves. He hardly knew what most of these things were; After all, his parents never kept alcohol in the house, and he didn’t want to risk it. Dependence did run in his family. So, even though he was legally old enough, he hadn’t even bothered to have a drink before. Which did make him feel a bit like a square, put up against the sixteen year old who apparently already drank, and the seventeen-or-possibly-eighteen-he-didn’t-know-today’s-date year old who apparently went clubbing often enough to be considered cool in the goth club scene. It just seemed like a bad idea.

Just like this ‘leadership’ thing. He couldn’t imagine taking on that kind of role. To be the person everyone looked to as an influencer of their decisions? To be the one responsible for making sure that everyone was enjoying themselves and getting along? He could never do that. He could never, ever do that. It would be too much pressure. He could hardly function under the pressures of everyday life, what would a position like that do to him?

He might do something he’d regret. He might do something which disappointed somebody. Something which hurt somebody. He might. And he never wanted to do anything of the sort. Anything like that at all. Never. He couldn’t.

Well, but that was the problem. No matter how much he _wouldn’t_. He could.


	55. Daily Life: Day Three (A Bad Feeling)

**11:00 AM / 1100 Hours**

“Barasuuu!” Hikari called out to him, and snapped him out of his thoughts once more. Jun did tend to get lost in those pretty often. “We’ve thought of something fun to do~”

“Ah, that’s great!” Jun exclaimed, then noticed he was holding something. He glanced down to see a bottle. He couldn’t even quite tell what sort of liquor it was supposed to be, since the label didn’t elaborate at a glance beyond the name. He didn’t recall picking it up, but he just set it back down. “Sorry, I got distracted here. Did either of you take anything from this section?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Ayano said, “Why?”

“God, we’re surrounded by degenerates.” Jun chuckled. “If neither of you took the missing vodka here, and I didn’t, then somebody else did, and nobody else is old enough to drink it legally! The scamps.”

“Yes, absolute rambunctious scamps,” Ayano agreed, “On the other hand, why would companies make vodka that tastes like cereal for children if they did not intend for children to illegally imbibe?”

“...You raise a very good question there, Ayano,” Jun said, “Anyway. What’s the fun thing you thought of to do?”

“Well, _if_ Itadai will let us,” Hikari said, “I got to thinking, and Aya totally agrees, that it would be a blast to mess around with the stuff in the producer lab. It’s all super sophisticated, so even dummies like us should be able to make something worth listening to!”

“Or perhaps, we simply recreate our favorite pop songs with farts,” Ayano said, “Either way, we’re entertained.”

“That’s… Yeah that’s actually a really good idea! It sounds fun and isn’t life-threatening!” Jun crossed his arms. “I’m proud of you.”

“We could totally come up with ideas like this more often if you gave us the opportunity!” Hikari said.

“No, we couldn’t,” Ayano said, “There are too many options out in the normal world. That is how we always think of life-threatening things by accident. The rules aren’t as simple there…”

“Ughhh. Well, we could come up with ideas like this one out of ten times?” Hikari offered.

“Yes that is more like it. Jun we can come up with ideas like this one out of ten times. So ask us for ideas ten times a day once we return to our normal lives.”

“Sure thing,” Jun said, “But for now, why don’t we actually act on this one good idea that you’ve already had? Now that you’ve told me what it is, I can’t help but be excited.”

“Hell yeah. Squad up to the producer lab!” Hikari pointed towards the door leaving the gift shop. “Assuming that we are able to acquire permission, or that Itadai just isn’t there right now and we take the initiative to later ask forgiveness!”

“This actually does sound mildly ill-advised when you put it that way, but I guess that as long as it’s mild, that’s still okay,” Jun said, then followed after Hikari as she led the way first out of the gift shop, then out across the sand. And in the space between the buildings, Jun’s sinking feeling from earlier suddenly came back. This one wasn’t directed inward, though. Unlike earlier, when he felt suddenly overwhelmed by the possibility of not knowing himself and what sort of things he could be unfortunately capable of…

This was that same possibility, directed at the people around him. Not necessarily Hikari and Ayano, but something just seemed off. There was something not right, out here. He wasn’t sure how he could tell, he couldn’t deny that he felt it, but all he could do was brush it off. He’d sound insane, voicing a concern like this one.

“I do have to wonder,” Ayano said, “There isn’t actually that much in the form of enrichment here, is there? The gift shop has options, and the labs help, but… Well, they gave us a beach, but no swimsuits. That much alone seems like we’re only supposed to have a certain amount of fun.”

“Mercury Mars puts a cap on our ability to amuse ourselves so that we get bored enough to commit a murder. Now I’ve heard it all.” Hikari took a break in her sentence to cackle. “Come on, Aya! Usually I appreciate the things that you say, but that one’s actually pretty stupid, you have to admit. Come on, Jun, what do you think?”

Jun blinked. “I… Don’t think that the point is to be bored enough that we consider killing the only type of excitement to be had. If that was true, then we wouldn’t even have the movies and things that we do have. I think it’s just the elimination of certain choices that make us feel like we’re limited. Maybe, if the idea is to make us suffer overall, it makes sense to leave room for us to get bored. But lethargic people are _less_ likely to commit a murder, I’d think?”

“Oh. Maybe that’s true,” Ayano said, “I know I started this conversation but I have just realized how unpleasant it is to casually talk about how likely it is for a murder to happen, so I would prefer to drop this now.”

“I’m okay with that,” Jun said, then pushed open the door to the labs building. His sinking feeling didn’t abate; It only went deeper. He honestly felt as if something was very, very wrong. He stepped into the lobby, slowly enough that Ayano stepped on his heels from behind, causing both of them to trip up. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Ayano said.

Jun continued to walk towards the producer lab, but the Torcedor Lab’s doorway was along his path, and he couldn’t help but turn his head to the left to take a look inside. This time, he stopped short enough that both of the girls bumped into him. And this time, he didn’t bother apologizing. Hikari almost started to complain, but each of them also found themselves stopped short just a moment later. Jun’s sinking feeling was vindicated in the worst possible way.

There, in a puddle of blood on the floor in the Torcedor Lab…

“I’m… So sorry to have to make an announcement like this, but a body has been discovered. Please report to Shin Tsubasa’s Ultimate Lab straight away to begin investigation.”

Nanjo Mirai was dead.


	56. Deadly Life: Day Three (First Blood)

“Well. That’s an awful mess to happen in my lab, isn’t it?” Shin appeared from nowhere.

“Tsubasa?” Somebody else from behind him asked. Jun turned to see it was Emi. “When I heard the announcement, I thought it was you who was dead… It’s a relief that you’re not, but who _is_?”

“It’s, uh. It’s Nanjo,” Jun answered, remaining turned away from the body now that he’d managed to do so. If he looked at it again, he’d probably once more be frozen in place. In fact, he took this opportunity to walk to a different part of the lobby, getting out of the way. “Which is a pretty suspicious thing. Given the argument at breakfast, and all…”

“Mm. It is unfortunate,” Shin said, “But with the circumstances, it seems that we already have our first suspect.”

Others began to arrive at the scene. A few were, as Emi was, too caught off guard by Shin being alive to have a very strong reaction to the fact it was Nanjo who wasn’t; Not that they didn’t care, but rather, it was easier to latch onto the relief of an assumption being wrong than to immediately let the emotions of that assumption fall onto the truth instead. That wasn’t everybody, though.

Kagome seemed just as surprised that Shin was still alive. Nobody needed to tell her who it really was, though. She saw the body for herself. She wasted no time freezing, instead beginning to shake right away. “That’s… That… What the fuck? It.” She turned to Shin and pointed a finger at him, hardly keeping her arm up. “I thought it was you. What are you _doing_!? It’s your lab, so why aren’t you the one who’s fucking dead?”

“I… Apologize for being alive?” Shin said.

“You had _better_ be sorry!” Kagome’s voice cracked, and she dropped her arm back down. “Jesus Christ, you’re worthless. Should’ve been-”

“Oh, screw off, Itadai,” Yume’s voice was low and cold. “Leave him alone, it’s not his fault. Unless he’s the killer. We don’t know who that is, yet. Even I can say, save your goddamn anger for somebody who really deserves it.”

“Can you really feel that way?” Kagome questioned, “It’s your _own twin_ who’s dead!”

“And obviously I am pissed the shit off about it!” Yume snapped, “But how fucked in the head do you have to be to immediately say it shoulda been somebody else who died!? Shoulda been nobody!”

“But I don’t _care_ about this stupid guy!” Kagome shouted, gesturing wildly in Shin’s direction. “So if _somebody_ had to die-”

“Itadai.” Suddenly, Ryota’s hands were on her shoulders. “Come on. This is tough enough, the fact that someone’s dead at all. You can’t say it would be better if it were somebody else who was killed.”

“I… But…” Kagome started to protest, but couldn’t seem to find the words. She took a few deep breaths, shook off Ryota’s hands, then walked away, still in the lobby, but further from the doorway. As everyone else had done.

Everyone else. Everyone was here, and in time with Jun’s observation of that fact, a chime rose from around the room. All the Monopads. He pulled out his own to see a notification on the lock screen, taking up the whole thing. ‘Monokuma File Delivered’. He tapped on it, and it gave way to another screen with a scroll bar at the side. It had what seemed to be a rudimentary diagram of the body, with injuries marked off on it. Below it, there were two notes. Time of death was marked as 1043 hours. Jun thought back; That was just about five minutes after Ryota left him in the gift shop, and twenty before Ayano and Hikari came to get him? He was spacing out for a while, now that he thought of it.

Cause of death was ‘blunt force trauma’. The file then went into more details, stating where the body was found, as well as a list of injuries. Written in the same obnoxious pink color as the markings on the diagram were the first few. Blunt force trauma to the head, and… twenty-three fresh lacerations from ‘within ten minutes of death’. It then went into other injuries, in the normal font color, which could be found on the body but were not directly related to the murder. It was a surprisingly extensive file, and went to the effort to prevent the investigation from fixating on an injury that turned out to just be a bruise from bumping into a piece of furniture the previous day.

“Very thorough,” Homura remarked, “Hm. Well, I guess it makes sense. The files are always a bit more in-depth when there isn’t an Ultimate Detective among the participants. The sort of stuff they’re equipped to deduce, but we aren’t… If Nanjo wasn’t the victim here, the extra injury info woulda been left off. Cause he’d be able to tell.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Yume said, “I’m _so_ sorry that my brother’s death is inconvenient for the investigation.”

“I wouldn’t say inconvenient,” Homura said, “Just different. The files never got this complex in the final game, cause even when the detective died, there were still people who could figure this stuff out. But. I would’ve thought Yoshiro could?”

“Me?” Saya pointed at herself. “No, no! I never bothered learning that much about injuries. Just how to cover them up. They’re really inconvenient blemishes on the end product!”

“Oh, of course.” Homura nodded.

“So what are we… What do we do now?” Ryota asked, biting the nail of his thumb.

“Traditionallyyyy, we investigate. And a class trial begins as soon as we’ve found everything pertinent,” Tooru said, “Right, Shinkuuu?”

“That’s exactly how it goes. We all need to put our heads together and find the culprit. The Killing Game forces us to all put in the effort to discover the killer and condemn one of our peers. That is, if we want to live. Disgusting, isn’t it?”

“I won’t have any trouble condemning whoever did this,” Kagome said, “I can’t see how you would. Somebody here is a murderer! A disgusting, rotten, murderer of a man.”

“What if it’s a woman? Will you have trouble condemning them then, Itadai?” Ryota asked.

“...I guess that depends on the woman,” Kagome admitted, “But goddamn, I really doubt that’s the case.”

“Sure,” Homura said, “But not all of us think in black and white the way you do. I don’t trust anyone here, but it isn’t like I’m not at least a little bit fond of you lot. I don’t wanna see anyone get executed, but, I’ll have to. And I’ll have to help send you to your doom. Because I selfishly wanna live. Hah, looking at it that way! Doesn’t playing the game at all make every one of us just as rotten? But. I’m going to be selfish anyway. You should too. Be selfish and live a little longer!”


	57. Deadly Life: Day Three (Investigation Beginning)

"Jun!" Syoko barked, bringing him to attention. "We need to investigate. Come on, you should be my sidekick."

"Me?" Jun asked, pointing to himself.

"Yeah, you. You've got an eye for detail and a habit of making theories. So I think you'd be really helpful, investigating with me," Syoko said, "Of course, everybody is free to conduct their own investigations. The more angles and clues, the better shot we have at finding out who would do this to Nanjo… Come, Jun. We need to examine the area around the body. Of course, we'll also need to be sure that the file we were given accurately reports the state of the corpse, but let's give ourselves just a bit more time to process what's happened before we get up close and personal…"

"Right," Jun agreed, then looked at her face. "Syoko, are you… God, asking if you're okay sounds stupid, but. Comparatively, are you?"

"I… I really thought that my idea would work. My ideas always work, they… I've never seen a problem I couldn't solve, never. But I couldn't solve the Killing Game, I guess. And." She looked away, scrunching up her nose. "Even though I know, as the possessor of the most brain cells here, it's on me to figure out who did this. And I'm capable. But I'll admit, the reason I want to investigate the rest of the room first is because I am… Unfortunately, a bit squeamish."

"And… The best person here to investigate a dead body _is_ the dead body," Jun noted, "I guess. Hm. I mean, it is important. With some time to, uh. Steel my nerves. I could do it. I think."

"...Thank you, Jun." Syoko's smile was obviously forced, but it was still warm. "Then, let's still investigate the rest of the room in the meantime. I'm sure there's something to…" She rounded the corner of the table. "Ah. Yes, certainly."

Jun leaned around her to see what had prompted that reaction, and without the table in the way, it immediately became clear that there had been some sort of struggle. Nanjo definitely hadn't just been caught off guard and attacked. Some items on the shelves had been knocked over, though which items they were didn't appear to have significance. Several of them were sitting in a puddle of clear liquid. "Looks like we already have our first clarification… This wasn't a sneak attack."

"It wasn't. Or if it was intended to be, that fell through. There was a fight…" Syoko crouched down and touched a finger to the puddle, then brought it to her nose. "Smells like… Rubbing alcohol and sugar?"

Jun smacked a fist into his other hand. "It's got to be Loopy."

"Loopy?" Syoko asked.

"It's Fruit Loop flavored vodka. That'd explain what you're smelling. And a bottle of it _was_ missing from the gift shop. I'm not just making a baseless assumpt-"

"Loopy, huh?" Homura was behind him. When did Homura get there? "Hey. I'm at your disposal to investigate. Crowded if I stick around, but feel free to send me to check out somewhere else. I know all the tricks, so I bet I can find something. Ah, also. Loopy is a really weird choice!"

Jun remembered what Ryota had said, about it seeming strangely relevant in some memory corner. "Does it have something to do with Killing Games?"

"A bottle of Loopy was involved in the third case of the Final Killing Game," Homura explained, "And experienced a serious PR drop after that. Not because of the game itself, but because the game sort of brought to light the fact that it was the preferred drink of Kiyoshi Matsubara and, by some extension, his victims."

"Could somebody here be a victim of his, then? Would figuring that out lead us to the culprit?" Syoko asked.

"Uh… No. He was um. Tortured to death in his home? Midway through the airing of the game? His last remaining 'client', Morinaga, vanished off the face of the earth? You don't know this? R-Remind me again who your parents are?"

"...Shuichi Saihara and Kokichi Ouma. Hey, I've met Morinaga! She lives in Dome City."

"You really… Were completely unaware that the guy who traumatized one of your dads is dead?" Homura asked.

"Why would I know my dad got traumatized?" Syoko asked, "I'm not his therapist. That's a really weird thing to shove off on your kid, too. Like, I only knew they were both _in_ a Killing Game, not any real details about it. Jun knows about his family's substance abuse problems because that sort of stuff can be hereditary and he needs to be aware. I have no reason to know that my dad was one of the people who got abused by the Ultimate Stage Manager."

"Did I ever… tell you about that?" Jun questioned Syoko.

"At least you know that much…" Homura groaned and left Jun's question hanging by moving on in topic. "Well, anyway. Bottom line is that he's dead, hasn't hurt anyone in twenty years, and it's really weird that the specific alcohol which is associated with him and the people he hurts is now suddenly involved in the first case of this Killing Game. Hey, Monokuma? It's almost like it was planted here…"

"Mercury may be making lots of changes to the rules," Mono said, having manifested. "But not this. You've said it yourselves. This is a Killing Game because she respects the format. Even if she bends it, she won't just break it. All mysteries will remain fair play, and adding extraneous false 'evidence' is contradictory to that idea. Everything relating to a crime is the direct result of a participant's actions. But… I have to admit. This is eerily similar. To an uncomfortable point, personally."

"Sorry, I'll let you go," Homura said, "Why don't I go check out the dorms? Every door unlocks for investigation, and it's smart to check out the rooms."

"I'm not sure. Is your intention just to snoop around on everyone?" Syoko asked.

"If I wanted to snoop, I'd just do it," Homura said, "I mean, the doors are open either way, whether I tell you I'm going to look or not. I bet that Yoshiro or somebody is already snooping about just cause they wanna."

"That's a fair point," Syoko said, "In that case, of course, it would be helpful if you search for evidence in the dorm rooms."

"I'm on it." Homura gave a two-finger salute, then dashed off.

"...Are you up for investigating the body yet?" Syoko asked.

"I don't have much of a choice," Jun said, and stepped towards the corpse. He paused a moment, squeezed his eyes shut, and coughed a few times. Deep breath. Eyes open again, and he crouched down.


	58. Deadly Life: Day Three (The Corpse)

"_Jun_, are you…" Syoko started.

"I'm okay," Jun assured her, "I just need to get this done."

"If you say so." Syoko crossed her arms and turned away from him. "Just let me know what you find."

Jun nodded, and got to work. He pulled out his Monopad to compare, and all of the injuries did seem to line up. It even listed unrelated things, like the fact that Nanjo had a scratch on his back 'from previous event'. The condition of the corpse seemed, at least to Jun's amateur eyes, to match up. He also didn't undress the body to check in-depth, because that would just be very disrespectful. Though, Nanjo's corpse was already partially undressed. His usually fitted suit jacket was completely unbuttoned, his tie was loose, and the dragonfly brooch he wore on his lapel… Was missing entirely. Jun didn't see it anywhere.

"The body matches," Jun announced, "And the killer… Or I guess just _somebody_ stole his brooch."

"Is it stolen? Or did it just fall off?" Syoko asked, "Have you totally checked around his clothes? If it might require moving him, though, you don't have to…"

"No, I've got this. I promise." Jun did need to move Nanjo a bit to check between his back and the jacket. He saw a bit of something green, and assumed that could be it after all, but when he reached for it he found it was much heavier than a simple brooch. Tucked into a pocket in his jacket's interior, as Jun discovered when he pulled it out, was an item that could really only be described as a _dagger_. Not just a knife, but a dagger, with a green jewel in the pommel and a rather elaborate hilt. "He had a weapon?"

"A weapon?" Syoko turned back around to see him holding it. "That. Sure is a weapon. Could you pass it here? I'd like to check something."

"Of course." Jun handed it over.

"...Yeah, I thought so. Um. Well, I guess I can't confirm my theory without looking inside the pocket this came from, but that's kind of unreasonable, so let's just make an assumption. There's some blood here on the hilt, but the blade itself doesn't have any. And since we did find it back in his pocket anyway… It doesn't seem like Nanjo drew the weapon at all."

Jun looked up at Syoko, then reached for the pocket again. Syoko was right that it seemed unreasonable, but he leaned over. His face right next to Nanjo's body, he peered inside the pocket. "No blood wiped off in the pocket. So you're right. He didn't use it… Even though it seems like he was fighting back."

"Jun, that was. You didn't have to do that?"

"No, it's fine. I mustered up the courage." Jun flexed an arm, trying to turn it into some variety of joke. Syoko didn't laugh, and her face didn't lighten at all either. "...I'm just trying to be useful to you."

"You don't… That's. Fuck, I don't know." She adjusted her arms to be more like she was hugging herself. "Let's just. So Nanjo fought back physically, but didn't pull the weapon that he had in his pocket. I guess that makes sense, though. He didn't want to kill his assailant… Or at least, didn't want to kill _anybody_."

"Not quite. I mean, Nanjo's talent? He would know how to stab somebody without killing them."

"Shit, you're right. So it's more than not wanting to start the game. He didn't want to seriously injure the person who was attacking him. That could mean it was somebody close to him, or just that… He didn't think the person could actually kill him, so getting serious enough to draw a weapon was unnecessary. Maybe Yume could tell us what was more likely from him…"

"Maybe she could. But maybe she'd say the latter on principle, since the first would. Yknow. Implicate her as a potential culprit," Jun said "Since she's the somebody closest to him, here."

"Oh. You're right. Even so… She's the only source we can go to, if we want to get even a vaguely reasonable idea of what went through Nanjo's head." Syoko sighed. "We can't just discount anything she might have to offer in testimony just because she's a suspect. After all, everybody is. That's why I needed to grab a sidekick, you. I'm a suspect too. And I already know you're pretty good at keeping people accountable."

"Right. By working together, we can each make sure the other doesn't tamper with the evidence. Though… By turning your back when I was checking the body, you sort of failed to do that. I could have messed with any of the evidence around him then. I could have not told you I found the dagger."

"That's true. Er… Yes, I suppose that was a sincere gap in my investigative abilities. I. Maybe I'm _not_ quite the most qualified person here, to play detective," Syoko admitted, "But since I already stepped up, there's no way that I'll let everybody down now. I'll… We'll do it. We'll find the culprit."

"It's true, we will," Jun assured her, "I wish that we didn't have to. But. We'll figure it out."

"Thanks." Syoko took a few steps toward the lab's doorway. "I don't really know how much that means right now. But thanks for saying it anyway. It's. I guess what I'm trying to say is thanks for going along with my idea, it helps just having a friend with me while I try to get this sorted out."

"Well, I'm happy to help," Jun said, "With being here, and with the investigation. You want to move on from this room?"

"Yeah… I'm not completely sure where we should check next, though. To be honest with you."

"We can go back to the lobby and figure it out from there. I had a bad feeling when I was outside, which might mean I subconsciously noticed some evidence or something… But we should at least check the other labs just in case, first."

"Right. Go in order so we don't need to backtrack… That's a good idea," Syoko said, "Well done. You're being, no offense, much more competent than I'd expect."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jun asked.

"I… Well, I guess whatever works for you, works for you." Syoko shrugged. "And works out well for me, too. That you can have all these good ideas. So, let's get moving on that first one."


	59. Deadly Life: Day Three (Testimonies)

There was nothing of interest in the Producer Lab, but Saya was hanging around in Syoko's. She waved both hands as soon as they entered. She didn't seem shaken up at all, which did lend a small bit of unfortunate credence to Nanjo's earlier theory. Saya was the only person who didn't seem any worse for wear. Well, Ayano didn't either to the untrained eye, but Jun could read her at least well enough to tell that she was absolutely terrified. Whether that was fear of being killed herself, or just the abstract horror of discovering a body, he didn't know. But something of the situation had gotten to her. Not Saya, though. Unless she too had her own language, she seemed perfectly fine.

"Hello, Yoshiro," Syoko said, "What are you up to?"

"Waiting till you came here," Saya said, "Cause I have a witness account for you but I didn't wanna risk other people finding out by waiting around in the lobby or following you into the room. So I came into this room, figuring in any thorough investigation you would at least check every lab! And I was right."

"You… Almost weren't," Syoko admitted, "It was actually Jun's idea that we stop by each lab before going outside. Um, sorry to be rude, but you seem… Awfully upbeat, for the fact your roommate's twin brother has been murdered."

"Showing bad emotions is a sign that they're getting to you!" Saya proclaimed, "If you seem optimistic all the time, then people don't hurt you as bad, because they can't get the satisfaction of seeing just how bad it is!"

"Oh I. I see." Syoko took a beat. "What was that witness account that you had for us, then?"

"I was reading against the wall of the lab building," Saya said, "Right by the door, since I left breakfast. On the ground. Point is, I could see out of my peripheral vision on my left side, if anyone went in or out of the door on this side. Not if anyone went around but. Anyway. The only people I saw go in that way were... Barasu, Ueda, and Ruka just before the body discovery, and Snow a while before them. It probably doesn't mean much, since there's a whole other door. But I did want to give you a head's up."

"I didn't see you when we were on our way over here," Jun said.

Saya raised an eyebrow expertly. "I was right there, dude. But you kinda had a glazed over look, so I guess you just didn't notice me? I thought you were usually a perceptive guy, but… If you ask either of your friends, they'll tell you I was right there when you walked to this building."

"If you were there the whole time, did you hear anything?" Jun wondered.

"How would I have heard something? The outer walls are super soundproofed. You know, to make sure the hazards don't keep us awake?"

"Of course," Syoko said, then put her palm on the top of Jun's head, effectively holding that one cowlick down. "Forgetful today, huh, Jun? Come on, we should keep moving. Thanks for letting us know what you saw."

Before Jun could say anything else, or Saya could say anything else either, Syoko had moved her hand to his back and steered him out of the room. He should have been annoyed by that, but he guessed she had a point. He was acting weird. It was just the pressure of somebody being dead, but still, he deserved to be kept in check. He stumbled back into the lobby, then turned back to face Syoko. "I'm sorry. I forgot about the soundproofing. But I wasn't lying. I didn't notice Saya outside. I don't know if she was really there or not."

"Forgive me for saying this, but really, is that surprising?" Syoko asked, "There's… a lot going on, I know. If you need somebody to talk to after all this is sorted out, I'll listen. I mean, you listened to me a bit ago. It's the least I can do. I have to make up for this situation somehow."

"No, no, I'm okay. I swear. You don't have to worry about me," Jun said, "We have one more lab to check in with before we go outside. Since the culprit probably left through the other door, if Saya's telling the truth, we'll check that side first. After Nageko's lab. Yeah?"

"Yeah. That's what we'll do." Syoko nodded, then walked through the archway for the Phlebotomist Lab. Ryota was in there, over by the machines, as was Emi. She was just sitting on one of the cots with her Monopad open. "Hey there, folks."

"Hi Syoko," Emi said, "I'm just in here to make sure Nageko doesn't swap samples when the machines aren't running… Accountability and all. I've been reading over the file again, but everything about it seems. Uh, normal? That doesn't seem like the right word but. It all lines up with what we know."

"I thought so too," Syoko said, "And our great minds continue to think alike. I got Jun to investigate with me so he could hold me accountable, too. When anybody could be the culprit, well. You can't be too careful."

"That's true. Which is why I'm running tests on blood from the scene. It looked like there was a fight, so if the culprit also got injured, we might be able to narrow it down by blood type," Ryota said, "And because if I _don't_ keep myself busy doing this sort of thing then I am just going to fucking lose it."

"We'd all prefer you didn't lose it, Nageko," Syoko said, "We consider you a good friend who deserves to have it."

"I… It's a little unrealistic to say that you all feel that way, but I appreciate it from you and from anybody else who means it," Ryota said, "I… I'm just so on edge. We don't know why Nanjo got killed. What if the culprit wants to kill somebody else too? What if it's me?"

He was shaking.

"A culprit can only kill two people. If they kill a third, they'll get killed on the spot themselves. So if I'm around and the culprit tries to kill you, I can take the lethal blow…"

"You… Jun! Good grief! _What_ has gotten into you?" Syoko smacked his arm. "Don't just casually tell people you would die for them! That's weird, even if it's true."

"I'm not exactly afraid of dying," Ryota said, "But this culprit. Blunt force trauma, I… Don't wanna die that way."

"I understand," Emi said, "I mean. I am afraid of dying, actually. There's stuff I wanna do before I die. But, there's ways I'd be okay with dying more than others."

"Must we talk about this?" Jun questioned.

"You're the one who started it?" Ryota questioned right back.

"...You're right. I forgot?" Jun didn't even believe himself when he said it, but. He did start it, that was right. His head was so foggy right now. Once more, Syoko led him from the room before he could continue making a fool of himself.


	60. Deadly Life: Day Three (What We Need)

Having once more returned to the lobby, there weren’t any labs left, so the next step was to follow Saya’s testimony and try to trace the culprit’s likely path away from the crime scene. Jun approached that lab’s doorway again, then turned towards the door that left the building. Since there was nothing out of place in any of the other labs, he assumed that the culprit went directly out this way; And that the culprit didn’t just stay in the lab building. Looking at the body, and the scene in general, it seemed unlikely that somebody could have committed this crime without, at minimum, getting blood on themselves. Since nobody turned up looking any differently than they had earlier that morning, it was pretty clear, they’d taken the time to shower or to change. That required leaving.

He walked from the entry of the Torcedor Lab to the door which led out of the building, opened it, and stepped onto the beach. This was the swimming beach, or would be, if there were actually swimsuits available anywhere. Maybe they would be added to the gift shop at some point. Or maybe not. Either way, that wasn’t important right this minute. What was important was figuring out what had happened. He turned to the right.

“Hey now,” Syoko said, “Didn’t Yoshiro say that she saw people go into the building from her left side? That means, if anybody went around the building on her right, she probably would have seen them round the corner too, out of her other eye. The culprit must have gone left. Or, straight and then left. Or straight and then a really wide loop around the right, I guess… Open spaces are hard to deduce about!”

“The sand here’s too soft for real footprints, either,” Jun said, “It’s all just a bunch of tiny dunes. See, if I disturb it…” He stepped on one of the hills. “It just shifts the pattern around. If it was a little bit wet, we might have been able to tell which way the culprit went… But it’s not.”

“Man, fuck the beach,” Syoko said.

“Well, it’s not any different from if the whole game was taking place indoors… You don’t leave footprints on tile either,” Jun said, “So either way, we wouldn’t really know which route the culprit took… Uh, maybe we’ll get a better idea of it during the trial? After all. There are fourteen of us who are alive and innocent. We were all somewhere.”

“...You’re right. With everybody saying where they were, we can figure out where the culprit wasn’t, at least,” Syoko said, “The first murder should be the easiest to solve… There are only so many labs, and there’s still the most of us who are, as you say, alive and innocent. Right?”

“I sure hope so,” Jun said, “But I don't know. Maybe since the game didn’t start, this killer’s had all the time they needed to plan this murder without worrying about being killed in the meantime?”

“I mean, I didn’t think it seemed planned… Do you think it was planned?” Syoko questioned.

“I guess that depends on why the Loopy was there,” Jun admitted, “If it was used in this case because of its connection to the past, then yeah. Obviously planned. But if there was some other reason, then everything else does make it seem like a crime in the moment.”

“Mhm. For all we know, it was an accident, and the culprit just hasn’t come forward because they’re afraid,” Syoko said, “Oh, but. I don’t know, maybe that’s worse. Remember what Shinku said before? By condemning one of our peers this way, so the rest of us can survive, we’re losing our own morality in some ways. And if the culprit didn’t even do it as an act of malice, I…”

She was shaking where she stood. But Jun didn’t know how to help or what to say. So he said nothing.

“Obviously it’s my responsibility to solve this case. I’m Syoko Saihara. Everybody’s counting on me. But how can I. How can I do that to somebody? How can I look somebody in the eyes and say, guess what? I’m smart enough that you’re going to die now. What is… Why am I expected to do something that fucked up?”

“I don’t know if anybody would have expected you to,” Jun said, “If you didn’t volunteer.”

“I had to. I mean. I’m capable. So I have to. It’s just. I. There’s no winning here.” Syoko dropped to her knees in the sand. “There _is_ no best course of action. So how am I supposed to take it? And. Here I am just telling you all of this while you’re… Fuck. I’m sorry. I’d ask you to just forget about this, but that’d make it worse, huh?”

“I can’t just forget things on command,” Jun said, “Unfortunately. I don’t think anybody’s really capable of that.”

“Right, of course,” Syoko said, and went silent. Jun said nothing. Then, she spoke up again. “Hey… This landscaping rock here. It’s got some blood on it. Huh. I wouldn’t have seen this if I was standing up.”

“...You’re right, it does,” Jun said, “So the culprit went towards the ocean first…? Hey, I wonder.” With that, he walked right up to the sea and crouched down. Syoko took a minute to follow after him, but realized immediately what he was referring to.

“Ah, the bottle…” Syoko reached in and grabbed it by the unbroken end. “...The murder method, huh? The culprit hit Nanjo with the bottle, holding it by the neck. It shattered, spilling alcohol all over the floor, and then they continued to stab him with the broken ends. Still no footprints here, though, even though it's wet...”

“Hm... No, but look. My shoes are leaving prints, but yours are just disturbing it, so it must just be based on the sort of soles. And the culprit gathered up the shards to drop them in the ocean, too.” Jun picked up one of them. “That seems like a lot of effort to go to, without cleaning up the alcohol itself?”

“Maybe the shards had the culprit’s blood on them already,” Syoko said, “And they wanted to be really careful that we couldn’t find them using Nageko’s lab?”

“Oh, that could be it,” Jun agreed, then stood up straight again. “Well. I think that we should check out the room that Nanjo slept in last night for ourselves. Even though we gave Homura that job. I think that’s a bit higher priority.”

“The room that Nanjo slept in?” Syoko asked.

“You really couldn’t… tell…? That’s why Itadai kicked Ebizakaya out.”

“Oh… Oh!” Syoko clapped her hands over her mouth. “On the second night that we’re here? That’s. Oh dear. But I suppose that tracks more, now. In horror movies, the teens who have sex always die first. Framing it that way. Yes, I think that actually helps me. I can abstract it enough to keep investigating, if I think it’s like a slasher movie…”

“Whatever helps,” Jun said, then the pair of them turned to go back to the main building.


	61. Deadly Life: Day Three (The Room Where Nanjo Slept)

So, Syoko having come to her realization that she could get a grip on the situation for herself if she just likened it to the tropes of a slasher movie, the investigative pair moved on to follow Jun’s hunch that it would be important to deal with the room that Nanjo slept in the previous night. His concerns drifted briefly to what Syoko said about the slasher movie trope, that if it really was ‘the teens who have sex always get killed first’, then Kagome’s body could also turn up at any moment… But then, she was also a suspect, right?

Thinking of Kagome as a suspect seemed strange to him. He couldn’t imagine why she’d spend an entire night in the same room as the victim, only to kill him somewhere much more public. It was possible, he guessed, but the trial would reveal if it was plausible. There was something that he remembered from… One of his conversations, he was sure. Just as important as whodunnit and howdunnit was whydunnit. A murder without a reason was a murder unsolved.

To some, it was the most important part. Knowing a reason will lead the way. Somebody who seems incapable of killing outright may, upon discovering a certain factor, become the most obvious culprit. Somebody who commits a murder because their most beloved would be killed otherwise. Someone who’s been pretending to be a completely different person than who they really are, this entire time. It didn’t need to be a good reason. Like Saya said, Mercury’s reason didn’t stand a chance in hell at being a good reason. But there had to be one. And it would take the trial to find one out.

“So this is Ira’s… And Itadai’s room,” Syoko observed as the pair of them stepped in, the door unlocked as per the rules. “I bet Shinku already took a look around himself, but you were right. If he slept here last night, there might be something pointing to what happened.”

“If?”Jun asked, “I thought it was pretty obvious he did.”

“It’s a murder investigation, Jun, nothing is obvious,” Syoko said, “And to be frank, nothing is pretty either!”

“You’re still pretty?” Jun offered.

“Oh, thank you. This is true. Moving on… Nothing really looks out of place at a glance, does it?” Syoko asked, hands on her hips as she deliberately scanned the room.

“That’s right, it doesn’t,” Jun said, “But this wasn’t a crime scene, so that’s not surprising.”

“...You’re right. I’m going to check the bathrooms, then. Just me. It’s completely unreasonable for a boy to look in a lady’s private powder room, even if it is part of an investigation.”

“Homura did it, probably several times.”

“That’s fine. He’s unreasonable,” Syoko said, and Jun couldn’t really argue with that. So he stood there in silence while Syoko checked out one bathroom, and then the other, before returning to the center of the room. “Okay here are my findings. Do you want absolutely everything or just the stuff that I thought was weird?”

“Probably just the weird stuff…” Jun said, “We’d be here all day if you tried to recite back the entire contents of the bathrooms to me. You’d have to keep going back to check.”

“Hm, yeah. I can’t memorize things the way you sometimes can,” Syoko agreed, “So, the weird. Ira’s shower has got like, tons of fancy hair-care products? Which, I dunno, I wouldn’t expect from her. But I also know she only lives with her uncle. She does have really nice hair. Is that her one vanity? Taking super good care of her hair?”

“That has nothing to do with the murder,” Jun said.

“Hey, you never know, it might!” Syoko protested, “Anyway. What else was weird… Um, Itadai’s bathroom was kind of messed up? Not like, bad. And not like anyone got in a fight in there or anything! More like she just knocked a bunch of her makeup off the counter. And stepped on a lipstick. Maybe she just lives like that, I dunno. It wouldn’t surprise me if she did.”

“Again, not murder-related. As much as I appreciate this hot tea you’re spilling about our peers, it isn’t the time…”

“Yeah, okay. Anyway the real weird thing is her shower was dry. Totally dry, like. Definitely hasn’t been used at all in the past eighteen hours dry,” Syoko said.

“I… Don’t see how that’s relevant either, but I guess it’s closer to mattering than the other stuff,” Jun said.

“Come on, I’m trying my best,” Syoko complained, “I’ve never investigated a crime before, only my friends’ messy, messy lives. Spilling hot tea is the only purpose for which I have ever needed to snoop, not spilling… hot murder accusations.”

“Do you really insist on not letting me look for myself?” Jun asked.

“Yes. It’s the principle of the thing. You’re much too upstanding a gent to ever go into a lady’s restroom without her express permission,” Syoko said, “And you really don’t want to shatter my opinion of you that way, do you?”

“Well, no, I don’t. But you know. For the sake of a murder investigation, isn’t it a little bit… I donno. Ignore me, I guess.” Jun raised his arms in a shrug. Arguing this could cause problems, after all. He couldn’t say his combined reasoning that Syoko didn’t seem to have done a very good job, coupled with that she might just be outright hiding something if she were the culprit. He didn’t think she could be, but the possibility was there.

Well, at least, if she really was hiding something… Or she really was ignorant of some piece of crucial evidence, which he considered a bit more likely. He could trust Homura to have spotted it during his own investigation of the dorm rooms, and he didn’t need to get into an argument here. It was a minor delay, not an outright setback to the investigative process. He looked up to find that Syoko had started opening up drawers on the dresser in the middle of the room. He followed suit and opened Irarako’s closet. It looked like he expected it to, for the most part.

The cardboard boxes in the back, holding her ‘hobby items’, consisted of what looked to Jun surprisingly like embroidery materials. That seemed a bit delicate for somebody like Irarako, but then again, he imagined that she might be in the same boat as him. Most of his hobbies were represented just fine in the gift shop, or didn’t really use materials anyway, so he ended up with a telescope. He wouldn’t say stargazing was a ‘hobby’ of his if asked, though it was something he’d done and enjoyed, mostly as a family occasion. So if he thought of it that way, maybe Irarako just picked up embroidery to have something to do while she had some injury which kept her from being as active, and it stuck.

Then, Syoko opened up Kagome’s closet, having seemingly finished with the dresser. “Nothing really interesting in the dresser. Just the same as what’s in my room. In here… God, are all of her outfits this dumb? And it doesn’t look like she has a hobby box at all. Oh, that’s kind of sad. Even with the whole, hyperfocus on our Ultimate Talents thing, most of us at least have _something_ else we like to do.”

“It’s a tough industry,” Jun said, “I bet that even when she’s not working, she’s stuck schmoozing and stuff like that. If my schedule was so busy I didn’t even have time to pick up a hobby, then I’d probably smoke too, to be honest. Then again. Maybe she just likes to draw or something, and there’s plenty of that kind of stuff in the gift shop.”

“Maybe. I hope so. Everybody deserves to have something that they can just relax and have fun with,” Syoko said.

“Hey all!” Mono’s voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker. “It looks like all the crucial evidence has just now been found, from my end. Sorry if I interrupted anyone! But yes, the moment the last bit of relevant evidence was found by somebody, I got alerted to it. Which means that it’s time for your very first class trial! Fun stuff, I guess? It’s cool to watch you figure it out, but somebody’s gonna die at the end… Oh, well. Please report to the lobby of the dorm area.”


	62. Deadly Life: Day Three (Trial Lobby)

Jun and Syoko didn’t have far to go, to arrive at the location that Mono had announced. The column in the center of the lobby area had transformed, now with a pair of doors on either side as it revealed itself to be an elevator shaft. Evidently, this would lead down into the courtroom where their first class trial, and potentially any subsequent ones, would take place. Jun stepped up to the doors and crossed his arms, finding himself just staring at them. Soon enough… The burning questions would be answered.

And with those questions, somebody else would die, huh?

Jun felt like he should have been more thrown off by this fact. As if he should have been panicking, full-blown, over all of this. He panicked full-blown over needing to unexpectedly pick up the phone, and yet, he was mostly calm right now. He didn’t feel _good_, that much was for sure. He felt quite bad. But in that general ‘bad’ feeling he lacked more than a reasonable level of fear and worry, overcome much more with a sinking gloom. He was just as scared as any of the others. Maybe even less, than some of them.

So his anxiety was taking the day off. He wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth there. He had plenty of other bad feelings, as listed above, to preoccupy his thoughts that he didn’t also need to be struggling to breathe over the prospect of condemning somebody to death. Or the fact that, if Homura was right about one murder breaking down the wall of ‘I can’t imagine killing anybody’ and setting the Killing Game in motion, being murdered himself. So he could instead focus on the current issue. Failure to condemn somebody else meant everybody would die.

“Hey there. You guys think you got a handle on this stuff?” Homura asked, coming up on Jun’s right side. “Gonna figure out who here did something so dang stupid?”

“We’re going to try,” Syoko said, “I don’t really have any idea yet, but once we share all of the evidence and start bouncing thoughts off each other… That’s what makes a class trial effective, isn’t it?”

“You’re exactly right.” Homura nodded. “I mean, as far as I heard. It’s a team effort, to find the truth. Even if one person is smart enough to figure it out just based on the evidence, well, until it’s been troubleshot with the group, it kind of just. Stays a hunch. Yknow?”

“Right,” Saya said, having turned up as well. “For example. I could say ‘I think all the evidence points to Oowada’, but that doesn’t mean that I’m correct. For the record, that _is_ my theory. But I know I could be wrong. That’s why we need to discuss these things.”

“Really? Oowada?” Homura asked, “I never woulda thought of that. My money was on Yume. Or you, frankly. Sooo… Well, I guess you can explain why once we’re actually at it in the courtroom and all. So, this is the elevator to take us there. It should let us in once everybody gets here.”

“Were you able to finish searching every room, Homura?” Jun asked.

“Yep! Just barely! I just closed the dresser drawer in Nanjo and Snow’s room when the announcement sounded. Course, doesn’t mean I actually found ‘relevant evidence’ there, I imagine that the alert is set up to avoid making it obvious that any particular item actually relates to the crime. ‘All relevant evidence’ probably just meant that we’ve searched everywhere that evidence could be found.”

“That would make sense,” Saya said, “Mercury wouldn’t want to make things too easy on us. Just because something needs to be possible doesn’t mean that it can’t be a challenge! And oh, she does like seeing people struggle through challenges.”

“She dooooes, huh?” Tooru asked, also having arrived a few moments ago. “I can’t imagine that made for a very pleasant childhood.”

“Huhh? No, no, don’t worry about me!” Saya waved her hands in front of herself. “It’s no big deal, and we have other things to focus on right now.”

“Truuue. I haven’t even got a bit of a clue who the killer could be.” Tooru raised a hand to lazily scratch at the back of his head. “Or why they killed Naaaanjo, of all people. Come on. Wouldn’t you or I have been easier targets?”

“We _would_ have been.” Saya puffed out her cheeks. “Shinku, too! Good grief! Oh, oh, wait. Wait a second. Maybe that’s a clue. The culprit is somebody who would _want_ the thrill of killing somebody who wasn’t easy to kill!”

“You really think somebody killed for the sake of it?” Homura asked, “I mean, I guess that could be true. Somebody killing just because they wanted the benefits of getting away with a murder should have just picked one of us, though. As for somebody killing just for the thrill of it, there are better challenges than Nanjo Mirai here. So I mean. I think it’s more likely the culprit had a reason to ‘kill Nanjo’ more than having a reason to ‘kill’ alone.”

“Are you starting the discussion without us? Tsk, how rude,” Shin said, arriving with Yuji and Emi. “Shouldn’t we all wait to talk about these things until we’re all together in the courtroom? After all, we can hardly come to a conclusion together if some of us are out of the loop.”

“Though I do appreciate you being such dolls, so motivated to get to the bottom of this,” Yuji said, “I’m afraid I must agree with Tsubasa here. I may not be the most clever among us by any stretch, but that doesn’t mean I intend not to participate. And participation does require the equal sharing of any knowledge and theories.”

“...Sorry about that,” Syoko said, “It’s just hard to think of anything else to talk about at a time like this. And it’s equally difficult to just stand in silence as we wait for everyone to arrive…”

“Well, don’t worry about that,” Emi said, “The others are on their way, too, so it won’t be much longer before the trial begins. And then… We have to talk about it. And nothing else. Until we know what really happened in that room. And. And why.”


	63. Trial 1: Unsuspect

**[First Class Trial: BEGIN]**

After everybody had arrived in the lobby area, just a few moments left which had after all been spent in awkward silence, they all piled into the elevator. The ride down was silent as well, but Jun took the time to look around at his peers. Apart from Saya, who still had that vacant smile, and Ayano, who looked, as usual, blank, it was a collection of misery. Some looked sick or scared, some just despondent. Consistently, it was bad, some more than others. Kagome most of all, which wasn’t surprising with the connection she had to Nanjo. A few others came close. Evie closest, some mix of his nature and the fact that the victim _had_ been his roommate. Yume didn’t show any similar weakness, barely restrained fury instead showing through as she clenched and unclenched both fists.

Knowing Ayano, and having heard Saya’s explanation for her own demeanor, Jun couldn’t draw any conclusions from the people here. Everybody’s reactions matched what he’d expect from them, as far as he could tell. He wasn’t the best with social cues, but if he put his mind to it, he could at least interpret body language well. Nobody’s was dissonant. So that really left one thing for him. Either, one of the girls whose body language was naturally unusual was the culprit, or the culprit was just as shaken up by committing a murder as they would be by somebody else committing a murder. He actually felt a bit sick himself at that thought. Condemning somebody to execution who was remorseless was one thing, but if it really was a borderline-accident…

The elevator settled at the bottom of its run, and the doors opened. Homura was the first to speak. “Wow! Very traditional, very standard courtroom here. Blue throne, though?”

“Yes,” Mono said from on the blue throne, “It’s, er… One of the ways Kira expressed herself when she was disguised as Monokuma. So Mercury carried that aspect over to here. I mean, I like it better than the red one, sure. But the principle of the thing is. Yeah.”

“Understandable.” Homura stepped out and went to find the podium which was labeled for him. All were labeled, except for the one which sat between Shin and Yume, which had instead a frame at the end of a pole, displaying Nanjo’s face in grey with a garish pink bloodspatter on his forehead, not dissimilar to the Monopad’s diagram. Jun found his own podium, and discovered it had just enough space to set his own Monopad out on it. He did so.

“This is the first Class Trial. The victim is Nanjo Mirai,” Mono said, “And the culprit? That’s your task to figure out. Go ahead and wow me, kids.”

“I don’t… Really care about wowing you,” Syoko said, “But I am going to do my best so we can find the truth. Anyway, the situation… Nanjo was killed at 1043 Hours. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, and there were twenty-three additional lacerations, presumably stab wounds. He was found in the Torcedor Lab. Jun?”

“We discovered the following pieces of evidence,” Jun said, tapping through the photos he’d grabbed on his Monopad. “There was a puddle of Loopy in the room. We found a few bloodstains on some rocks outside which led us to the bottle. It was broken and discarded in the ocean, along with seemingly all of the shards from it. Nanjo had a dagger in his pocket which seems not to have been used or even drawn during the struggle, but there _was_ a struggle in the lab. His brooch was missing as well. The dragonfly.”

“Oh! Were you able to find it?” Saya asked.

“Well, we weren’t,” Jun said, “Homura?”

“No sign of it in the dorms.” He looked around the room then, and nobody else spoke up. “Okay! So somebody has the brooch on them right now, and is hiding that fact.”

“Of course!” Saya clapped her hands together once. “So we find the culprit if we all get undressed!”

“Oh my God.” Mono groaned. “Why does this keep happening? Every single Killing Game? No. You can’t do that. You cannot make people strip to figure out a case. It’s solvable while maintaining your human decency. I won’t allow it.”

“Yeah, I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ryota said.

“Is it that big a deal? I mean. It’s just us, isn’t it?” Ayano asked.

“...Wait, you seriously didn’t know?” Homura asked, “I mean, I assumed it would be the case. It always has been before. The Killing Game is broadcast on television. Not live, usually there’s some delay to edit together the most interesting stuff and all. But it is. And of course, the entire trial is the interesting stuff while one is going on, sooo?”

“Are you serious?” Kagome questioned, voice shaking.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Itadai. I’m squeamish, so I always cut the cameras in a room as soon as it seems like something untoward might be happening there! Turn them back on once I see one of the parties leave on a different camera,” Mono said, “And hey, don’t you go using that as some loophole to get away with murder cause ‘even Monokuma doesn’t know what really happened’. I’m sure there’s backups somewhere, and do you really want Mercury to go peeking atcha?”

“I wouldn’t really mind,” Saya said.

“Whoa, we don’t have time to unpack _all_ of that!” Homura exclaimed, “The point here is, nobody is getting undressed, and nobody should commit a sex murder. That’s pretty easy to comply with… Isn’t it?”

“Almost,” Shin said, “But I am afraid that in order to clear my own name, I will need to get _partially_ undressed.”

“Huuuh?” Tooru questioned, turning to look that way.

“The body was found in my lab, after all. It’s only natural that some of you would be suspecting me right now, but. I’ve already got the means through which to clear my name. I may not have an active alibi for the time of the murder, but that doesn’t matter. I am incapable of the murder method.” He raised his hands to slip his suit jacket from his shoulders, and when he did, his reasoning became immediately evident. There was padding in the jacket itself; Beneath it, it became clear that his arms were barely even filling out the button-up that made up the inner layer of his outfit. “As you can see, I might actually be the weakest person here. I am willing to take a strength test if you need further proof of my inability, though.”

Jun was taken aback to see that. Shin did mention before, that he didn’t come from as upper-class a background as his clothing implied, but he didn’t really expect. Well, it was malnutrition, right? Long-term, for his arms to look like that. Not as recent, for his face not to reflect the same, but nonetheless, it was unsettling.

“That’s necessity shouldn’ be,” Irarako said, “Trus’ me when I say those ex-twig-ities ain’t killin’ nobody with a knife’s been used once before, let’lone a bottle.”

“Um-” Evie started to ask.

“Ebizakaya says that Tsubasa’s arms are too weak to kill somebody with a knife that’s been used even one time since being sharpened, let alone a blunt bottle,” Ayano translated for him, then returned to Japanese to address the room, “I do think this is the case. If things come back around that more evidence points to Tsubasa, the strength test may be required, but for the time being we should move on and consider a different suspect… Yes?”


	64. Trial 1: My Enemy's Boyfriend

“A different suspect… Yes.” Syoko gave a nod. “Yoshiro, could you share with us your witness testimony from earlier?”

"Of course," Saya said, "I was sitting on the ground next to the lab building reading a book since just a bit after breakfast. Out of the corner of my right eye, I saw four total people enter the labs, and nobody leaving. Three of those were Barasu, Ruka, and Ueda on their way to discover the body. One was Snow. I don't know why he was going there. Obviously my testimony isn't totally effective since, I didn't even see the _victim_ go into the building. I didn't get there right away and I could only see one door."

"I can verify that she was there when we went past," Hikari said, "I saw her. So at least she's telling the truth about where she was just before we found the body."

"Of course. But, Miss Yoshiro…" Evie spoke up, "I'm afraid that I was only going to look at something in Saihara's lab at the time. As with Tsubasa, it's pretty obvious that I wouldn't be able to do the murder method and all… isn't it? Consider my bones. My glass bones."

"Right. You do have those glass bones. In spite of my testimony, I myself did already consider those!" Saya made finger-guns in his direction. "My actual theory of a suspect, since it's kinda obvious you didn't do it, would be Oowada!"

"W-wait… me?" Emi pointed at herself with both hands. "What makes you think that I would do this!?"

"I mean, to begin with, you're _definitely_ strong enough to kill somebody with one blow…" Kagome said, "And you hate me."

"That's exactly it, yes. Oowada has both the ability and the reasoning to murder Nanjo Mirai," Saya said, "There isn't any evidence which points directly against it. Unless, that is, you have an alibi?"

"You did show up awfully quick after the body discovery announcement played," Shin said, "Almost as if you were already nearby."

"You did too!" Emi protested.

"It was my lab, so I ran to see what happened there. I've already been cleared of suspicion. You have not."

“I… Guess that’s true,” Emi admitted, and brought both hands close to herself, where she started nervously picking at the dead skin around her fingernails. “From that standpoint it’s pretty hard for me to argue back, isn’t it? I don’t really have an alibi, and I _am_ strong enough to kill somebody with one blow, and I did come quickly like I was already in the area. And I do totally absolutely hate Itadai! But, why would I kill _Nanjo_? Killing Itadai would be super easy if that was my reasoning. I’d just skip straight to her.”

“Maybe you thought it would hurt her more for her boyfriend to get killed?” Syoko asked, “You wanted her to suffer? Or maybe you had some other secret reason to want Nanjo dead more than Itadai.”

“...If I had a _secret_ reason to want anybody dead, Saihara, don’t you think it’d be you?” Emi asked, dropping her nervous fidget and glaring across the courtroom instead. “Given we’re roommates, you’re most likely to know any so-called _secret_ I might have.”

“Oh dear.” Syoko took a step backwards. “For a crybaby, you can certainly be frightening when you put your mind to it, Oowada. Then, let’s keep with the more simple theory. You wanted Itadai to suffer.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me…” Kagome muttered just loud enough to be heard. “I mean, for all _we_ know, killing somebody’s lover might be considered the usual way to get revenge on that God-forsaken planet of theirs.”

“Now that’s not nice,” Ayano said, “God smiles upon our planet just the same as he smiles upon Earth. He is proud wherever His children are, as long as they call him every so often!”

“...Okay Catholic,” Hikari said, “The more important part of that statement is, no. Killing people is also considered wrong where we are! The customary method of making your enemies suffer is to frame them for stealing. Duh. So even if this was a plot by Oowada to make you suffer, she’d at least be _framing_ you, not admitting how guilty she seems!”

“Er. Thank you?” Emi questioned.

“Anytime,” Hikari said, “Now, let’s all take a minute to breathe cause I’m _pretty sure_ that Oowada _does_ have an alibi if we just shut up and give somebody on the quiet side a chance to speak!”

“How did you knooow?” Tooru asked.

“Intuition. So, go ahead, Hanazaki.” She winked.

“Riiiight. Yes, I can provide an alibi for Oowadaaa.” Tooru put a finger to his chin. “She was still in the dorm lobby at the time of death, exactlyyy. Must have just finished up with Ebizakayaaa.”

“Yeah right’s that!” Irarako exclaimed, “But I don’t knowing how long it takes to kill! I already went back to dining hall for more food, ran into Ueda and Ruka on my way. Time a’ death was ten minutes since I left her room. Coulda been done that amount but not if’n you saw her too then!”

“Thank you…” Emi sighed in relief. “I didn’t realize that you saw me, Hanazaki, but I was in the lobby at that time. I left my room just a minute before, I had to clean up after showing Ebizakaya my collection.”

“Isn’t that _too_ convenient?” Kagome questioned.

“I don’t know,” Emi said, “I mean, I was unaware I had an alibi. I was prepared to be wrongly suspected. I didn’t even know what to say to defend myself… Doesn’t seem all that convenient to me.”

“I think that we’re forgetting something with this case,” Ryota said, “Nobody who was in the building after breakfast could be the culprit at all. Considering the time of death. It was only five minutes after I left Barasu in the gift shop, and anyone who was in this building would have needed to go past us or go past him. Between him and Yoshiro, both buildings had somebody keeping watch.”

“Somebody keeping watch?” Kagome asked, “Or somebody waiting for an opportunity? Nanjo said himself that he suspected Yoshiro even before he died. And Barasu’s been acting kind of weird this whole time, too. Why aren’t we looking at the ‘watch’ for involvement…?”


	65. Trial 1: The Watcher

"That is a good question," Saya said, "Nanjo basically outright told you at breakfast that if he turned up dead, you should consider me responsible! And Barasu… How long were you supposedly in the gift shop for?"

"Nageko and I went straight there after breakfast, but not as soon as Yoshiro went outside because we didn't see her," Jun said, "I was there alone from about… Ten thirty-eight to eleven, I think? I have to admit, though. I really spaced out for a while there, I can't say I even would have seen anybody if they wandered through while I was there."

"Yep, ten thirty-eight seems about right for when I left. And time of death is ten forty-three?" Ryota said, "I mean, is five minutes enough time to go to the other building, get in a physical struggle with Nanjo, and kill him?"

"Twenty is deeefinitely enough time for the cleanup," Tooru said, "Well. Saihara, remind us what that bit entaaailed?"

"Collecting all the bits of the bottle… leaving the lab building through the far door, touching some rocks with bloody hands, dropping all the glass in the ocean. Probably washing hands in the ocean at the same time. Returning to the main building to change clothes might fit in there too. Which really only makes sense if Jun's not paying attention. Or if Jun did it."

"Yeah. But it doesn't make much sense to me. The murder weapon was already missing from the gift shop when we got there," Ryota said, "And Barasu is such a square! He wouldn't have taken it for any _other_ reason, that much is for sure."

"I wouldn't be certain of that," Syoko said, "After all, anything could happen… But I do think that five minutes is a short amount of time to go looking to commit a murder, especially knowing that you’re expected to be somewhere. Jun didn’t know that his friends would come looking for him at eleven. He just knew they’d come find him in the gift shop ‘after they found something to do’, right?”

“Exactly!” Hikari smacked a fist into her palm. “Barasu would have no way of knowing when we’d be there, or that Nageko would bail on him! And I mean, squareness is a fair argument here… Even if it’s not about the murder weapon. He’s _not_ cool enough to kill somebody.”

“I do not think killing people is cool, Miss Ruka!” Evie exclaimed.

“Just because somebody needs to be ‘cool enough to do something’ doesn’t mean doing that something _is_ cool!” Hikari explained. Evie looked to Ayano with a desperate look in his eyes, wondering if he was missing something in translation.

“What Hikari means,” Ayano translated, “Is that people who aren’t cool don’t have confidence. And it takes a lot of confidence to do bad things. So somebody who’s really lame and not cool at all couldn’t possibly commit a murder like this, is all that she’s saying.”

“Oh, I see,” Evie said, “Sorry for misunderstanding.”

“It’s okay. Hikari is weird,” Ayano assured him.

“I’m not sure that ‘coolness’ is a useful meaaasure to figure out if somebody could be a suspect,” Tooru said, “But what Saihara was saying, now thaaat. That makes sense. The timing just doesn’t work right. He didn’t know when he’d have to be back by. I do think five minutes cooould be enough time to commit the murder, but Barasu couldn’t know he had twenty minutes on the back eeend.”

“Five minutes would probably need to be enough time,” Syoko said, “Unless the culprit was already in the lab building before Nageko and Jun arrived in the gift shop at all. Yoshiro, you would fit that criteria. You already said that you went to read outside well before that time. And we do need to consider what Nanjo said at breakfast. As the… Daughter? Of Mercury Mars, you’re suspicious by nature.”

“I wouldn’t call myself her daughter,” Saya said, “More like… Her ward, let’s say. And yes, that does make me very supicious! I don’t have anything further to say to defend myself other than what I’ve already told you. Sorry! Believe me or don’t. I’m not the killer, but I don’t have anything to convince you of that.”

“I see. And Jun, you really don’t remember seeing anybody in the gift shop after Nageko left?” Syoko asked.

“No, I don’t. I’m sorry. I was just really distracted, I guess. I can’t even remember which direction Nageko left in, or which direction Ayano and Hikari came from. I couldn’t tell you if they came or went from the main building, or from outside. I would have paid a lot more attention if I had known that this sort of thing could happen but I just… I got completely lost in thought.”

“It’s not your fault,” Homura said, “Nobody’s going to blame you for what happened. The fact that you didn’t notice anybody going through the gift shop isn’t going to make or break this case. It’s just the same as if you weren’t there; It’s one piece of evidence that we don’t get to have. Alibis we can’t give out! That’s all!”

“...Thanks.” Jun gave a nod in Homura’s direction. That was exactly what he needed to hear.

“Of course,” Kagome said, “If we are going to accept that Barasu’s innocent… And that he just wasn’t paying enough attention at all, then we end up with three main suspects to consider, right? It’s the three people that we _know_ could have gone to the lab building during that time…”

“I hate to say it, but she’s right.” Emi rolled her eyes at her own agreement. “Barasu didn’t see which way Nageko left. He also didn’t see which way Ruka and Ueda came from. Therefore, since we _know_ those three used a door out of that room without being observed, the three of them rise up the suspect list pretty solidly. Yeah?”

“Unfortunately, it does. So how about it, you three?” Syoko asked, “It’s on you, now. Why couldn’t one of you have killed Nanjo?”

“Should the question really be ‘why couldn’t we’?” Ayano wondered, tilting her head. “I thought that it made more sense to ask ‘why would we’...”

“Figuring out why you would doesn’t matter if you can prove that you didn’t actually have the opportunity to do it,” Syoko said, “So I thought I would give you that chance, first, to clear your names before we begin to wonder something like that.”

“I can’t say that I couldn’t do it,” Ryota said, “And those two… Probably can’t either, if Ueda is asking you about that. So. Go ahead, I guess. Why would one of us do it?”


	66. Trial 1: Known Giftshoppers

“Nageko!” Yuji called out, “Are you serious? You’ll really just let them start theorizing about you like that without even trying to clear your name first?”

“What am I supposed to do? Nothing I could say has anything to back it up,” Ryota said, “I left the giftshop through the door back to the main building, and I didn’t return until the body discovery announcement. But the only person who could vouch for me having done that is Barasu. Given what we just determined, it’s only natural to admit that I am sincerely lacking in alibi.”

“It’s the same for us,” Hikari said, “Aya and I were with each other, sure, but we’re close friends so you can’t really trust that we’re not covering for each other or that we didn’t work together to do this. Any alibi we could possibly give each other is, like. Invalid to you guys!”

“This is true,” Syoko said, “But I still thought that maybe you’d have some other verifiable alibi. At least one of you. I. I’m not…”

“Let’s go for the next step after all, then!” Yume stepped in, literally. She stomped a foot on the ground in time with her interjection. “Figure out what reason any of these fuckers might’ve had for killing my brother! If they haven’t got a physical alibi, then that’s what we need to do, right? Find out if there’s any reason that they coulda done it!”

“In that case, it’s easy to exonerate Nageko,” Yuji said, “There is absolutely no motive there, and never could be. I should know, we room together after all. Completely harmless!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Emi said, “I mean. People can lie about their identities, and we definitely don’t have all the facts. For all we know… And this could apply to any of the three of them, really. Something could have come up about one of those motives. Maybe one of them knew somebody whose cause of death Nanjo lied about, and wanted to take revenge?”

“Or tried to confront Nanjo, he got violent, and they fought back in self-defense,” Jun offered, “Or Nanjo knew something about one of _their_ motives. That option points more to Nageko than Hikari and Ayano, though.”

“But to figure out if something like that happened?” Syoko pondered, “That’s… There are way too many possibilities there! And keep in mind, I doubt this murder was one of self-defense. Recall that Nanjo had a weapon, and he never even drew it. Unarmed, he wouldn’t appear to be enough of a threat to kill him in retaliation…”

“Er, maybe,” Evie said, “Nanjo could have already been armed with the murder weapon himself, and that’s why he never drew his own weapon. He was armed for most of the conflict, but then the culprit got ahold of the bottle and used it instead.”

“I really doubt that,” Yume said, “My brother? Pft. He’d never use such a crude weapon, he’d toss the bottle away and pull his knife before ever doing that. Plus, he drinks _whiskey_, not _Loopy_. He’s a _nearly-grown man_, after all. And I dunno why we’re beating around the bush like this! One of our main suspects has already been transphobic.”

“Wait, what?” Jun asked.

“When we first got the dorms. You all fucking jumped to say that it was just a misunderstanding, when Nageko thought that some of the rooms were co-ed!” Yume crossed her arms and put her weight back on her heels. “Brushing over that bullshit like it couldn’t mean anything at all, that he just didn’t know who was who yet! But now Nanjo is dead and you’re not even reconsidering that maybe there was something to it after all? Here’s the motive for you. This was a goddamn hate crime.”

“That’s… No, I swear,” Nageko protested, “I really just didn’t realize for a second there! I really didn’t know who was who and, I mean. Come on. I’m supposed to know ‘Evie’ is a guy’s name at first glance? That’s pretty neutral!”

“...That’s fair,” Evie said, “I mean, really. The way my name is written, without knowing who I am. It might have been _more_ transphobic towards Nanjo to think the rooms _weren’t_ co-ed when reading my name there?”

“Hm. Why don’t you change your name, Snow?” Ayano asked, “You don’t seem to like being mistaken for a girl, but you acknowledge your name gives that impression…”

“I can’t just change my name _completely_! My mom named me Everett. It would be so disrespectful to use anything more different than a nickname of that…” Evie pressed his fingers together. “And I hate to do this to you, Miss Ueda. But I think we need to step away from suspecting Nageko and wonder about you and Miss Ruka, in the spirit of fairness…”

“Are you for real? You’re just going to take that shit at face value?” Yume questioned, “And move on like it’s nothing again?”

“Come on, Mi-rai.” Hikari put her hands on her hips. “Isn’t that irresponsible of you? Fixating on one little thing when either of us could be just as capable of committing this murder. Say, let’s see, let’s think about it! Your brother, he was a bit of a dog, wasn’t he? I mean, we all know he spent the night with Itadai. So he’s ready and willing to have one-night-stands with women. And, oh, I don’t know. Maybe his advances could even be seen as, creepy. Intimidating. Certainly unwanted. And oh, perhaps, if he made such moves on me, than my dear Aya would have no choice but to defend my honor.”

“Wh-” Yume started.

“And!” Hikari cut her off. “Maybe when she went to confront him, he tried to change the subject by flirting with _her_ instead. Gave her the bottle of Loopy hoping to get her drunk. Advanced, physically. And sweet Aya, bad as she is at saying no to these types of things, recognized his creep-o nature and hit him over the head with the bottle instead! And there was plenty of time for this to happen, since we got to the lab building before Yoshiro even sat outside to read her book! All that very well _could_ have been what happened, isn’t it? So that shows you, for acting like it’s just gotta be Nageko.”

“My brother would never-” Yume began to shout again, only for Hikari to once more shut her down.

“And all we have on that is _your_ word, so. It’s a possibility that needs to be considered. Isn’t it?”


	67. Trial 1: Bad End Option

“It isn’t! It’s not a possibility that needs to be considered, at-fucking-all, because I _know_ my brother and he might make bad decisions sometimes, he can make some really fucking shit decisions, but he isn’t a goddamn creep in any way!” Yume hit her fists against her podium as she yelled. “Itadai! Don’t just stand there cooling your heels, you’re the best qualified here to back me the hell up!”

Kagome was startled at being called out for a moment, but then she nodded. Unlike when she was making accusations, the faintness in her voice returned now. “Of course he wouldn’t. You’re absolutely ridiculous, accusing him of a thing like that. He was… A perfect gentleman. More respectful than _some of you_ might be, in that sort of situation. I can’t say I ever met anyone quite like him before.”

“Accusing?” Hikari questioned, holding a hand to her chest with an incredulous look. “I’m not accusing anybody of anything! Oh, you poor fools have got me all wrong. Did you think I was confessing something that really happened?”

“Hikari said upfront that it was a hypothetical,” Ayano said, “Because you were focusing too much on Nageko as a suspect.”

“Precisely. Come on, pretty touchy of you to actually think I was being serious. But, then again, maybe you thought so because my story was pre-tty plausible. But it was just fiction!”

“Fantasy, to be precise,” Ayano added in again with a side-eye towards Hikari. “We were not in the lab building at all. We were in our room, discussing our plans, before we went to go find Jun. Remember that Ebizakaya saw us in this building, so that verifies my statement. I’m sure that Nanjo is completely upstanding and he has never flirted with either of us. However… I don’t approve of suspecting Nageko either?”

“You don’t?” Ryota asked.

“No. We’re friends and I think that you are innocent,” Ayano said, “And that the supposed ‘motive’ you would have is unreasonable and untrue. Consider. Absolutely anybody could have gotten past Jun, not just those of us that were certainly in the gift shop…”

“You’re right. We should actually think about who _isn’t_ likely to have committed the murder, and everyone who remains is still a suspect. By which I mean, whoever has a hard alibi and couldn’t even have been _capable_,” Syoko said, “The people we’ve excluded from suspicion so far are… Tsubasa, Snow, and Oowada. Hanazaki can be assumed to be innocent as well, at least for now, since he is serving as Oowada’s alibi, even though he went unseen.”

“That’s not a lot of innocent people!” Shin exclaimed, then composed himself. “Was everyone really just by themselves all morning, with nobody to vouch for them? This island isn’t very large, surely some others must have alibis.”

“Ebizakaya, Ueda, and Ruka all saw each other, but there was enough leftover time that they’re still suspicious,” Jun noted, “Like Homura said, I could provide more alibis if I hadn’t been so out of it in the gift shop. Then, anyone who was spotted in the main building anytime after breakfast but before the time of death would be safe.”

“Not many people must have gone through that gift shop, though!” Homura said, “I mean, if anybody _but_ the culprit walked past you, they’d be able to vouch that you were there… Or otherwise, vouch that you _weren’t_ there. Since nobody’s said anything, only the culprit went through the gift shop at that time… Or else, didn’t go through at all and was already in the lab area. That’s still pointing to Yoshiro.”

“Actually…” Syoko scratched at her chin. “Shinku. You were aware of the connotations of Loopy, right? And its connection to Killing Games. As a fan of these things, which you’ve told us plenty of times before, it only makes sense that you’d have reason to commit a murder which draws a connection to a past game.”

“Ah, yes. For those who are out of the loop here… Heh. ‘Loopy’, the type of booze which was found in a puddle at the crime scene, the bottle missing from the gift shop and found broken in the ocean, has a deeper meaning!” Homura waved his hands. “It was involved in the third case of the Final Killing Game! This is because it was the drink of choice of Kiyoshi Matsubara and, by necessity it seems, his victims. So of all bottles to end up involved in this case, it is _mighty_ convenient that it’s the same as that time!”

“It is,” Syoko said, “And you’re the only person here who would have a reason to draw that parallel. Mono already told us that Mercury won’t interfere in the actual mysteries, except to ensure that they’re solvable, so it wasn’t something that was planted for the sake of that connection by _her_. But it could be planted by _you_, isn’t that right?”

“Mhm, yup. That is right. I could’ve planted it. If it’s planted, then it was planted by me, cause nobody else would plant it. And that makes me the culprit.” Homura put his hands behind his head. “But, is that really true? Mercury could have planted it in another way. Just because she won’t plant anything personally, doesn’t mean that she can’t plant things indirectly. Say she told her _ward_ to commit the first murder, and there we have our callback!”

“Clever!” Saya popped up onto the balls of her feet. “Right, so I guess that’s the question. This case… Is the ‘whydunnit’ something as pedestrian as ‘Saya’s master told her to’? Or is it ‘Shinku wants to make an interesting Killing Game’? Is it really just between those two options, devoid of a real heart…?”

“Of course not,” Homura said, “You can decide it’s between us two. And decide which ‘why’ is more plausible between us. Or you can dig a little deeper, and at least ask this _one_ extra lil question. What if the Loopy wasn’t actually planted for the sake of relating back to a previous Killing Game at all?”

“What if…” Saya continued, “Somebody was drinking Loopy, here. Without even knowing that it related to a Killing Game. What reason could somebody have for that? And what reason would lead that somebody to kill Nanjo Mirai?”

“Go on then,” Homura said, “Syoko. What do you think?”

“I… I think…”


	68. Trial 1: A Deeper Heart

“I think that you’re probably right!” Syoko decided, clutching her hands to her chest. “Mercury Mars… Somebody who would go through all the trouble of making a Killing Game like this wouldn’t just plant somebody to commit a murder with no other motive behind it!”

“The last Killing Game made a point of it; In mysteries, the why is just as important as who and how,” Homura said, “And there wouldn’t be such a simple why in a game like this. As a Killing Game fan myself, as you put it, of course I wouldn’t start the game for such a stupid reason either. The point of a Killing Game is that it pushes people to do things that they never would normally do, by bringing to the surface buried motivations and secrets. So whoever killed Nanjo must have had a _real_ reason!”

“I agree. We were so caught up on who seemed like they would do it… Who’d break that barrier and kill somebody. But that isn’t the ‘why’ we need to think about. It’s just like we were talking about earlier. This isn’t a case of ‘why would somebody commit a murder’, it’s ‘why would somebody murder Nanjo’. And neither of you has a real reason to kill _him_ over anybody else.”

“Yep!” Saya poked both her own cheeks. “If either one of us was just trying to ‘start the Killing Game’ as a motive to kill, we would’ve killed each other. We both volunteered that we’d be fine with getting murdered. If it was only to break the threshold for more murders to happen, then one of us would be the victim and the other the culprit.”

“That… Does seem more likely,” Yume admitted, “I’m glad it wasn’t you, Yoshiro. I dunno _how_ the fuck I’d have to feel if my roommate killed my brother.”

“But don’t this meaning we’re back where we started?” Irarako questioned, “Almost nobody’s got alibis an’ we real haven’t made much in the name progress…”

“Had you ever seen a dead body before, Ira?” Syoko asked.

“Huh- wha?”

“Answer the question.”

“I, uh. Guess not? Cause some folks did up deceased front my eyes but what was, infant? Got no memories of them eyes. So technical, no.”

“Oh, horrifying!” Syoko noted. “But not the issue at hand here! See, if you refer back to your Monopads, you will recall. The cause of death was blunt force trauma, but there were also twenty-three lacerations on the body. Now, we can assume that these lacerations were made post-mortem… Which could mean a few different things. However, the first option for an explanation is that the murderer _themselves_ was unfamiliar with death.”

“Do you mean to say… The killer didn’t think that Nanjo had died, and wanted to be certain?” Evie asked, eyes wide.

“Yes, exactly. And with that in mind, I could provide alibis to anybody here who I _know_ has seen a freshly-dead body, or would otherwise have the particular wherewithall to tell when somebody is dead. So we already had alibis for Tsubasa, Snow, Oowada, and Hanazaki. Yoshiro and Shinku are temporarily absolved, for reasons of ‘why’, and further, Yoshiro surely knows when something is dead. Jun was temporarily absolved for reasons of timeline. I’ll alibi myself for the reason above, as well as Ruka and Ueda.”

“Uh. What?” Jun asked, and looked to Hikari. “What is she talking about?”

“You didn’t hear?” Syoko asked, “Funny. Word travels really fast in Dome City, most of the time. When I was sixteen I think... So you three would have been around nineteen. Didn’t Ruka and Ueda discover a guy in the neighborhood dead in his basement?”

“We did,” Ayano said, and tilted her head to the side as she looked at Jun. “But… Hm. I have the strangest feeling that Barasu really never knew about that.”

“Just because word travels doesn’t mean it traveled to me.” Jun shrugged. “I’m sorry you two had to deal with that, though. I bet you never said anything to me because it would have freaked me out too much, to know someone died mysteriously right there in our neighborhood… And to know that you broke into some guy’s basement.”

“Doromo-san wasn’t really just some guy,” Hikari said, tossing on an honorific as she sometimes did, “But yeah we broke into his basement. And he was totally dead. It was _scarring_. Now you can see why we’re like this, Barasu. Not that you have any excuse for being the way _you_ are.”

“It didn’t scar you at all,” Ayano said, “You thought it was cool, Hikari. You didn’t even want to tell the police about it. You wanted to use the body for a seance.”

“Oh, piff.” Hikari stuck her tongue out.

“That’s a pretty major thing to miss about your friends, isn’t it?” Syoko frowned. “But, yes. Keeping that in mind, well. There’s always another explanation for the post-mortem wounds, but there’s no reason not to use this one for the time being. If we get caught up on every little thing then we’ll never get anywhere.”

“It’s true! So let’s see, who can we suspect now? That leaves… Nageko still… Sato, Ebizakaya, Itadai, and Yume.”

“Much smaller suspect pool,” Syoko said.

“Nageko’s still in there! What did I tell you?” Yume raised her hands to her sides. “It keeps coming back to him.”

“It’s only coming back to Nageko because you’re convinced of something completely untrue!” Yuji called across the courtroom. “It could just as easily be anyone else in that suspect pool, couldn’t it? Ebizakaya’s conveniently just short of an alibi. Like maybe she thought she could use running into Ueda and Ruka ten minutes before the time of death _as_ an alibi, if we were dumb enough to believe her? Or it could be me. Or it could be you.”

“Me!?” Yume snapped, completely ignoring the rest of that statement. “I’ll have you know, that’s impossible!”

“And why exactly is it? Impossible, I mean,” Syoko said, “We need to consider every angle, and so far, you’ve escaped being considered _plenty_. Because what reason would you ever have to kill your own brother? But, from what I’ve seen. You’d have _every_ reason to. Shall we review, Yume?”


	69. Trial 1: Blood Family

“What the _fuck_ are you talking about, shitheel?” Yume questioned, then frowned. “...That doesn’t stick at all. Can somebody more insultable be the one accusing me of _murdering my only goddamn blood family_?”

“Oh, okay!” Homura raised a hand. “Loads of ways to insult me. Unlike Miss Perfect over there, am I right? I know what she’s talking about, though. I mean, we’ve kinda only seen you two at each other’s throats this whole time?”

“You were bickering when we met!” Hikari said.

“There _was_ that fight you got into after he criticized you for knocking me over yesterday,” Evie said.

“And this morning,” Kagome chimed in, “When we found out that Yoshiro knows Mercury.”

“That’s. Hey, first of all, you’d have to be a reaaaal bottom-of-the-barrel dumb bitch to think that _bickering_ is a sign of actual disdain!” Yume clenched her hands into fists. “That was fun, that was something that we both enjoyed. I was vicious enough and he was clever enough that we bounced off each other _great_ and using that against me now when I’m already needing to process the fact that we’re never gonna do that again? Not the least bit cool of you.”

“Er…” Tooru spoke up, “You can’t juuust. Guilt trip us like that? If no matter what we say, you’ll deflect with ‘I’m so saaad, my brother is deaaad’... Then it just makes you look more like the culprit. We have to be able to speak oooopenly.”

“Then what in God’s rotten name am I supposed to say, Hanazaki?” Yume spit, “Because how much are you all gonna realize that you’re shit bastards when you realize that I wasn’t responsible for this? And putting all this pressure on me as if I ever _could_ have been? Come the fuck on. What’re you playing at!?”

“We’re playing at finding the culprit,” Syoko said, “And I’m sorry, but we do need to consider every option. It’s unfortunate, but true. You got into what was evidently a legitimate fight with your brother yesterday, in fact, over potential violent tendencies. And this entire trial, you’ve been putting your all into pinning the crime on somebody else. Almost as if you wanted to frame Nageko, but forgot the part where you plant compelling _physical_ evidence pointing that way.”

“_Ohhh,_ so now I’m just devious enough to make that plan but too fucking stupid to do it right?” Yume questioned, “That’s rich! Come on, you made a whole bunch of exclusions based on some arbitrary shit. Seen a dead body before. Convenient to exclude yourself when nobody can attest to that on your behalf, right? And pretty presumptuous that I _haven’t_! God, really think that I’d have kept on killing after he was already dead? Waste of energy! And of course whatever uneducated whore _would_ up and murder him would be somebody who couldn’t tell he was dead with one hit. How bout it, Ebizakaya? You’re a big enough dummy to pull a thing like that, ain’t you? There, see? I’m not _just_ accusing Nageko!”

“I… Ain’t all the way stupid,” Irarako defended herself, “Might not’n be the smartest but you don’t need’a go callin’ me a big dummy! Smarter people’n might more than me not know a guy’s been dead!”

“And weren’t you kicked out of your room because of him last night?” Homura prodded. “Actually, Yume might have a point here! You might want to get revenge, right?”

“I hardly think that a night sleeping on the floor is worthy of revenge,” Emi said, “And really… Even though we know that Ebizakaya had ten minutes between leaving my room and the time of death, I doubt she would have been so chipper when viewing my collection if she had plans to go and kill somebody right after?”

“Doubt doesn’t make a thing impossible,” Yume said, “If we’re in the business of disqualifying for ‘doubt’ then I’m in the clear. Cause any sane person’s gonna doubt a person would kill her _twin brother_.”

“Maybe if you could tell us what your argument was about?” Jun offered. “The one you had yesterday. It didn’t really sound like it was about you pushing Snow.”

“Nanjo’s just… was just quick to blame me when things go wrong. Kind of like you’re _all doing right now_. The difference there is that he was always on my side, deep down. Even if he decided shit was my fault and chewed me out for it. He never actually let me down,” Yume said, “If somebody else was dead and he was here at this trial. He’d probably go off on some long tangent about how shitty of a person I am, but end it out saying that there’s no way I would’ve committed the murder. Cause. I’d never take that risk in a place like this. I’m not fucking _stupid_, okay? And Nanjo’s the only person here who would’ve _known_ that.”

“Hey now,” Saya said, “I don’t think that you’re stupid either. I don’t suspect you, myself. It doesn’t make sense to me… And if you’d gone outside at all, I would’ve noticed.”

“I thought you could only see people going into the lab building?” Syoko asked.

“Yes, mostly. But consider, Yume wears a very large skirt and has very voluminous hair. She’s got a massive silhouette, and further. She’s one of two people I am a bit more aware of than others on this island. The other is Hanazaki, but he already alibied himself so I didn’t mention this before. These two people I would have looked up from my book and seen leaving the main building because I am, subconsciously, more aware of my friends’ presence. It’s temporal sense, you know?”

“What uh… What’s temporal sense?” Jun asked.

“I know this one,” Yuji said, “It’s the natural human sixth sense. Primarily, it’s the ‘sense of time’, but also relates a bit to just understanding the world around you. It’s what gives you the feeling to check under your car the one day a cat is asleep under it, ability to tell if somebody is standing behind you even if they approached silently, those types of things. Right?”

“That’s what it is! And my temporal sense woulda had me look up and see if either of my actual friends-so-far walked out of that door, since they’re more interesting than any book,” Saya said, “But this is pretty pseudoscientific so you don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to… But that’s why I think Yume is innocent.”

“Fun fact! Those who lack temporal sense actually tend to become more skilled at observation of details in order to compensate,” Homura added in, “It can’t help with the whole time thing really, but becoming hyper-aware of what’s around you with the rest of your senses can definitely overcome the rest of it! The last Ultimate Detective was like that.”

“That’s not really relevant,” Syoko said.

“Of course it isn’t relevant that’s why it’s a fun fact.” Homura shrugged.

“I thiiink… There’s another reason that Yume could be innocent,” Tooru said, “That she might not have even thooought of.”

“Ehh?” Yume questioned.

“Well, Nanjo kept a dagger in an interior pocket of his blaazer, yeah?”

“Mhm, he always had that on him! For opening letters all fancy-like. I mean, it also coulda been used for self-defense but… He didn’t, right?”

“The fact that the dagger is completely unuuused, that’s important to the case,” Tooru said, “Nobody can reeaally claim they were defending themselves when he hadn’t even drawn his weapon, riiight? So what I’m sayin’ here is. If the culprit knew about Nanjo’s dagger, they wouldn’t’ve _left_ it there.”

“And, hey,” Yume said, “Maybe you’re looking at this all wrong to begin with, huh? Maybe they weren’t just a stupid whore disrespecting my brother’s own profession by not realizin’ he was already dead. And that ‘dead body’ exclusion doesn’t mean a damn thing. What if the culprit was actually… Getting out their frustrations on the body?”


	70. Trial 1: Unreleased Frustration

“Getting out their frustrations?” Syoko asked.

“Yeah. I mean, we said it’s important to figure out the why,” Yume said, “And the why could be even more important, cause. Who knows. If it’s frustration and not ignorance. I wanna find out the bastard who _really_ hated my brother enough to do that.”

“Or hated something your brother represents,” Ayano offered, “After all, I’m not sure that anyone’s known him long enough to sincerely _hate_ him as a person, here.”

“Yeah! I hate Saihara but that’s cause I already knew her. And look, I haven’t killed her yet.” Hikari put her hands on her hips and stuck up her nose.

“...I mean, I can’t even say that me and Oowada really hate each other,” Kagome said, “I just didn’t like her from the start, and I was mean. I can’t say that I _know_ her. For all I know, we could still find some common ground and end up being friends… So I can’t imagine anyone here could really hate Nanjo either.”

“So it comes back to Nageko!” Yume exclaimed.

“No!” Syoko exclaimed back, “There’s no evidence actually pointing to Nageko!”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Homura said, “But, I bet there’s evidence pointing to somebody else too? Come on, let’s go ahead and rack our brains here. I know we got all the pieces.”

“If you ‘know we got all the pieces’, then why don’t you just. You know. Put them together?” Shin asked, “Or at least, tell us what you consider those pieces to be.”

“Ehh. You guys think I can put the pieces together? I doubt that.” Homura laughed. “I’m no good at figuring out the mystery before the detective does, in novels and things. Just because I like this stuff doesn’t mean I’ll be a genius at it. But let’s see, the pieces. The culprit had a reason to be drinking Loopy specifically. The culprit either didn’t realize Nanjo was dead, or took out their own personal frustrations on the corpse. Nanjo didn’t even really try to fight back, and the culprit was unaware he was armed. Meaning he didn’t want to hurt this person, but wasn’t close enough they’d know about his dagger.”

“That last bit really doesn’t get us very far,” Syoko said, “He might not have wanted to hurt any of us. And as far as we’re aware, Yume is the only person who knew about Nanjo’s dagger. Yume, was your brother especially secretive about it?”

“Nahh. He’d show it off if he got the chance,” Yume said, “But not to just strangers or nothin’. Most of our friends knew he kept it, but his normal coworkers and stuff didn’t. It _is_ somethin’ he uses to look cool, but he also values being discreet. As for hurting… Mm. I doubt he’d hesitate to at least threaten most of you with the knife.”

“So who _wouldn’t_ he threaten?” Shin prodded.

“Well, me, obviously. But I knew about it anyway and woulda gotten rid of it to avoid this conversation if it was me. And all. But moving on from that, hm. He already got a soft spot for Snow. He and Yoshiro did get along, but that accusation this morning, I dunno. Wouldn’t pull a knife on Itadai, neither. If he got along with any of the rest of you bitches, I wasn’t told about it.”

“...Interesting,” Homura said, “And you didn’t say this earlier because?”

“Because it implicates me to an extent, duh! You really think I was gonna invite you to suspect me of my own volition? You were so quick to assume I could be the culprit even without that going against me.”

“So we had to suspect you on our own, like ‘dumb bastards’,” Evie said, “If you were ever going to volunteer the knowledge that the actual suspect pool of people Nanjo wouldn’t pull a knife on was that small this entire time? Tsk.”

“Damn, Snow getting a backbone?” Homura asked.

“Just because I am a tiny foreign man does not mean that I’m spineless. I am a tactician,” Evie said, “Of course I’ll notice when somebody’s made such a poor strategic move like that. That’s information that should have been made available to us from the beginning. I can’t believe you’d do that.”

“...I won’t tell you to shove it, cause Nanjo thought you were cool,” Yume said, “So instead I’ll say that it wasn’t a fucking strategy, it was self-preservation. I never woulda let you really pick the wrong person once I… Figured out what that evidence meant. So I guess Nageko ain’t responsible.”

“That’s a relief,” Ryota said, “I wasn’t even sure what to say, but I was sure you’d realize eventually that it wasn’t me.”

"That's… reasonable, I guess. But you should probably make more of an effort to defend yourself if it happens again?" Jun said.

"Why? I trust you to find the truth so if I'm innocent I have nothing to worry about. Why put in an effort repeating the truth myself, when you're all so capable of seeking it?"

“So that’s what it comes down to…” Syoko muttered, then spoke at normal volume. “I didn’t mention this earlier, because Jun didn’t think it was relevant. But I investigated the restrooms in the dorm room where Nanjo slept last night; The one belonging to Ira and Itadai. Only Ira’s shower has been used anytime after yesterday morning. The other was completely dry.”

“What’s that gotta do with anythin’?” Irarako asked, tilting her head to the side. “I don’ really mind, said so mysel’. I got some real nice haircare products and it’d be rude not to offer their using!”

“Itadai’s bathroom didn’t just have an unused shower, it was a mess,” Syoko elaborated, “Really, I assumed that you just live that way, Itadai. But now I’m beginning to think that there could be something else to it. I might not be good at investigating, but… I am good at putting the dots together. At least, I think I am. Feel free to stop me if I’m wrong, though that rarely happens, really. I’m not just throwing noodles at the wall anymore. I have a theory. What was in Itadai’s bathroom… Plenty of makeup, none of it taken care of. Strewn everywhere. Lipstick on the ground, it’d been stepped on. You play the part of the grieving girlfriend very well, but…”

“What are you… Saihara, this is-” Kagome started to protest, but found her interruption fruitless. Syoko continued undeterred.

“Itadai. I’m beginning to think, well. _That’s not quite true_.”


	71. Trial 1: Not so Grieving

“You. You think that I… I did this?” Kagome questioned. “I don’t… What are you talking about?”

“What, do you mean to tell me that associating with Nanjo, somebody who she completely ideologically doubted the identity of… Not just associating, but becoming romantically involved… With a trans man, as a self-described lesbian… Didn’t suddenly transform Itadai into somebody who wasn’t a piece of shit?” Homura questioned, “Well color me purple and call me shocked!”

“I-I told you, I was just being a bitch because of nicotine cravings. Because I’m in a _stupid_ industry where being the right amount of social to get ahead leads to substance dependency.” Kagome rubbed her arm with gritted teeth. “I… Look, I told you. I never met anybody like Nanjo before. I didn’t understand how anyone would _want_ to be a guy before. He's. Different. And why are you really suspecting me, anyway? Didn’t I say that it had to be a man, who’d commit this murder?”

“We’d have to be really stupid to accept a condition like that,” Jun said, “Coming from you. Besides, wasn’t it you who was accusing Oowada of-”

“Now, now. If Itadai had gone into this relationship with Nanjo intending to murder him,” Syoko interrupted, “Then the opportunity was right there. Kill him in the middle of the night, dump the body somewhere else. It wouldn’t be that hard to convince us that Ira was kicked out for another reason, and nobody would have known about any connection to Nanjo. So. I’m not so sure that the intention was there at all.”

“I mean, I did know about the connection,” Jun said, “But Itadai wouldn’t have known that, because I found it out through eavesdropping. So. Your point still stands.”

“Y-You heard…”

“I heard him call himself a, er. Hubert Von Vestra who won’t kill you, yes,” Jun said, “I’m sorry. Eavesdropping is a bad habit of mine and I regret hearing any of that.”

“Oh. Gross,” Kagome muttered.

“It was kind of instant karma for eavesdropping on you, that I had to hear that stuff and now it isn’t even relevant to the case since you didn’t kill Nanjo while he was in your room overnight. But uh. Syoko thinks that you killed him later for some reason? I’m actually not following. It. Feels more likely that I did it? From where I stand?”

“Yeah… That’s not surprising,” Emi said.

“What?” Jun questioned.

“You’re a bit blind to these sorts of things, aren’t you?” Syoko almost sounded like she was teasing him, but became serious in an instant when she once more addressed Kagome, “Of course, something went strange with the situation, didn’t it? Something changed Nanjo’s mood from pleasant when he entered the dining hall, to easily irritated by the time that Yoshiro’s upbringing came to light. And as for what that is… Yume? There’s something else you haven’t told us.”

“Why do you think that?” Yume asked, fidgeting in place.

“Nanjo didn’t seem the type to be easily bothered, by _most_ things. But I think there must be something. And you would know what could get under his skin. I’m assuming you haven’t told us because you don’t _want_ to consider the possibility that something you did could have contributed to his death. Unfortunately, unless you want every one of us to die, you’ll have to accept your part in this and tell the truth.”

“...I do know what put him in a bad mood. And why he’d accuse me of being easily swayed by Saya, to kill her if she asked, too.” Yume reached out and gripped the podium in front of herself. “I don’t know… Why I did it. I guess maybe I was still mad at him, for not standing up for me when I pushed Snow? Or. Something. Best explanation is I’m just a fucking idiot. Itadai asked me what his birth name was and I told her. So I’d assume, this morning. She called him by _that_ name instead of his real one. And he’d have known immediately. Only I could have told her that.”

“And you were accusing _me_ of being transphobic?” Ryota asked.

“It’s not… I wasn’t… I was just upset with him personally! All I did was answer a question I was asked!” Her voice was starting to break as it got louder with each new sentence. “Besides, how was I supposed to know that it would really be that bad!? He mourned the last person who still called him that! He’s thick-skinned! I figured, hey! I’ll get _back_ at him just a little bit and it won’t be too bad, it’ll just feel like I betrayed him just a _bit_! Like the way I felt! So how the fuck is that my fault, huh??”

“It’s petty,” Syoko said, “But I’ll grant that it was an act of malice only against Nanjo as an individual in that moment. I won’t judge your character on one moment of cruelty. Thank you for disclosing the truth now. Itadai, do you have anything to say for yourself right now?”

Kagome had her arms wrapped around herself, face pointed to the ground. She looked even more like she was going to be sick right now. Jun almost felt bad for her. Maybe he still would, if he found out why she did this. Not that he could necessarily forgive her, but forgiveness and sympathy weren’t the same thing. This was a messed up situation, after all. Even he’d considered himself potentially capable of killing someone.

“Nothing? Okay,” Syoko said, “I’d like you to answer a question of mine, though. That mother of yours. The person in this world who you hate the most, more than anybody else. Who is she?”

Nothing from Kagome, again.

“Could she possibly be,” Homura stepped in, “Rumiko Itadai?”

“Aha. I thought that if I led to it, you might be able to tell us something,” Syoko said, “I had no idea, myself. But this mother should have been important somehow, to become Itadai’s most hated person…”

“Quite important. At least, she used to be. She was the second person that the Ultimate Stage Manager ever scouted… She wasn’t an Ultimate herself, but she was a fairly popular folk singer in those circles,” Homura said, “But she had already faded out of the public consciousness, when Matsubara started to deal exclusively in Ultimates. I wouldn’t make the connection, naturally, between a footnote in history and a girl with the same last name. But now that it’s come to this…”

“Yeah. You’re a weirdo genius who can’t think of things without leading or spite,” Syoko said, “So I went out on a limb so it would dip down to your eye level. With this in mind, it’s pretty easy to start drawing conclusions. Somebody who starts drinking from a young age is usually taking alcohol from their parents’ supply. You’d develop a taste for whatever you take. And if your mother, Itadai… Really is this Rumiko. Then of course. You’d have a certain taste for a drink called _Loopy_, wouldn’t you? Though, frankly. This may represent a smoking gun. But I was already sure that you’re the culprit _anyhow_.”


	72. Trial 1: Not So Girlfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to share this at the start of the trial but with holidays happening I totally blanked. Here's a courtroom layout: https://sta.sh/2pqbg835irj?edit=1

Kagome, once more, said nothing.

“It became obvious once Yume told us about Nanjo’s affiliations. There was Yume herself. Somebody incapable of the crime. And you, Itadai,” Syoko said, “So just from that, you must have known that it was over. That we were onto you. Though the signs were there from the very start. No need to know that Loopy points to you. No need to know that Nanjo would have drawn his knife on most others besides you. I looked in your room, so I think I understand why.”

“Even still…” Syoko continued, “You left breakfast at the right time. To not be seen by Nageko and Jun, or Yoshiro, on your way to the lab building. To get in a struggle with Nanjo and clean up in time. Really, that bit lines up perfectly, so I suspected you from the start. But my initial judgment wasn’t enough to go on, so I wanted to eliminate the other possibilities.”

“Your reasoning is because… The timing was right?” Kagome asked, “Are you serious? We spent this entire trial exploring other options, all of which _could_ have had the same amount of time on their side. What other reasons had you got to suspect me in particular? Don’t say Nanjo wouldn’t stab me. Yume said herself. We don’t know for sure who he wouldn’t stab.”

“Oh, you really want to know what else?” Syoko asked, “Well then. Yoshiro is the only other person here who would be inclined to swipe Nanjo’s brooch. That might just be too much intuition for you to accept, though. So what else points to you as _hard_ evidence? You didn’t leave footprints, you only disturbed the sand. This happens with dry sand, basically always. But there’s a small stretch of wetter sand, and it had no defined prints either. This means the culprit’s shoes didn’t have sturdy soles. This can describe… Plenty of our group, but definitely you, with those ridiculous sandal heels. I think you’re compensating a bit too much.”

“Tsk. Saihara, that was a slip on your part. This is the first the rest of us are hearing about the sand…” Evie said.

“I didn’t… Think of it?” Syoko admitted, “Until just now, actually. I mean. I noticed it, and it was involved in my decision, but until I was actively breaking down my decision I didn’t realize it played a part.”

“I can testify to the state of the sand,” Jun added in, “And Syoko’s statement about soles. My shoes, which are very sensible, did leave prints in the semi-wet sand. Uh… Mono? What are the tides like here?”

“Do you see a moon in this sky?”

“I haven’t really seen this sky at night. There are terrifying monsters out there.” Jun reminded her.

“Oh, right. There’s no moon, so no tides. The ocean is a constant state. The waves have a distance variance of absolute 2 feet from a set point. The pseudo-wet sand just stays that way for realism purposes. There are about 5 feet of it which never get touched by waves at all.”

“So it’s not like any prints could have been washed away,” Syoko said, “Thank you for the confirmation. Moving on, of course. We checked the room Nanjo slept in last night, as I said before. Thoroughly. I prohibited Jun from looking in the bathrooms, sure, but I did observe both. We also checked each closet and the dresser drawers in the center of the room. The state of the bathroom… Does, again, lead me to a certain conclusion, but I dare say this one is more than an ‘intuition’. And Nanjo saw it too.”

“Oh!” Irarako raised a hand. “I know this bit, nyeah! Nanjo woulda seen it too. Cause. Itadai wasn’ up for to steal my hair products at my invitation cause they’re super duper nice n’ stuff. An’ if _Nanjo_ had used those hair products he wouldn’ been his hair fuck dumb. Would’ve been nice shiny smooth like he likes to like it. So Nanjo what would gonna have used Itadai’s shower. But saw them big mess hours and changed ‘is mind.”

“Well, it was more than mess which changed Nanjo’s mind in that situation, I believe,” Syoko said, “He came to the same conclusion that I did, though, it was so strange I had some trouble allowing myself to think it in spite of the obvious hints. After such a revelation, it would seem strange to shower in that room. It must have taken the poor man until breakfast to even consider breaching the subject, and upon doing so, received Itadai’s _initial_ revenge of calling him by an incorrect name. Having been so shocked that morning, only to now be scorned as well, anybody would lash out at the first sign of trouble. So it was nothing personal, Yoshiro.”

“Don’t worry, I never thought it was! It has nothing to do with my personality that it’s difficult to trust somebody who was literally raised by the person we were told upfront is responsible for this living nightmare that we’re currently trapped in!” Saya saluted as if that gesture made sense.

“Yeah? Jeeze. What sort of deep, dark secret do you think you’ve figured out about me?” Itadai asked, “I guess that miss perfect shouldn’t have a problem figuring it out, though, should she? Cause. You really are the best at everything. Even fucking people over. Huh?”

“You _are_ the culprit,” Syoko said, “Frankly, I don’t think I’m fucking you over at all. I could expose how you did the crime in detail without ever telling anybody why. But I don’t think you’d want to be remembered that way, Itadai. So, say, Shinku. I’ve got another bone for you. In the dresser drawers, what is the purpose of a sewing kit?”

“A sewing kit is placed in a room as a… Pretty archaic method to indicate that the room’s owner is a woman. Likewise, the screwdriver set indicates a man. If you’re curious, though I’m not sure any are here, nonbinary folks receive a piping bag set, historically. This is the only Killing Game that’s included roommates, so these archaic items are shuffled in with other junk. It’s hard to even notice unless it’s, say, two men in the same room. Thus two screwdriver sets, which stands out against one of each other bit of junk.”

“But. Uh, wasn’t the whole thing that made you people upset with me… That I didn’t realize the rooms weren’t co-ed, at first? So wouldn’t every room have a duplicate?” Ryota asked.

“Not so. Archaic as the indicator may be, it seems to respect gender identities to a fault. That fault being, identities that we, the group… Or even the room’s occupant themself may not be aware of.” Homura raised one finger, the other hand on his hip.

“An’ that’s…” Irarako blurted, “Me an’ Itadai’s room. There weren’t two sewin’ kits at all. So. Itadai… Yer secret worth killin’s over…”

“Itadai. If I knew your first name, I’d use it,” Syoko said, “You are most certainly the culprit. And I’ll explain every bit how.”


	73. Trial 1: Syoko Closing

**[Syoko Saihara’s First Class Trial Closing Argument]**

The story of this case begins, surprisingly enough, this morning. Well, you could say that it began last night, but that isn’t why the murder happened. The victim, Nanjo Mirai, stayed the night in the culprit’s room, but that’s not related. It’s simply why he was able to set off the chain reaction which led to his own death. A reaction which began when he saw inside the culprit’s bathroom and, with other factors considered, came to a certain conclusion. He gave up on getting his own shower and tried to decide what to do with the information that he’d surmised.

Now, makeup being poorly cared for, even being stepped on, does not necessarily indicate that the owner of that makeup has some secret hatred for it. It could just be an accident, but when considering the culprit’s other behavior, it starts to paint a picture. Nanjo waited a bit to decide what he was going to say, but it seems that however he said it wasn’t good enough. The culprit felt hurt and threatened, and being in denial of these facts, lashed out the only way that they could think of in the moment; Calling Nanjo by his deadname, resulting in his unpleasant mood. He stormed out of the room at this point. I’m not sure who noticed, but the culprit also left almost immediately after, marking the second person to leave breakfast at all. This is how the culprit was able to reach the lab building without being seen.

Along the way through the gift shop, the culprit likely picked up a bottle of Loopy; A type of alcohol that they grew to appreciate due to it being what their mother kept in the house when they were growing up. I couldn’t measure the size of the puddle in Tsubasa’s lab, but I imagine it didn’t represent the entire bottle. Let’s assume a bit about the order of events here for convenience sake, though the bottom line is that the same thing happened regardless of this detail. The culprit wandered into Tsubasa’s lab to drink, since it does have chairs at a workbench. We also know this culprit smokes, so they may have been seeking tobacco as well. Then, Nanjo, in some other part of the lab building, heard the culprit in Tsubasa’s lab and went to investigate, seeing them there.

In their now, at least partially drunken state, the culprit got into an argument with Nanjo over what had transpired at breakfast, likely making all sorts of accusations or insults to deflect from the issue at hand, being their own secret. The secret which Nanjo had figured out, the secret which they didn’t want to know _themselves_, let alone allow anybody else to know it. Had Nanjo just left it alone after breakfast, then he probably wouldn’t have ended up being killed. As it was, the argument turned physical, and in the heat of the moment the culprit broke their bottle over his head, killing him with one unlucky blow. I don’t believe that Nanjo’s _death_ was intentional here, but blunt force can be unfortunately unpredictable.

The culprit surely realized straight away that Nanjo was dead. Rather than move on, they remained with the now-broken bottle and, still filled with adrenaline and confusion, ended up attacking the corpse until they had calmed down enough to think of a way to try and cover their tracks. This culprit is a selfish person, I don’t imagine they would have even begun to think of confessing. Escaping themselves would have been appealing even in that moment, so they worked to cover their tracks. As much as possible. They gathered all the scattered pieces of glass. Probably out of sentimentality, they also took the brooch that Nanjo wore, but missed the fact he had a dagger tucked in an interior pocket of his blazer.

With all the pieces of the bottle, the culprit exited the lab building through the back door which leads out to the nice beach. They approached the water, likely stumbling on the way with their shoes being ill-suited to the terrain, resulting in the blood left on one of the rocks out there, probably the culprit’s own from carrying the glass. This is also why, even in the more compact sand, no discernable footprints were left. The culprit disposed of the bottle and likely also washed off their hands in the ocean there. They would have returned to the lab building with the intention of further cleaning the crime scene, but Snow had by then arrived in the building himself, which blocked them from further efforts.

Instead, they looped around, avoiding Yoshiro, to return to the main building. Getting past Barasu at this point was probably awkward for them, but since he was mentally checked out, the culprit was able to walk through the gift shop. They changed whichever clothes had been stained, hung up the old ones with the clean clothes so it would take a lot of scrutiny to notice which ones had bloodstains, more time than we would have available to try and look at everything in their quite-extensive closet. However, they likely moved the brooch between pockets, just in case. A few odd bloodstains on clothing can be brushed off, but having Nanjo’s brooch anywhere in their room would have been a dead giveaway.

The culprit may have intended to clean their bathroom, or take a shower, or all number of other things to cover their tracks. Unfortunately for them, I would have probably been able to eventually pin them down even without the hints to ‘why’. Or… If not me, somebody would. I’ll admit it, I’m no detective. But I do understand people. Without that ‘why’, maybe it would have been on somebody else to pin down this ‘who’.

As it is, there was enough evidence for me to realize. The culprit didn’t mean to commit a murder, but did mean to incapacitate Nanjo, who was threatening to reveal a secret about them which they couldn’t even accept themselves. After all, everything they said up to this point… It’s ridiculous. Itadai, you really hate yourself, don’t you?

I’m so sorry.

I wish that things could have been different, that we could have helped you, but… As it is, you are the culprit. So I’m afraid we’ll never know. This is the end of the road for you. But perhaps, he’ll forgive you when you meet again? You might not like that idea now, yet I’m sure it’s what you want.


	74. Trial 1: A Reconstruction of Events

Itadai was not having a good morning, that much was for certain. It had been a decent night. Any night was decent, when somebody didn’t have to think about the things which troubled them. And really, what troubled Itadai? Let’s not think about that, really, let’s not. Never think about that. Why would you want to think about that?

[ - ] Itadai was an incredibly talented young [ - ] in a particular career path which was universally known to cause intense stresses. Nobody really said ‘well, it figures’ when an architect had a full-blown mental breakdown, revealed their substance abuse problems, and checked into rehab all the while being thoroughly lambasted by the entire public for being in that situation to begin with. There were downsides to celebrity, and even more for child celebrities. In America it was the film industry, here in Japan, the music industry seemed to hold a similar stigma.

Young girls who make music are _pure_ and have never dated. All the same, at the flip side, they are _abused_ in their positions. And so, of course, Itadai has been in the latter position. Of course. Because, isn’t Itadai a young girl in the music industry? Right, right. That’s how it’s always been. From the beginning. That’s Kagome. That’s Kagome.

Itadai? Not so much, huh?

It isn’t that they’re two different people who exist at the same time. That’s untrue. More that ‘Kagome’ is an ideal which needs to be lived up to and Itadai tries very hard. Itadai tries to be Kagome and sometimes, that’s fine. Sometimes Kagome Itadai is able to exist and be seen and be understood the way that she ought to be, the way that she was raised to be and the way that everybody expects her to exist. Because what else, who else, could she be, but that? To be a good person is to follow these rules is to be Kagome because if not Kagome, then Itadai would be terrible, right?

But at this moment, Itadai is feeling pretty terrible.

He lifted the bottle to his lips again, hair falling in his face. God, why couldn’t he just cut it? Would have been chastised. Can’t be chastised. And then somebody might figure it out. Figure out that deep down, he was just this disgusting, and try as he might he could never commit to being Kagome. They’d figure it out and then he’d have to confront it, for real, who he was. Who he absolutely didn’t want to be. Of course they would, because Nanjo, fucking _Nanjo_ had found him out. Of course he did, he was just. Too smart.

Nanjo was a guy too smart and charming for Itadai to keep on being Kagome, the man-hating lesbian cultivated on expectations and trauma. Because Kagome would never like a guy like that. Kagome would never like a guy. Itadai was supposed to be- And yet- Nanjo was right there, and-

And now Nanjo knew. Thought he knew. He couldn’t know for sure because Itadai didn’t know for sure, Itadai didn’t understand any of this at all, really. Couldn’t wrap his head around ‘his’ head, who was he? Was he?

What the _fuck_?

“Itadai?” And Nanjo was there again. Why was Nanjo here again, now, of all times?

“Go the fuck away, Kami,” Itadai spat, barely looking up enough to see Nanjo flinch. “I don’t care what you think or who the hell you think I am or why you ever thought that I could actually _like_ you.”

“That’s not my name. Never has been,” Nanjo said, “Just like Kagome isn’t your name.”

“It is,” Itadai said. There wasn’t any energy behind it.

“Mine, or yours?”

“Both.” Itadai stood up. “Why are you here?”

“I was in Saihara’s lab. I figured if the makeup you destroyed came from there, she deserved an apology,” Nanjo said, “But it doesn’t seem to have. Then, I heard you struggling with that.” He pointed to a rolling paper and a pile of loose tobacco on the table. “So I came to check in on you.”

“...The makeup came from my hobby box. You know. Because you’re wrong about me.”

“You really need to get it sorted out, you know,” Nanjo said, “Who you are. Because I think that I do like you. But it has to be the real you that I like. And that isn’t Kagome, is it?”

“I’m a lesbian.”

“Kagome’s a lesbian. That’s not you though, is it?” Nanjo took a step forward.

“Of course it is.” Itadai’s hands were held up by his chest.

“Pft. Well, say what you will, but you know.” Nanjo grabbed his wrist, the one without the bottle in it. “It isn’t as if I look like a woman. I can say that with confidence. By being attracted to me, whether you accept my identity or not. You’re more likely bisexual, dear.”

“I’m not your dear!” Itadai protested, trying to wrench his wrist away. Nanjo stepped with the momentum, though, leading him to stumble backwards into one of the shelves. It shook and toppled a few items to the floor. “I’m not. I’m not what you think I am! I am… I’m Kagome Itadai! I’m cute and pretty and I love my mother! And I’m a good person, I’m a stunning young lady!”

“You don’t sound like you believe that.”

“I need to believe that. I need to believe that!” Itadai was shaking where he stood. “Let go of me, fuck off! I was doing just fine until I met you!”

“Were you? Were you really doing fine? Or were you just burying your problems?” Nanjo questioned, “I just want to help you!”

“And I just want you to _let me keep living the life I’m supposed to!_” Itadai shrieked, and suddenly, it was over. A shattering noise. His booze, all over the floor. Nanjo wasn’t holding his wrist. Nanjo wasn’t holding anything.

Since when was he strong enough to…

No, he guessed, adrenaline could do these types of things. He’d never been _weak_, physically. And with the full force of his panic, a nearly-full heavy glass bottle. And some really bad odds for the angle he hit him at. This was a corpse. This was. A corpse. Because Itadai wasn’t a good person at all. He was just like any other man.  
Just.  
_slice._  
So  
_slice._  
Rotten  
_slice._

So terribly awful rotten disgusting to the core, a bad, person.

_ **slice.** _

Twenty-three times until his head began to clear. Twenty-three times. Were this not a corpse that’s how many it would have taken on his own skin to get this sorted out. To go back. To pretend again. Become Kagome like he should. Like he wasn’t this. Like he was somebody who didn’t deserve twenty-three fresh gashes in his own arms.

Like he was someone who deserved to live enough to try and cover for the no-good man that he hid.


	75. Trial 1: Last Moments

“I’m not wrong… Am I, Itadai?” Syoko prodded as Itadai stood silent behind his podium, clutching his head.

“You are wrong! You’re so wrong I can’t even believe it!” He shouted, “I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about, what are you doing! My secret!? Come on! I don’t have any secrets! I can’t! I’m Kagome Itadai, and everybody knows what happened to me! I’m Kagome Itadai, and I’m a girl because. Nobody would ever want to be a man if they didn’t have to be! Who would wanna be such an _asshole_ to be a fucking guy!?”

“Well, you would,” Homura said, “Come on, join us! Embrace it. You’re gonna die anyway.”

“I am _not_ going to die because your entire stupid culprit theory hinges on this ‘why’ that Nanjo figured I have some stupid secret like that which is wrong, it’s completely wrong and the theory is wrong too!” Itadai dropped to his knees. “It’s all wrong, all wrong, what makes you think you can tell me something like that? Everybody knows. Everybody knows who Kagome Itadai is and everything about me and do you think something like this could really slip under the radar? Do you think so?”

“Actually, I do,” Shin said, “First of all, I don’t follow celebrity news, so I’m _not_ aware of what’s happened to you. I can imagine it’s nothing good. Nonetheless, this could slip under the radar quite easily. All you need to do is show signs of cracking and your stage mother ships you off to ‘rehab’ again. Only this time, it’s conversion camp.”

“What kind of stupid fantasy is _that_!?” Itadai asked.

“One that makes sense to me as somebody who’s _been_ to conversion camp, so I’d watch your tongue if I were you,” Shin said, “In any case. There’s plenty of ways that an issue like this could have been discreetly ‘dealt with’. So really, people don’t know everything that happened to you. They know whatever your mother used as a cover story.”

“Isn’t… Isn’t the whole point of the whole transgender thing to respect the way that people self-identify?” Itadai questioned, “Why are you doing this to me?”

“You just don’t seem to actually self-identify the way you’re saying,” Saya said, “There’s a difference between identification and pretending. And, trust me, honey. It’s not _that_ tough to tell when somebody’s pretending to be cis. As for why we’re doing this to you, uh? Could it possibly be because you’re the culprit in this case and we don’t owe you any time to figure your own shit out, since leaving you to your own devices in this led to you doing a _murder_?”

“There’s others who we’re giving space,” Syoko said, “Because they’ve done nothing wrong. But you lost for yourself the privilege of self-discovery the moment Nanjo died. So, we have no choice but to condemn the real you, as much as you might want to deny it.”

“I gotta say,” Homura chimed in, “That was your emptied hobby box, huh? That I found in Nanjo’s closet, with something else you wanted to hide in it. I assumed at the time that it was just _his_, but I mean. I kind of figured that Nanjo wouldn’t _need_ to bind, what with it being so obvious that Yume stuffs her bra. So it was yours. Of course Mercury would provide whatever you’d need if you came to understand yourself, even if it was just a way to taunt you at the start. Double-edged acceptance seems pretty standard from our lovely host so far!”

Itadai didn’t speak and didn’t move, given up on defense, still just kneeling on the floor. Nobody else spoke or moved either, having said what they wanted to. There was silence all around for just a few moments, because this wasn’t right. Nobody wanted this. Nobody wanted to get stuck in this archaic game, nobody wanted someone to actually commit a murder, and nobody wanted to condemn the culprit to die as well. And yet, that was all that they could do, because all of that had happened.

And then, the silence broke.

“Are you fucking _kidding_ me?” Yume’s harsh voice echoed around the courtroom. “Why are we doing this to you… And those sugar-coated bullshit ass-pull answers? Come _on_. Obviously dragging the truth out of you is gonna hurt. Gonna make you suffer. You killed Nanjo to keep it a secret, so that’s everything you _deserve_. You dumb _bastard_.”

Itadai looked up just in time to see Yume stomping in his direction. She rounded the podium and kicked him square in the stomach, knocking him to the floor. And she kept going, in a silent fury, landing blow after blow to his stomach and ribs. She wasn’t especially strong; She was only even doing this much damage through the power of her anger, and each individual kick wasn’t all too painful on its own, but the sheer number of them had to build up.

She lifted her foot again, this time bringing it down on Itadai’s cheek, keeping his head pinned sideways to the floor. Then more pressure.

“What…” Itadai muttered, “Are you gonna _kill_ me? Look, I deserve to die, but it’s already gonna happen. Is doing it yourself really worth the punishment?”

“Of course it is!” Yume exclaimed, putting even more of her bodyweight into it.

“Yume,” Mono said, “He’s right, you know. You’ll be executed yourself if you kill him here.”

“I don’t c-!” Yume’s further shout was cut short as she was suddenly pulled away, Saya’s arms hooked under hers to drag her back towards the center of the courtroom. Just to drag her, though. Once standing still, Saya adjusted her grip to one hand on Yume’s arm. She almost just looked amused. “Let me go, let me back at him! Come on! What are you doing!”

“I do not want you to die!” Saya almost giggled as she told Yume this, still effortlessly holding her back. “So, if you really want to throw your life away, I guess you’ll have to kill somebody some other time. Come on. The execution will hurt him more than you can, anyway.”

Yume silently fumed in place for a few more moments, but then stepped back, though she was still tense. “I guess you’re right. Besides, it’d be awful inconvenient for me to kill somebody without Nanjo around to cover for me, huh?”

With that last dig at Itadai, Saya let Yume go and they both returned to their podiums. No sooner had they turned back around than Itadai, still lying on the floor, was taken hold of by a strange tendril. Unlike the ‘usual’ metal execution-retrieving methods of the Killing Games, it looked almost organic, in sickly shades of gray and the same pink that had been used to mark Nanjo’s injuries. Itadai was dragged along the floor by it, back through the curtains which unceremoniously fell shut behind him.

And the monitors descended from the ceiling.

It’s of note to say, while several of the participants had previously seen dead bodies, none had, at least in active memory, witnessed somebody _die_ in front of them.

There _is_ a first for everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter art by @ministarfruit on tumblr!


	76. Trial 1: An Execution of Revelation

** [-] Itadai’s Execution: SINS OF THE FATHER **

The monitors faded in from black to reveal that Itadai was lying, still on his side in the same position as before, on one half of a set of massive turntables. While his position hadn’t changed, his appearance slightly had. The twintails had come out of his hair, and the outer layers of his outfit had been removed. The peter-pan collared shirt was long-sleeved and covered the entirety of his arms, then there were the shorts, and his socks. That was it; The pink was, stereotypically enough, nearly gone from his outfit, but for the decorative horn-type ornaments on his head.

That, and his eyes, of course. Though they were closed, it was pretty easy to assume that his eye color had not morphed in the few moments that he’d been out of sight. He still didn’t move at all, but the platform he was on did. It began to turn, and there was a needle on an outside ring. It was an actual record, after all. The noises it made started off garbled, barely audible. There was music, though nobody could hope to place the barely-there tune. And spoken word, which too, cut out much too often for even a single one of those words to actually be caught by those listening.

It amounted to no more than noise. At least, that was the way that it seemed at first. But as was the nature of records, the needle continued to move along the spiral. While the sounds were thoroughly unintelligible, they definitely weren’t repeating at all. There were different nonsense noises along the entire groove, until they weren’t nonsense anymore.

As soon as the needle skirted Itadai; Hitting his shoulder, as he’d been laid down at an angle and hadn’t bothered to move, as soon as there was blood on the record, it became clear.

“No, look, I have a copy of it right here!” A young woman’s earnest voice sprung forth. “Can I. Could you please just take a look at this passage right here? I know that it’s an unconventional thing to put in a will, but he definitely _put_ it there. So do I need to get a lawyer in here, or are you going to follow the instructions?”

“Miss _Itadai_,” Another woman’s voice, now. “Just because somebody put something in their will does not mean that we need to honor it. I’m not denying you because of anything legal, I’m denying you because I have the right to deny service and I don’t consider this right. If it were up to me, we would have destroyed his samples a long time ago.”

“I understand that! Trust me, I do,” Rumiko protested, “But I happen to agree with him on this point. He requested that somebody from a list come here, get his samples, and bear his child. I intend to fulfill that request because no matter what he did, he was a talented person. It would be a waste to let any of it which was genetic go down the drain!”

“He’s been dead for what, two years now? Coming up on three?” The attendant wondered, “What made you decide to follow his will now, of all times? Nobody else came asking about it. Everyone else was smart.”

“I wasn’t ready to raise a child when he died. I am now. I _will_ get a lawyer in here and go above your head if I have to,” Rumiko said, “Whatever I need to do, I’ll do it. I’m going to have Matsubara’s child. Have you even followed entertainment news since he died? There’s a gap of talent there, a huge one. His influence was important, you have to admit that. I just want to fill the gap he left. With a talented enough child… One who won’t have any of his cruelty! I’ll raise them right! I’ll make sure… Can’t you tell how serious I am? If the child is a boy, I won’t even carry it to term. But a talented daughter, taking over the hole that he left in the entertainment industry. Doesn’t that sound like the best of both worlds? Doesn’t it?”

“...Damn, lady,” The attendant dropped all customer service pretense. “I’m not sure you’re even mentally stable enough to have _any_ child.”

“Okay, then I will be going over your head, as I said. I don’t need to convince you.” Rumiko scoffed. “What’s that on your nametag… Kagome? Well. I’ll name my baby girl after you, just to shove it in your face. A Kagome who’ll always be so much better than you and overshadow you. How about that?”

“...Whatever you say,” The attendant said, and then the noises cut out completely, leaving only the sound of the needle scratching against empty record.

Itadai stirred, propping himself up on his elbows with a grimace on his face, muttering, “Mother… Hah. So that was it this whole time. No wonder. I bet you wanted to kill me, right then and there. When I figured it out the first time.”

He got to his feet now, shakily, wobbling both from the movement of the record and his own fragile mental state. Even so, he carefully timed it, and ran to the outer edge of the record as soon as the needle passed him by again, this time a near-miss. From the outside edge, he seemed safe for the moment. Obviously it wouldn’t stay that way; This was an execution. But he didn’t need to just lie down there and let himself die when the needle passed over him.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of the pain and it wasn’t that he thought he didn’t deserve to die. Both of those were fine with him, but it was just the realization that led him to make an effort. He was not Kagome, and in this state, his mother would rather he were dead. It’s what she would want, and so, he found just enough defiance to stand up and struggle just a bit longer. He wouldn’t make it out of here. But living for just a few more seconds was enough to at least put him back in control. He took a deep breath. “My name is-”

He was cut short and could only make a guttural noise instead, as the needle arm had lifted and swung back towards its original position. It rotated in the process, so when it swung back, Itadai found himself with the needle straight through his stomach. He kept trying to speak, but it didn’t work at all. The needle arm turned again, and came to rest on the outermost groove, pinning him to the record with his left arm and leg hanging over the edge. The sound started up again from the beginning, but it was again, made clear. It began with music. Itadai stopped twitching; dead just moments before Rumiko’s voice played out one last line.

“You and your idiot friends have been making her feel too welcome. I’m losing her, I can tell. And I can’t have that. So why don’t we cut a deal? I’ll give you a few thousand dollars, and you can have some fun. Whatever you like, I’ll handle the cover-up. Remind her what sort of body she’s really got, and while you’re at it, how disgusting men like you really are. It’s a win-win, isn’t it? And if you turn me down. I could always fabricate something worse.”


	77. Trial 1: Nanjo Mirai's Monokuma Theater

“Really now. Nanjo. What are you so upset about?” Yume asked, “It isn’t like he was a friend to either of us, the time he died.”

“I… I’m not really going to think logically when it comes to this sort of thing, you know…” Nanjo complained, clutching one arm in the other. “Shouto. How can you be so callous about him, he _was_ our friend. Even if he’s not now, I. It isn’t like I wanted him dead.”

“Shouto _was_ our friend is the key. Past tense, not just because he’s dead now. He’s been using us both for months. Think of it this way, won’t you? We’re _free_ of his manipulation now. And with him gone, there’s nobody of consequence left who’ll ever use your deadname. You know he couldn’t really care about you, calling you that.”

“I don’t want to speak ill of the dead,” Nanjo said, “It goes against my personal philosophy.”

“But you _will_ lie about him.” Yume locked eyes with him. “Won’t you?”

“Of course. I can only imagine that Yamaguchi did this because you blabbed to him about what Shouto was doing. Protecting our benefactor is more important to me than preserving the integrity of a dead friend,” Nanjo said, “Even still. I wish you wouldn’t have gone and told him.”

“Well, I didn’t tell Yamaguchi,” Yume said, “I told Kyosuke. He’s easier to talk to.”

“Ahh. So that’s how it is.” Nanjo raised an eyebrow.

“W-what?” Yume questioned.

“You must feel bad that this is how it worked out. If you only felt hatred towards Shouto, you wouldn’t hesitate to run and spit his name to Yamaguchi with all of that venom of yours. But you felt shame for being manipulated by him, right? Your own pain, not only anger. Because you care in spite of all of it. So you went to Kyosuke instead.”

“How do you figure that logic tracks?

“Yamaguchi can promise revenge, but Kyosuke can offer comfort too. He is by far the softer mafia dad.”

“It… It’s weird when you call them mafia dads, you know,” Yume said, “But I guess that you’re right, in some way. Even with what Shouto ended up doing, he… He was a pretty normal guy. Not a terrible person. Not a good person either. But he didn’t mean to hurt either of us. Just didn’t get it. So, yes. I needed Kyosuke to tell me that I wasn’t wrong to be angry.”

“So why are you telling me not to cry for him?”

“Cause I cried for Shouto Kodaki a long time ago. When the version of him that we knew was already long dead.” Yume looked away. “When he was still a ‘good person’. Wouldn’t’ve dreamed of hurting either of us, and look how that worked out. Huh. Bet we were the bad influence that let him turn out this way?”

“If by ‘this way’ you mean ‘dead’... _yes_. That is in fact what happened. Because you told the _yakuza_ that he was an asshole. They don’t do things by halves.” Nanjo groaned. “You know. I mean. I know that I fucked up, with what he ended up doing, but I. I mean. I don’t know. From where I stood. And you really could have left him to me, you know. Even if it was fake. Even if he saw me like I was a different person, at least. He loved a version of me?”

“I wouldn’t have left that bastard to you. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy…” Yume shook her head. “You should really work on that, you know. If you keep thinking like that, you’re going to get burned. You deserve for somebody to love you. Not some version of you.”

“As if that could-”

“Oh, shut up!” Yume snapped, but only for a second before she returned to the flat, grim tone. “That’s what you’re mourning, huh? All this self-loathing bullshit. Shouto won’t be the last person who wants to take advantage of you, so if you really want somebody else like him, you’ll find them. Or you could hold out for somebody worth your time?”

“You think somebody ‘worth my time’ exists out there, who’d want to be with someone like me? I’d think that I should take what I can get.” Nanjo stepped over the center of the room, approaching a door on the far side. “After all. Nearly nobody wants me now, not like before. So if the cost of being loved while being myself is to allow my partners to harbor delusions about me, then I’m okay with that. I know who I am, and it makes me unwanted. People like Shouto are what you’d call a compromise.”

“Were. He’s dead now,” Yume reminded him, “And, fine, I guess. If you want to compromise on your happiness, who am I to care? I’m not gonna compromise. I’m not even gonna try with men again, at least for a while. Too much hassle, after this whole mess. But then, you like girls better anyway, huh? Maybe I should pick my next girlfriend for whether she’d be good for _you_.”

“Yume, I-”

“...I’m almost serious.” Yume gave a bitter chuckle. “If that’s what it takes to get you to respect yourself when it comes to picking a partner, sure, I’ll do that. Then again. It’s not like you ‘stole’ Shouto. If you really did, then he’d still be alive, right? Cause you never would have complained. No matter what, you wouldn’t have. Even if you needed their help more than anything.”

“I wouldn’t want to trouble them,” Nanjo said, “I have a job. I can handle things myself.”

“Sure. Part of handling things yourself is knowing when to ask for help, dipshit.”

“You ask me for help often, and it troubles me every time,” Nanjo said, “Can you blame me?”

“This isn’t… I don’t want to _banter_ right now, I’m actually serious.” Yume turned her head and scoffed, “We say we’re close and we get along but when we get down to it. Why don’t you trust me? If you just told me what was going on. You know I can’t stay mad at _you_, right? It would have been okay. This could have been okay if you just talked to me.”

“I’m sorry. Perhaps someday, I’ll learn my lesson. But for now.” He grabbed the doorknob and turned to look back at her. “It’s a lie, isn’t it? This isn’t Yamaguchi’s doing.”


	78. Trial 1: [-] Itadai's Monokuma Theater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two notes about this chapter.
> 
> **Note 1, very important: This is a very intense chapter, discussing Itadai's trauma from his own first-person perspective in no implicit terms. Feel free to skip the chapter; The actual information included was brushed upon enough during the trial that while I'm proud of the emotional power of this chapter, it is definitely not a necessary read if doing so would bring you mental harm.**
> 
> _ Note 2, less important: No chapter tomorrow, I'm taking a 1-day hiatus on this fic each time that a subdivision, like case 1, ends._

Yeah, I guess that, thinking about it.

It really does make sense that I would hate my mother the most.

It's all her fault, after all.

Everything that happened to me?

Yes, but, even deeper than that, my existence. I have always known. She always told me. My existence is a falsehood. I am real and I exist, but I never should have, it never should have happened.

How broken must a woman be to ask a sperm bank, I'm ready for a child now, let me have one with the man who raped me for years. Yes, this makes sense. A star faded into obscurity hears about Kiyoshi Matsubara's death and decides that his legacy, rotten beyond salvation, cannot end with him. 

Several years after he is dead, a daughter is born. Thanks for creating me. I'll never forgive you for that.

I'll never forgive you for repeating from the moment I could think and comprehend, that my father was such an awful person, truly the worst. But I'm different. Of course I'm different, I'm a little girl. I can have his talents and none of his rot. Because only men are so poisonous.

Mother, you are so poisonous.

I'll never forgive you for quitting your job to focus on "my" career when I was four years old and already showing this talent you believed I had. What made you think that I would flourish in poverty. Lazy is what it was. Brilliant baby can carry you now. You never need to work again.

I can't even begin to imagine forgiving you for my first time.

Hah, first time implies certain things. Implies something nicer than what this was. It was not my first time having sex, it was my first time being raped. Because this is the only way to get ahead in the industry, you said. Bills need to be paid. Talent and hard work don't yield results quickly enough. You've been seeing a guy who's in with a big record label. It's okay, look.

You'll hold my hand, as many fingers as I am old, as he fucks me. So you're not a bad mom. You were always there for me. You comforted me when all of the poisonous men hurt me, right?

But if only I could believe that, if I could forget the invitation you personally handed those poisonous men.

Come on honey, come on. Mother's love is cruel and harsh. Those clothes aren't cute enough, put your hair in twintails, wear makeup, a push-up bra. If you want to keep getting ahead, you need to be sexy, you need to be beautiful. Ultimate? Top of your field? Our hard work paid off, sweetie, I'm so proud. Don't dare ever change. It's the creature I have made you which is worthy of this success.

Oh. Thanks. Love you too.

Fuck you.

And to think, my mother, she had me believe these things with all of my heart. I did, really. Uncomfortable? Miserable? It's all for success and I'll be happy once I've succeeded and I can stand above all of the rotten men who now need to see their plaything is better than them! And God, sure. I'm better than them. I always was. I could have been better than them if I was happy. I am Kagome and every man is as rotten as the ones I have met. That was the lie I believed.

I have to wonder if she arranged it, to perish the thought, when I began to wonder if she was a liar and I began to wonder if maybe there wasn't such a problem with men, because weren't we all human? How could half of all humans have a secret, or even barely-buried evil inherent to them? It seemed unreasonable. I had friends. Against everything that I was raised to think, instead, I thought. These are some decent people. I know some decent people. They're my friends and if they had this so-called rot I would have seen it by now. And it wasn't "my friends" who shattered the beginnings of the so-called illusion that men were just as bad as any other human. There was just one of them there. But to somebody already primed to believe the worst, it may as well have been every single one of them.

The night started out fine. Same as any other. Despite my youth, I was always invited drinking with my peers. Of course I would be. Times may change, but some things never do. The method of advancing a career. That's the right way. Socialization, not the lies that I was fed. Not that it matters. I don't know. I really don't know. What am I supposed to think?

Did she engineer it, or was I just a vulnerable person? I can't imagine that it matters now. Really, what? It isn't going to make me resent her any more, knowing that she did that compared to knowing that she would have been capable of it. Which of my friends is the worst? Which one has his own friends who are just disgusting? All in the industry, all the same. The music industry on all sides. And I was even having fun. I was. But then I woke up.

I woke up on the floor of that restaurant with somebody I thought was my friend inside of me. My first thought was.

It figures.

Stupid of me to think anything else could happen.

And I turned and I met the waiter's eyes and he looked away and I thought, right. It's all of them. Garbage, every single one. What was I thinking? What was I thinking? How many women has this same floor witnessed violated? How many didn't even wake up? Didn't even know? If the staff will turn a blind eye. Then that will spread as a secret rumor. A rumor for men. They'll overserve the girls and then, guess what, they don't even care what you do. Who knows. I can't go back there. I can't find out if something would have changed if I made a fuss when I woke up.

I can't find out if, at the very least, I said they could while I was blacked out. I don't know these things. And it doesn't really matter anymore. The idea was reinforced, and I was reminded what my role was in this society made up of monsters.

I was.

Till I met you, and, it's funny. I'm sure I met a million guys like you. I don't know why you got through to me. Not like it really helped in the end, huh? I'm sorry, Nanjo.

Obviously, you were a guy. But really, what was I supposed to do? You were the type who wasn't too shy to make a move, but never made me feel like you could hurt me. You were kind and respectful and interesting. So. What?

If a guy existed who was actually kind and respectful and interesting, then that meant I was wrong. A guy that I actually wanted to be with, over a guy I was resigned to. That meant that the people who hurt me could be held accountable for their actions. That meant that.

If that kind of guy could exist.  
One who wasn't disgusting. One who wasn't rotten. Then didn't that mean I could be a guy like that, too?

But in the end, well. I guess that's just not true. Wrong again. I couldn't be a guy like that. I hurt you. I killed you.

I am a rotten man.

I'm Kiyoshi Matsubara's son, after all.

If I had been a boy from the start, I wouldn't have been born.

Because this?

Must have been inevitable.


	79. Daily Life: Day Four (A Puzzle For Distraction)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

After the trial the previous day, nobody had been able to get back to an ‘everyday life’. Even though the trial finished up just a bit before what would have been dinnertime, there had been no dinner. People did collect food, from the dining hall or the gift shop, but mostly went back to their own rooms to eat, or otherwise somewhere else alone and quickly. Jun knew that he had just eaten a bag of chips and an apple, then gone to sleep.

Homura had wrapped himself up in a blanket and sat eating carrot sticks for a while, then stopped. Jun didn’t know when or if he’d actually gone to sleep, but he couldn’t blame him. While everybody was grappling with what they’d seen, Homura had revealed during the execution why exactly he always wore those headphones around his neck, obviously being distressed and overwhelmed by the noise.

The whole way back up the elevator, Saya was holding onto Yume’s shoulders, keeping her in place and trying to comfort her. It was obvious that she was just burning up; There was no satisfaction here. Nobody wanted any of this to happen, after all. Yume couldn’t even be pleased that her brother was avenged with that execution, because it had become obvious. Nanjo wouldn’t have wanted to be avenged, and likely would have preferred that Itadai be able to carry on and figure his shit out.

Further, the fact that the blow was intentional but its lethality wasn’t. It was difficult to pin blame, even for Jun, who never liked Itadai even a little bit. But he guessed that if he were in that situation himself, then he might have also been an insufferable prick. He’d never know, now, if Itadai could have actually been, well, sufferable, if he had been permitted to exist in a real way. He’d never even know what his name was, now. Two people were dead and there was nothing for it. Two people were just gone. This was what the Killing Game did, huh?

Jun was woken up that morning by the announcement. It wasn’t the canned announcement this time, and it wasn’t Mono who was making it. It was Mercury’s voice which stirred him from sleep.

“It’s six in the morning, so it’s time for you to get back up and at ‘em. One little murder shouldn’t be enough to make you all hide in your rooms from now on! And I won’t allow it to. I could always lower the protections which keep the hazards from coming inside, you know… Plenty of ways to make you more miserable. So you need to carry on, and see what events lead to the next murder~”

“And there _will_ be a next murder,” Mercury continued, “Now that one’s happened, more will follow, that’s how these things work. And what was this first murder, exactly? Well. The delayed child of Kiyoshi Matsubara, killing one of Akihiko Yamaguchi’s effective foster-children. What a laugh. Is this new generation really no better than those who came before you? Here I thought that the world was meant to be on the up-swing. Well. Perhaps you’ll prove me wrong after all? Can’t do that unless you move on with your lives here. Best of luck.”

Jun sat up and groaned. “What? Is that seriously what’s going on here? Hey kids, are you better than your parents?”

“Doubt it,” Homura said, already standing up and awake. The headphones were back around his neck. “At least, that’s not the whole thing. Cause, I mean. We already got one reason… To ‘impress Mono’. Misguided at best. And this one too, ‘Find out if the new generation has improved’. _Definitely_ misguided. Nageko’s sister isn’t here, right? She probably got left off because she’s _too_ stable for Mercury to make this dumb point with her.”

“Oh. I get it,” Jun said, “Part of this is trying to say ‘The new generation isn’t any better’ by picking and choosing people who might not be?”

“Ya.” Homura stretched his arms out over his head. “Seems like it to me.”

“I see. What about you? What sort of connection to the past do you have, for Mercury to pick you?”

“That’s a secret.” Homura stuck his tongue out.

“Rude. I’ll tell you mine, will you tell me yours then?” Jun asked.

“I don’t think so,” Homura said, “And I don’t mind not knowing why you’re here, either. I can guess! Your other Dome City friends all had parents who were in Killing Games, right?”

“Hikari’s parents weren’t, but her older brother was,” Jun said, “And some of the people who ended up raising her.”

“So that’s why you’re here too. Mercury can’t know _that_ much about what goes on in Dome City, so she just went the easy route of picking up Killing Game kids. Saihara wouldn’t be here if Mercury was able to vet you guys as much. She grabbed kids from Dome City just because of their parents, and put in a ton more research to kids from earth. Mirai twins were under the care of the Yakuza in Kobe. Itadai was the illegitimate kid of a guy known to abuse Ultimates. Sato and Nageko are probably here to make some statement about Okinawa not being as nice as people assume? I dunno, but I bet it’s all a lil more complicated than ‘parents in a Killing Game’. Except for all you from space.”

“That actually… Makes sense. However she kidnapped us from Dome City had to have been her first trip there. And you’re right. My parents were in a Killing Game.” He scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.

“Thought so. Since I deduced it on my own, I have no obligation to let you know why Mercury decided to put me here,” Homura said, “It’s a challenge for you! See if you can _figure it out_, why dontcha?”

“How can I turn down a challenge like that?” Jun shrugged. “I’ll put my brain to work on it. Who knows, maybe thinking hard about what got you here will keep me from stressing out about so many other things?”

“Yeah! It’s already working!” Homura put his hands on his hips. “I’m distracting you from the fact that people are dead. Funny how easy it can be to do that, humans really are resilient. Take a shower so I can get one too?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jun said, then gathered clothes and wandered into his own bathroom. Homura was a puzzle… He seemed so upbeat, but also got so down on himself at times. Was paranoid enough to only shower when the other shower was occupied, but readily volunteered himself to be the first murder victim. And why _was_ he picked to be here? Was it just because he was a ‘fan’ of Killing Games, or something more than that?

And what _was_ his Ultimate Talent?


	80. Daily Life: Day Four (Who's On Breakfast?)

** 7:00 AM / 0700 Hours **

Homura’s puzzling nature was a good distraction for Jun, giving him the ability to almost follow Mercury’s directive to move on. Almost. It wasn’t like he could just pick up and forget about what happened, he’d have to be seriously heartless to do a thing like that. But that was one thing he remembered hearing about Killing Games before; That the worst part of them was, for the survivors, getting out at the end. As soon as the adrenaline of experiencing such a dangerous day-to-day existence wore off, and the reality of the number of people who didn’t make it set in.

So Jun wasn’t feeling as bad as he eventually would. He was more appalled at what he’d seen, and that this could happen at all, than he was grieving the people who’d died. Shock, that’s what it was. Combining that with adrenaline served pretty well to numb the pain of losing people. That didn’t mean that there was none of it, though, and a distinct melancholy came over Jun when he remembered that Nanjo had volunteered to cook breakfast again this morning. So upon arriving to the dining hall, he went to the kitchen himself, opening the door.

Saya was there. “Oh, hello Barasu. I happened to remember last night that Nanjo’s name was on the sheet again this morning… And since I was going to be cooking dinner before everything happened, I decided that I should step in and cover this. And since you could still consider this to be my fault, in a way…”

“Really?” Jun asked, “Enlighten me. How is this your fault?”

“Well, if I hadn’t mentioned in that moment, about my connection to Mercury. Then he wouldn’t have left when he did. And Itadai wouldn’t have left when _he_ did. If I had kept my mouth shut, then maybe…”

“Yeah, sure. And if I had revealed I was eavesdropping, then maybe. If Yume had refused to give up Nanjo’s deadname, then maybe. If Itadai drank alone in his room, maybe. If Nanjo had realized that Itadai wasn’t willing to accept help and let him be, then maybe. If it was a plastic bottle, then maybe.” Jun crossed his arms to lean against the doorframe. “There’s a lot of maybes here. If we go off what Syoko said, then it was just a perfect storm of the exact right things going wrong. But those things did go wrong. So. It happened. It’s nobody’s fault.”

“How can it be nobody’s fault?” Saya asked, tilting her head. “It can be my fault. I don’t mind. I can take responsibility so that nobody else needs to.”

“If you need somebody to blame, blame Mercury,” Jun said.

“I would rather not.” Saya turned her attention back to the vegetables she was cutting. “It would be better to blame me than to blame her. If that’s something she’d allow me to do for her, then I’ll do it.”

“Is that so? Weren’t you just telling us she has no good reason to hold a Killing Game?”

“Of course. Her reason must be bad. Even still, it’s expected of me to do whatever I am able to for her. So I can take whatever blame you wish to place,” Saya said, “Just because I’m not fond of her doesn’t mean that I can just shirk my responsibility to her. I’ve been a bit lax up to this point, but it’s easy enough to accept the consequences here.”

“Well, if accepting the consequences amounts to making breakfast…”

“It amounts exclusively to making breakfast!” Saya giggled as she assured him of this. “I’ve ‘fulfilled my duty’ plenty, with this much. Nanjo would have made breakfast. The consequence is to make that breakfast myself. That’s it. Oh, but if anybody wishes to condemn me, I won’t stop that either!”

“Nobody is going to condemn you because nobody is going to blame you for what happened,” Jun said, “Except maybe Yume. I don’t claim to understand what makes her angry.”

“Yume will not condemn me. I offered. She told me that she blames ‘both of those dumb guys because Nanjo is stupid about love and Itadai was just plain stupid’. So I suppose I’m in the clear after all?”

“Seems like it to me. So, what are you making?”

“Traditional Japanese Breakfast!” Saya saluted. “White rice is the diet-friendly food of champions, and then there’s plenty of ways to make it more interesting if you want! I’m making mackerel, I found some natto in the cabinet and some miso paste to make soup… And eggs, of course. Plus a few seasoning options. Pretty simple stuff, I’ll admit. I don’t usually cook for multiple people.”

“Oh, you don’t?” Jun asked.

“Mhm. At home, everyone eats when they’re hungry. There’s no family dinners or anything. So I just cook for myself,” Saya said.

“Everyone?”

“Well, Mercury’s girlfriend is around sometimes. And she has some other friends that hang around pretty often too.” She lifted the cutting board. “Oh, I almost forgot. I’m also making some quick pickles! That is what these vegetables are for.”

“That sounds like a really weird environment to grow up in.”

“Yes! Now you understand why I am the way I am!” Saya just laughed again, then gestured at him. “Now, shoo. You’re distracting me from getting this done, don’t you want to eat?”

“Right, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for being an engaging conversational partner! But you do need to leave.”

“Alright. See you in a bit, then, Yoshiro.” Jun waved a hand before turning back to leave the kitchen area, meeting back up with Homura. “Yoshiro’s covering breakfast, since we didn’t feel up to real dinner last night and she was going to do that. Which is nice. I’ll need to spend hours in the kitchen working on dinner with my mom’s recipe, so it would have been a pain to make breakfast too.”

“You wouldn’t have been _obligated_ to do it if nobody else stepped up, you know,” Homura said, “We already did that once. You know. To make things easier on a _murderer_.”

“Well, that’s-”

“You can feel sympathy for Itadai if you like. But I just think that he did something bad and got a fair punishment for it. Even if it was an accident, even if he was having a tough time, he still killed Nanjo. And he was punished for it. That’s how it works.”

“But I mean. Punished with death? The circumstances are already ridiculous, and outside of this setting… I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but the death penalty is usually reserved for like. Multiple first-degree murders? Right?”

Homura shrugged. “Maybe. But, I think that it’s fair. At least, for now. We’ll have to wait and see just how many people die, if it’s gonna start being excessive punishment.”

“What… What does that mean?”

“You’ll find out.” And Homura walked away, leaving Jun with yet another incongruent puzzle piece.


	81. Daily Life: Day Four (Today's Announcement)

** 8:00 AM / 0800 Hours **

Having been seemingly shut out by Homura walking away from him, Jun looked around to see that there was a seat with Ayano and Hikari. Reasonable enough to go sit with his existing friends, so that’s exactly what he did. “Morning.”

“Hi Jun,” Ayano said, “How are you holding up?”

“Strangely, I’m doing okay,” Jun said, “Comparatively. I’ve got a pretty bad headache, and I don’t feel _good_, emotionally. That’s for sure. But Mum always mentioned that it’s hard to process these things as they’re happening, and it’s worse when you get out… If you get out.”

“Ah. Well that’s not promising. It will be worse?” Ayano asked, “I already feel quite terrible. Oh dear. It was nothing like this with Doromo…”

“We had to watch somebody die this time. On _top_ of discovering a body… Well we got rotten luck with that, don’t we?” Hikari sighed, pressing a finger to her temple. “I sorta thought the execution might be cool. When I thought ‘Kagome’ was the one dying, anyway, but how am I supposed to get a thrill outta this? Just feel sick. Why’d we have to know all of that? I didn’t want to feel bad for the culprit at all!”

“That’s probably _why_ the execution was set up that way,” Jun said, “Letting us in on that last bit… Itadai said that everybody knows what happened to him, but that much. I couldn’t even have guessed that his mother would… Do you think he even knew? He died without knowing that?”

“I’d rather die not knowing,” Ayano said, “If something like that happened to me. It would hurt much more to find out that somebody else in my life was responsible for prompting it.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Jun said.

“So he gets to die not knowing, but we have to know so now we feel bad for him?” Hikari questioned, “That is so _totally_ unfair. Fuck off.”

“The point is that it’s unfair,” Jun said, “It’s like… Mercury is trying her hardest to manufacture scenarios to hurt us. I’d bet anything that all of the executions reveal some terrible secret about us.”

“Not mine,” Hikari said, “I have no terrible secrets. I wear my terrible nature all over my sleeves, you know?”

“Maybe Mercury is assuming something about you is a secret,” Ayano said, “But I will keep that in mind and inform everybody if you were to be executed, that you had no secrets and if they were caught off guard it is simply because they didn’t hear about this yet.”

“Thank you kindly, Aya,” Hikari said, “Though you’re more likely to be executed out of the three of us, aren’t you?”

“No! Certainly not! I do not slay.” Ayano shook her head with stunned fervor. “It is you, Hikari, with saying things like that, who is most likely.”

“Well…” Jun looked down. “I don’t know. When I was, uh, spaced out in the gift shop… I donno? When I was being accused, I kind of thought, that makes sense. I could have done it.”

“You? Nah. No way,” Hikari said, “You could never kill anyone! I said as much in there, didn’t I? And you wouldn’t have any dark secrets to expose anyway, even if you did commit a murder, so I dunno what you’re even worried about.”

“Oh, right. I guess that’s true,” Jun said, “I haven’t led a very interesting life. I mean… I bet that if Mercury’s really trying to stir us up so badly with these things happening, she probably won’t even target you or I very much. Since we don’t have dark secrets or anything.”

“That leaves me. Oh dear.” Ayano shook her head. “Perhaps I should confess to everything I know about myself and save myself from this limbo of secrecy.”

“Uh… But yeah, Itadai didn’t even really know some of that stuff about him, right?” Hikari asked, “So I dunno. Maybe we’re all in danger after all.”

“Either way it is very unpleasant,” Ayano said, “I do not like this. I want to go home.”

“I’m sure that you all do.” Mono was suddenly there, as she was wont to be. “Want to go home, that is. Unfortunately, that’s a long ways off… Though you’ve gotten a bit closer, to when you’ll be told your real objective. That’s a bright side, isn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Emi said, “But that could be a double-edged sword, couldn’t it? Are we closer because more time has passed, or are we closer because somebody is dead?”

“I can’t answer that one. Jeeze, Oowada, still rocking that trial mode are you?” Mono fidgeted with her flower. “I can answer this one for you, though. Because somebody is dead, more Ultimate Labs have been made available to you. A second floor has been added to the lab building containing the following. The Hall Monitor Lab. The Calligraphist Lab. The Strategist Lab. And the Natural Historian Lab.”

“I don’t even get mine?” Yume questioned, “Come on! It’s my brother who died, don’t I deserve a little compensation!?”

“It’s been predetermined. These labs would have been added just the same no matter who died. If, for example, Mister Snow was killed. His lab still would have been made available, though with a seal on it to prevent you from leaving for a time if you entered anyway. Two other things have been added. In the east side of the gift shop a door now exists which leads to an infirmary. The infirmary has its own door to the outside as well. The other addition is a greenhouse, which now exists outdoors with no connection to another building, to the west of the lab building.”

“Tsk. So when people are murdered we unlock new features? That’s terribly morbid,” Evie chimed in.

“Can’t help but be agreeance!” Irarako called out, “I’d rather not get anythin’ rewardlike for to people dyin’...”

“Well, unfortunately, that’s just the way that Killing Games work. It’s an extra motive, I guess. We’re less likely to want to prevent murders flat-out if we think we’ll get something useful or interesting out of it,” Homura said.

“That’s terrifying!” Syoko said.

“It’s subconscious.” Homura shrugged. “It’s not like any of us say, outright, that ‘at least we get new stuff when somebody gets murdered’. Or even think it. But some part of us does think that way. It’s all part of it. Killing Games were made to bring out the worst in _everybody_ involved! That includes the people who never do a murder~”

“Quite unsettling. But at the same time,” Ayano spoke up, “I think it makes me less grossed out, and less afraid, to know the reasoning behind it. If it’s just simple social science… Even if it is being used for such a malevolent purpose. Understanding helps make this all feel just a little less ridiculous.”

“Are you for real?” Shin asked, “I’d think knowing that it was specifically planned out to hurt us makes it _more_ frightening. That’s how I feel, anyway.”

“Ueda and I are kindred spirits.” Homura laughed a bit. “True Crime’s just my personal most special-est interest, and she’s got the right sorta brain to be comforted instead of freaked out by infodumps! I mean. I’m not too scared with all the knowledge I got, myself. But I also don’t fear death in the abstract, just a very specific type of death! I’unno. Feel free to ignore me. Decide I’m talking out of my ass or something.”

“We can’t… Really decide something like that when we’re all very aware that you aren’t talking out of your ass. You’re evidently knowledgable!” Yuji said, “Though you _could_ do the rest of us a favor and stop sharing that knowledge, punkin.”

“I will not,” Homura said.

“Hey guys?” Mono got their attention again, “There is one more thing I need to announce before I can leave you be? Sorry. I’m being required to say the following. Today’s date is September 3rd. Happy birthday, Nageko.”


	82. Daily Life: Day Four (Excessive Sleepiness)

As soon as his birthday was announced to the room, Ryota stood up and left without a word. Strange, but rather than stick around to discuss behind his back what that could be about, there were other things to do this morning. Jun would need to start working on the pasta sauce by eleven, so if he wanted to check out the new labs… Including his own, he’d have to do it pretty quickly. So that was where he went first. Upstairs in the lab building, to the one with his talent listed to the side of the door. He opened it and stepped in, and. Yeah.

It was just about as boring as he expected it to be, really. The colors were bland. There were a few desks around with graph paper and pencils. The most interesting thing about the room was the fact that there were two makeshift jail cells against one wall, with a cardboard sign above them that say ‘jail for hallway crimes’. He approached to investigate these further, and found that while the doors _did_ have keys in them which would actually lock, the bars were spaced far enough apart that most people could walk right through them. Hikari or Yuji, being a bit larger than the rest in different ways, could squeeze through with minimal effort. So even his own lab was clowning on his talent.

He sighed, then turned back around and _oh Yume was right there_.

“Hi Yume!” He squeaked out in his surprise.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Yume said, “I was really… Um, I mean. I. Shit.”

“It’s okay, take your time, I need to calm my breathing from you startling me anyhow,” Jun said, then gestured to the surprisingly plush cot in the jail cell. “Do you want to sit down?”

Yume nodded, then took the seat that she had been offered. She was leaned forward just enough to press her hands between her knees; Her outfit today was compliant with that, being a shorter skirt (though equally voluminous) than the one she usualy wore, and a pair of solid white tights made up the difference between her knees and her ankles. “You don’t hate me, do you, Barasu?”

Jun paused for a moment, just digesting the question, before he found an answer, “No? I mean. Sorry, that caught me off guard. I don’t hate you. Why would you feel the need to ask something like that? Do you think that I’d hate you because your brother died, or something? I only appreciate human beings when they have a living twin?”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me for attacking Itadai.” Yume turned her head to stare at the wall. “I wanted to kill him, you know. In that moment I completely intended to avenge Nanjo with my own hands. Because that’s what would have been fair, right? It would have been fair. He and my brother were both idiots, and that got one of them killed, so I should’ve had the right to kill the other one. I wouldn’t have cared if I got killed for doing it. It would have been better if I killed him.”

“That’s in the past now,” Jun said, “And I think it’s fine, that you wanted to do that. I mean. You were pretty scary in the courtroom there, but it wouldn’t make me dislike you. You were just angry.”

“...Okay,” Yume said, “So that wouldn’t make you hate me. But are you sure you didn’t already hate me before?”

“What?”

“You didn’t say anything at all when I was being accused as the culprit,” Yume said, “It’s almost like you thought I could have done it. More than the people who were actually giving reasons they thought it might be me, you were just silent. As if. You were resigning yourself to some truth about me…”

“It’s not that I thought it could have been you,” Jun said, “That’s why I didn’t say anything, I didn’t think it could have been you. But the only thing I could have said to help you either, was the truth. That I was afraid it could have been me. And I didn’t… Want to admit that right then. I wouldn’t have let you get falsely accused if it came down to it. But I held out hope that I didn’t do it, and, in the end. I didn’t.”

“I never really thought you could’ve,” Yume said, “What do you mean? You thought you could have done it? Wouldn’t you have known?”

“Ehhh.” Jun wobbled a hand. “I’m not sure. I think I would have known. My only memory was of spacing out in the gift shop for twenty minutes, though. Lost in thoughts, lost track of time, so for all I knew I could have gone into some sort of state and committed the murder without even knowing it?”

“Is that sort of thing common for you or somethin’?” Yume asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. I couldn’t tell you. I’ve…” He took a deep breath. “I’ve got bunches of gaps in my memory. I think it’s just the Killing Game’s fault, but I can’t be certain. So it might be common for me. I vaguely feel as if, sometimes, somebody else is taking over my body. Like I do things I can’t even think about at all, till after.”

“That sounds really weird,” Yume said, “Like. I understand giving into impulses, but I never think ‘somebody else’ is responsible…”

“It’s just… It’s like they’re not my impulses?” Jun said, “I don’t know. It’s like. Uh… Anytime that things start getting fuzzy for me is when it happens, too. I was pretty out of it when I was helping Syoko investigate, and I ended up saying a few things that I didn’t think I’d say. Plus, I got way closer to the body than I should have been comfortable with at one point there. I can’t really explain it. But I don’t like it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Yume said, “Hey. If my lab ends up showing up, some way or another. I could take a look at your dreams, if you wanted. Something like that… I know I’ve only ever had those kinds of feelings when _I’ve_ been dreaming. It could be something like a narcoleptic disorder.”

“I… Don’t think I’ve ever fallen asleep out of nowhere before,” Jun said.

“Common misconception. EDS is the most visible symptom of narcolepsy, but not actually a requirement for the disorder to be classified. Not to mention, EDS, that’s Excessive Daytime Sleepiness in this context, can present in odd ways. If you ‘spaced out’ in the gift shop, you may have actually been falling asleep standing up. And if you were woken from this state without the episode having completed, you could have other lingering symptoms. Such as, you know, doing or saying things against your own will because your subconscious brain wishes it. Sleepwalking while awake.”

“That’s… Huh!” Jun crossed his arms. “That’s the first time I’ve really heard you bring up your talent. Nice infodump. But… I’m not sure if that could really apply to me? I guess it’s good to know that it _might_ be definable that way, though.”

“Why couldn’t it apply to you?” Yume asked with a puppy-like tilt of her head.

“I’m not… sure.” Jun blinked a few times. “Huh. I guess then, maybe it really is just. That? We’d have to do like, a sleep study to figure it out though. Right?”

“Right, right, of course.” Yume suddenly grabbed him in a weird, somewhat harsh side-hug. “Heh. You can be my sleeping disorder buddy. That’s why I got into oneirology in the first place, you know. My own sleep disorder. It’s not narcolepsy, though.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“I guess I can trust you with this important knowledge.” Yume laughed a bit and let go of Jun. “I actually can’t wake up from deep sleep, only from REM. So I remember my dreams every single time I go to sleep, since I can _only_ wake up while they’re happening. It’s kind of cool and kind of a pain.”

“It does sound kind of cool and kind of a pain,” Jun said, “I’d love to hear more about it sometime, but… I do need to start cooking at eleven, so I wanted to check out all the new stuff before then. See you around?”

“Yeah, of course,” Yume said, and lightly punched his shoulder. “We’re friends now. Good luck on your exploration!”


	83. Daily Life: Day Four (Honor the Name)

The next lab that Jun wanted to check out was the one which belonged to Ayano; The Calligraphist’s Lab. Although Jun had seen her in ‘action’ plenty of times, he wanted to see what Mercury… or whoever Mercury might be working with saw fit to offer Ayano for her lab. He walked through the doorway; Wait, why did his room have a solid door? There was no reason for it to be soundproofed. Whatever.

Ayano’s lab was… Anachronistic, to say the least. It had the basic appearance of an elaborate gothic study, with one large and equally complex desk in the center, supplies all kept on two shelves against the backboard of it, which had a dip in the center so Ayano could still see past it. The anachronism began with the fact that the entire traditional gothic room, with ceilings like a chapel, also had scatterings of…

Cute bunnies. There were plushies haphazardly thrown about the floor, stickers on each surface that they could be, a bunny balloon bumping against the ceiling of the room. It was absolutely ridiculous. And absolutely Ayano. “Hey Ayano. Very personable lab you’ve got here…”

This did poke a hole in Homura’s theory that Mercury wasn’t able to do nearly as much research on the kids from Dome City. Then again, it didn’t take _that_ much research to come to an understanding that Ayano liked church and rabbits. That was what her Monopad profile listed her ‘likes’ as being, after all. Well, enough of theorizing about that.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Ayano asked, looking up from her paper. “Not ‘two people died to make this appear’ nice, of course. But it is nice.”

“How was your lab, Barasu?” Hikari asked, “Was it good enough for the fact that two people died?”

“No it was boring,” Jun said. Hikari breathed in, but he cut her off. “Yes, because I am boring. The most interesting part was a dumb joke with a sign that said ‘jail for hallway crimes’ above some very ineffective jail cells. Anybody could just walk through the bars. You included, even with your hips, Hikari. Though it would be a little bit of a squeeze.”

“If I can squeeze through the bars then it is an _incredibly_ ineffective jail cell, yes,” Hikari said, “I didn’t get this voluptuous body to _not_ be the only person in the room who can’t escape from a jail cell.”

“I know! That’s why I figured it would emphasize just how bad the cells are. What if we actually needed to restrain you? Or anybody else?”

“Why would we need to restrain anybody?” Ayano asked, lifting her quill so the feather rested at her chin. “Is there any way for us to do that, really?”

“Oh, totally. I mean if somebody attempts a murder and fails we could just throw them in Itadai’s lab and block the door. They’ll be _safe_ in there, if that’s a concern. And there’s plenty of furniture that could block the door, since it opens outward and all. Nobody’s gonna need to use it. Since Itadai is dead and all.”

“...Itadai is dead and all.” Ayano set her pen down, and her lip began to wobble. Unsettling. Jun had never seen her show quite that much emotion, and definitely not this much when that wobble was joined by tears and a shaky voice. “I can’t. I don’t… I mean. I was going to. I can write Nanjo’s name. I can write it all nice like. He picked that name and it was a nice name and it’s like? It’s a way to honor him right? To honor him? But I don’t know… Itadai’s name…”

“Why do you wanna honor a murderer?” Hikari questioned.

“That’s not. That’s not all he was. It’s not all he was. It’s still. We should still. His memory. You know?” Ayano pulled her hands back close to herself and grasped at her cross necklace, rubbing it with the pad of her thumb. “You… know?”

“I get it. You can still use his last name, right?” Jun offered.

“Mm. Nuh-uh. No.” She shook her head. “By itself. That’s like. I mean. His mom. I don’t want to honor her. She’s still alive and she’s really bad. Even if she died she wouldn’t make up for her badness. Those are sins she cannot be cleansed of in death, unlike her son’s… So no. I cannot use a name that would also refer to her.”

“Oh. Uh, that’s… Intense.” Jun took a single step back. “Sometimes I forget that you’re like. Actually into your religion.”

“I _wear_ a _cross_, Jun.” Ayano’s spiral seemed to break as she glared at him, getting the closest to sarcastic that she generally did.

“That you do,” Hikari said, “Way to go, Barasu. I know that you’re brain-deficient, but come on!”

“Hey, it stopped Ayano from freaking out, didn’t it?” Jun asked.

Ayano froze, then let go of the aforementioned cross. “So it did! Ah. Thank you, Jun. I still do not know what to do about this, though… I won’t just be able to let it _go_.”

“How about this?” Jun offered, “You just use Itadai for now, but you leave space before it to fill in his name, if we’re ever able to find it out somehow. I mean… If he came out once before and was beaten back into the closet, then somebody out there might know his real name. Right?”

“Oh! Yes, that is true,” Ayano said, “Perhaps somebody does. In which case… Yes. I will do that, and wait until I can learn his first name. Since I do know his mother’s name, a blank space where the name should go will _not_ honor her at all. That works nicely. I will… I will create these anytime our peers fall. For as long as I don’t die myself, and I remain able to, that is.”

“...Well, even if I don’t really get the point in honoring dead murderers,” Hikari said, “I guess that’s a pretty sweet sentiment.”

“You are just somebody who enjoys the idea of cruelty. I accept this fact in you. But, you are wrong, because there was no cruelty between those who died,” Ayano said, “I will not remember any who die because they were willfully cruel, of course. Perhaps you should keep that in mind.”

“Wait. What?” It was Hikari’s turn to take a step back. “Come on! Like you could ever forget me!”

“Oh no. It’s possible.” Ayano teased. “If you did something truly cruel. Well, I’d still remember you on my own. But I wouldn’t do a thing to make sure that other people did too.”

“Aw, harsh. I guess I’ll just have to make sure that if I kill someone I have a good reason. Like Itadai did. That good reason of ‘oh dang please don’t tell anyone that I am suffering in my body’.”

“Shush.” Ayano raised a hand towards Hikari, then made eye contact wiith Jun. When she actually did that, it was always off-putting. “Well… You better keep moving, right, Jun? You’re on a time limit today.”

“Yeah. See you around, then,” Jun said, and backed out of the archway to move on.


	84. Daily Life: Day Four (Did You Do It? Did You Fire the Emblems?)

**9:00 AM / 0900 Hours**

Jun looked across the hall to see his options, having just checked his Monopad to see he still had two more hours. Timingwise, he should be fine to start sauce on time and still see everything new if he kept up the pace of ‘two new locations an hour’. That was only if he decided right away, though. He was a bit more curious about Evie’s lab than he was about Tooru’s, so he decided to go there first.

Evie’s actually had a door as well, so he went to the courtesy of knocking. Seconds later, it had been opened, though not by Evie himself but by Saya. “Looks like we just keep running into each other today, huh Barasu?”

“Hi Yoshiro,” Jun greeted her, “I wanted to see what Snow’s lab looks like, if it’s alright?”

“Certainly, come in!” She stepped to the side to let Jun inside, and closed the door behind him. Evie was seated in what looked like a very comfy chair overlooking a large strategy table. There were a few slightly-less-comfy-looking chairs lining the table, a projector on the ceiling with a screen for it on one wall with a map tucked behind it… And as for decor, it had all of the basic appearances of a war room. Nothing out of the ordinary or especially personalized.

“Greetings,” Evie called out from his seat. “I was just showing Yoshiro some of the more interesting features of this strategy table. These do exist out in the real world, but most people have probably never been able to see them… And most people have also probably never modified them the way I have before. Seems that my preferred ‘modpack’ made it into this setting, too. Tsk… Might have been more entertaining to figure it all out again, but what’s done is done.”

“You sound more confident,” Jun noticed, “Is it just because you’re in your element now?”

“Of course. What else would it be?” Evie asked, then leaned over and tapped the table, bringing a number of holograms to life on top of it. At closer observation, Jun started to realize something.

“Is this a… Fire Emblem level?”

“Why yes, it is! No offense to real life or to the creators of these things, of course, but realistic tactical units can be… Boring. If I’m going to be strategizing for fun, I want all the added complications of fantasy combat on my side!” Evie’s speech was a bit more disjointed than usual, Jun noted. Rather than simply avoid more niche vocabulary that he didn’t know the Japanese word for, he kept lapsing into english seemingly without a second thought. It was a little bit hard to follow.

“It’s quite fascinating,” Saya said, “I was never able to play games like this before, but they seem very interesting. Though I’m afraid I can’t quite wrap my head around how this strategic stuff could pan out into an entire video game that people would pay money for…”

“Well, the levels are only the gameplay part of it,” Jun said, “They usually have stories. Plus, I mean. You can kiss the units. And make the units kiss each other.”

“...This is true, though of course, that’s completely excluded from any competitive play,” Evie said, then eyed Jun with a smirk. “Say. You know a bit about Fire Emblem, do you?”

“Not a whole lot. I usually play it on normal-casual, I’m not good at these things and I’d never get through a game because I’d just keep resetting to not lose units on a map and, er, yes. I’m worthless at this.”

“Not in the least,” Evie said, “Everyone should play games in the way which is fun for them. If you wouldn’t enjoy something, there’s no reason to do it. I wouldn’t make fun of you for being bad at the gameplay. I _intended_ to make fun of you for your favorite unit being Raphael.”

“W-What?” Jun questioned, “What makes you say that?”

“I’m not wrong, am I? You’re awfully predictable.” Evie winked. “If the aspects you listed are what you like in these games, it’s hard to find better character work than Three-H, even though I personally find the time management aspects of that one to put a kink in the gameplay compared to other titles in the series… And of that game’s cast, Raphael is kind of the closest anybody can possibly get to what you’ve cited your type as being.”

“That’s my type of men! You have no idea what type of women I like,” Jun said.

“Yamato Nadeshiko?” Saya guessed.

Jun slumped his shoulders. “Why. Why this. You are correct.”

“Hurray!” Saya clapped her hands together. “I got it right! So, I guess that it would really put you out if we had a festival here, huh? All of us cute girls in kimonos… Though I guess that Syoko would have the closest look in general if she let her hair down, wouldn’t she?”

“Nobody here is a Yamato Nadeshiko,” Jun said, and cupped his chin in one hand. “Actually, no man or woman here is my type, if we put it this way… _Ayano_ would be closest, but since I’ve known her since I was a kid, there’s nothing there. Syoko could match the aesthetic, but she’s much too straightforward and self-assured. Not that there can’t be a Nadeshiko with those traits, but there needs to at least be a hint of demure, and she has none.”

“Mhm, mhm. Yes, that makes perfect sense,” Saya said, “I have a fitting personality for the role, myself, don’t I? But I fall far short in the aesthetic category. My, you have a very specific type, Barasu.”

“Well, it isn’t like I’ll _only_ date a girl who’s a traditionally perfect wife…” Jun chuckled. “That’s just the type of woman I’m most attracted to. It isn’t like with guys where I won’t even get a crush unless they’re super masculine. Girls… Pretty.”

“I won’t argue with you there!” Saya gave another two-fingered salute.

“You two are strange.” Evie noted, and it was an observable change as he returned his focus to the game, leaned forward with his eyes nearly glazed over.


	85. Daily Life: Day Four (History)

With Evie obviously finished with having company, Jun decided that was his cue to move on to the next and final new lab. The Natural Historian’s lab, belonging to Tooru. This one again lacked a solid door and only had an archway. Jun at least understood why Evie’s needed the door; It was important to be able to focus in on strategy, he guessed. As for natural history… That was a subject which was actually pretty foreign to him. There wasn’t really a ‘natural history’ on a planet which was recently settled.

People were doing the research of course, but nothing solid enough to offer up as any sort of youth schooling gen-ed. And it wasn’t really relevant to learn about the Earth’s natural history when not growing up on that planet, either. And without, at that point, a chance at ever visiting. After all, the UN had banned the SS Akamatsu from orbit when Jun was five. The bottom line was that extinct species were completely out of his wheelhouse. He walked into the room.

“Ohh, hey Barasu.” Tooru looked up with a wave. “Maaking the curiosity rounds, are you?”

“I sure am,” Jun said, “Your lab’s pretty interesting to me, actually. I don’t know a lot about this stuff.”

“I can’t imagine you wooould.” Tooru gave an understanding nod, then started to gesture around the room with explanations of its features. “This isn’t a real taxidermy. Normally I wouldn’t stand for that, but see, it’s like a… Hyperrealistic hologram? Thaaanks, Neo World. You can touch it, but there’s a button to trade it for the next model. It’s got juuust about every extinct mammal species on this one, plant species on this one, bug species here, so on. Putting them all into the saaame databank? That would take far too much space. Oh, and this is Tsubasa. The only thing in this room you prooobably recognize.”

“Hello, Barasu,” Shin said, “I like the extinct fish, don’t mind me.”

“Those kinds of things used to exist in the oceans?” Jun questioned. The fish Shin were flipping through were invariably mundane or horrifying, with not much in between.

“Certainly. Though, humans never really went that deep in the ocean so it doesn’t _matter_ that there were terrifying things in those depths. It’s the gigantic mammals that are more unsettling. Those were in our forests, some of them deeefinitely at the same time as humans.” Tooru flipped through to a giant deer. “Aren’t you glad this guy’s herbivorous?”

“I’d be fine with him being carnivorous, since he’s extinct and all,” Jun said, “But then again. If he were carnivorous my ancestors might have gotten eaten, so in an abstract way, I _am_ actually glad.”

“Your ancestors… Deeefinitely would’ve gotten eaten.” Tooru waved a wobbly hand.

“I have no doubt about that,” Jun said, “More than the usual number of people went into my existence, too, so that’s even more chances for somebody along the line to get killed and therefore lead eventually to my nonexistence.”

“Whaaat?” Tooru questioned.

“Are you playing dumb?” Shin asked, “There’s so many options for what he could mean for that. If there was any medical fertility intervention, then all the scientists’ bloodlines count as ‘ancestors’ too. Right?”

“That tracks,” Jun confirmed.

“Are you saying ‘that tracks’ to an explanation of your ooown weird shit?” 

“Yes, I am. I don’t have a spine, so saying things directly is out of my wheelhouse,” Jun said, “So Tsubasa’s explanation tracks.”

“Uhhh-huh. Well. I guess if it’s weird things,” Tooru said, “It makes sense that you don’t wanna disclose to us what it exactly is. Either way. Yes, if this massive deer was a carnivore, you would deeefinitely not exist.”

“What sort of things actually were carnivores?” Jun asked.

“Oh, saber-toothed tigers, various big cat ancestors. Even huger bear. Nothing that’s really as drastic as the difference between old giant deer and current small deer. Oh, and dinosaurs, of course. Those have their own model set becaaaause even to this day nobody can decide if they should be classified as avian or reptillian,” Tooru explained, “Though the ones here are nicely feathered, scientific classification among contemporary creatures eeeeevades them.”

“Right. Because, uh… Birds and lizards both ended up evolving from dinosaurs, right?” Jun asked.

“I dunno.” Tooru shrugged. “I’m not a paleontologist, or an evolutionist, there’s a difference. I’m a natural historian. I’m too busy keeping track of every living thing that ever failed at existing to aaaalso keep track of how those things made it to the things today.”

“Oh. That’s fair. I’ll have to ask an actual evolutionist sometime, what they think,” Jun said, “Your lab is pretty cool, though. I wonder if something like this could ever actually work, in reality…”

“Holograms that you can touch? Nooo way,” Tooru said, “This feature is completely dependent on the way that the NWP works, obviously. All of the furniture here is just a 3D model that we can interact with anyway, so it’s really just cycling through these models. Creating them, though… They’re copying Saya for most of these, easy access and alllll, but some of them would have needed to be studied at other museums, even as an Ultimate I’ve only encountered so many species in my work.”

“Hm, yeah… This lab can be pretty elaborate because of Yoshiro,” Shin said, “But as far as I can tell, that’s the extent of her involvement. Things like this. She’s just another victim here, like all the rest of us.”

“I think so too,” Jun agreed, “Yoshiro is pretty weird, but not in a way that makes me think that she’s doing anything wrong. Just ways that make me think she was raised wrong. And if Mono’s telling the truth, that Mercury was trying to get this thing set up for _years_, then it’s kind of a given that somebody growing up in that environment would have a tough time.”

“I mean, it doesn’t matter if Mono wooould lie. Setting this up would take years no matter what.”

“I guess that’s true,” Jun said, “I mean, now that I think about it… Mercury did say that thing this morning about seeing if our generation is any better, right? And letting us know that Itadai’s dad was that Matsubara guy, that doesn’t actually _mean_ anything to any of us. So maybe it’s not really about us, that we were picked. It’s about the people she would have picked if this didn’t take years to put together?”

“...Makes sense to me,” Shin said, “And Mono’s confirmed that this is being broadcast, too. On a short delay, anyhow. So it stands to reason that execution was only partly to make us feel bad. And partly for the people who know firsthand who Matsubara was.”

“Sooo we’re not even dying for anything we did? But something about the middle-aged? That’s just great. Well. At least my lab is interesting. Almost worth the cost. But, of course. It never could be.” Tooru shook his head with a heavy sigh. “I hooope you’re wrong, really. I’d honestly rather this be about my own numerous sins than the fact my aunt happened to gooo to space.”


	86. Daily Life: Day Four (The Greenhouse)

** 10:00 AM / 1000 Hours **

Jun moved on from the history lab, and checked the time again. Great, he was still on track to see everything before he needed to make sauce. The next stop, then… That would have to be the greenhouse, since he could just go through the infirmary to return to the main building once he was finished there. Strategic route acquired, he went down the stairs. It was a good thing Evie only broke one leg and that the railings on these stairs were solid and clean, since there wasn’t an elevator. Would there be accomodations made if somebody wasn’t able to use the stairs? Or was this game just not that kind? The sand probably also just sucked for crutches.

If there was anything about this situation which wasn’t already massively illegal, Jun would definitely be taking notes to report on the lack of accessibility. Monitoring halls wasn’t just monitoring the people in them, but monitoring their suitability under various laws and statutes as well. But that was enough lingering on how the environment of a literal Killing Game might be considered discriminatory, the greenhouse was here. And as much as a greenhouse was made of glass, he actuallly couldn’t see inside very much from here. There were _too many_ plants.

So he went inside to get a better look. It was a truly packed greenhouse… As if the person making the NWP just built the structure then turned on an object cheat to place more plants than were technically allowed in one space. These plants may in fact have been breaking the laws of physics to exist in this way. The next thing that Jun noticed was that it was all very… Green.

“I can see it in your face, sweet.” Yuji popped out of seemingly nowhere. “You’re coming to the sordid realization that this garden hasn’t got any flowers. Or truly, any aesthetic plants whatsoever.”

“Yeah… Not even any squash blossoms or anything, even though I’m seeing vegetables in general,” Jun said, “This is weird.”

“Must take too much effort to show growth stages or something.” Yuji slung an arm over Jun’s shoulders. “The real disappointment is that it’s all vegetables and fruits. Purely edible. Nothing elegant or the least bit interesting. Though, I suppose. Perhaps they would make better eating than what’s been provided in the dining hall to begin with?”

“Oh! They might.” Jun dropped to a squatting position, leaving Yuji’s arm hanging. “I should at least give it a shot. I’m making pasta sauce and all, so some fresh tomatoes might help it. I mean, that’s how it’s usually made. All the freshest ingredients possible. But, you know, that’s not always feasible… But today it is! Maybe. Depends on if these are actually any better.”

“Right, of course,” Yuji said, “I’m glad that you have a use for this, then. But don’t you agree that even if this is more practical, it’s tragic that there isn’t anything of a more floral variety here?”

“A bit tragic,” Jun admitted, “I can’t show off my most bizarre skill, anyway.”

“Oh? What would that be?”

“I actually speak three languages. Japanese, English, and Victorian Flower Language,” Jun explained, “I couldn’t tell you how I learned that last one, which is what makes it bizarre. I’m completely fluent in it and I can’t recall ever studying it. And it’s not like any of my parents would have a reason to teach me that when I was little.”

“That’s quite strange. But nonetheless, quite interesting. Didn’t Shinku say something about flower language being utilized in the last game?”

“Actually, yeah. It was the message left for people to find their way to Dome City, if it suited them,” Jun said, “Maybe that’s why there aren’t any flowers in this greenhouse. Mercury doesn’t want us leaving any messages of our own.”

“Who would we leave a message to?” Yuji asked, “Unless of course, you believe that upon conclusion of this game we should all go off and setlle _another_ distant planet? Because I assure you, my girlfriend and I have got no intention of leaving where we are, should I make it back there in the first place.”

“Definitely not,” Jun said, “I mean, I grew _up_ on the first distant planet and even I think it’s a little bit ridiculous. It makes sense, in a way. Even with people putting in the effort to make this planet better, some people just wanted a totally fresh start away from all this, to raise their kids safely…”

“I’m not so sure about safe,” Yuji said, “Didn’t that Doromo-san die under suspicious circumstances?”

“I never heard about that, but I guess you’re right. Huh. You know, that’s something we have in common, isn’t it? We both grew up in places that were supposedly insular and safe, but… Maybe not so much, huh?”

“Just because there’s no ‘despair’ doesn’t mean that there are no bad people,” Yuji said, “Human nature, after all. Though I will admit, hearing about what sort of thing Itadai had to deal with… Well. _That_ wouldn’t likely happen in Okinawa. There just isn’t the kind of culture there, that there would be more than one or two cruel people impacting a single person’s life.”

“That makes sense,” Jun said, “An entire planet that’s still recovering from tragedy and war, with only a few places untouched by disease and terrorism. Making sure those kids grow up with good morals and values must fall to the wayside, occasionally. So it’s more like, more people can end up going down a path to become bad people?”

“Precisely. I cannot think of a single person my age who was ever more than incidentally overbearing or creepy to others, and base cruelty… Such as bullying? Quite rare as well. It’s just the occasional adult you need to worry about.”

“Did you ever need to worry about an adult?” Jun wondered.

“That’s a loaded question, ain’t it?” Yuji put his hands on his hips and leaned over to the point Jun could see his face. He looked amused, but something about it wasn’t genuine. “Personally? Nope. I get along just fine with my parents, everyone in my family is perfectly kind. Pretty boring people, though, that’s why I ended up with a mentor outside of the family. Nothing wrong with the folks I’m related to, but nothing to really teach me neither.”

“Answering with ‘personally?’ makes me think that you do _know_ people who’ve needed to worry, though,” Jun said, “I won’t push you, though. But, uh. Remember when you were talking to me about having memories missing? Maybe consider that it would have something to do with those people.”

“...Yeah, I’ve thought about that,” Yuji admitted, “As for you. You mentioned spacing out in the gift shop, do you think the gaps in your memory could just be extended versions of that?”

“It’s possible,” Jun said, then stood up with his arms full of tomatoes. “But I’m not too worried about that. As long as I remember how to make this pasta sauce, that’s all I really need to be concerned about today! Well. All I _want_ to be concerned about today, frankly. Rather not think about all that serious stuff.”

“Yes, of course. Of course. Making dinner seems a good distraction. Well, I imagine you’ll want to be getting back with those tomatoes then? Would you like some help?”

“No, I’m all set. I still want to check out the infirmary before I get started, so I’ll grab a bag in the gift shop. If you could get the door for me that’d be kind of you, though?”

Yuji nodded, and helped Jun get to the gift shop to put his tomatoes into a bag, before himself returning to the greenhouse.


	87. Daily Life: Day Four (Vampire Infirm)

Jun, now with his tomatoes in a canvas bag, made his way into the infirmary. It was good to actually have this now, given that Evie’s injury had needed makeshift first aid and a makeshift crutch. It was good to have an option which was actually, well, intended for that purpose. Though if Jun thought about it, Evie hadn’t taken advantage of it yet, had he? That makeshift crutch was still right next to him. And there were, Jun observed as he stepped in, three sets of crutches right up against one of the filing cabinets. Though, maybe none of those were short enough for Evie to use comfortably. He was a very small man.

“Hey?” A voice called out from somewhere, then Ryota appeared from behind another door. “Oh, Barasu. Looking for anything in particular?”

“Nope.” Jun held up his tomato bag. “Just trying to see everywhere that’s new before I get to working on dinner. The sauce takes a few hours of monitoring once it’s set up, so I need to start around eleven.”

“Oh, that’s pretty soon. Sounds good, though,” Ryota said, “Don’t mind me, I was just checking the place out. My lab has more sophisticated equipment, but there’s better storage here. I wasn’t going to bother having blood samples on hand from everybody here, what with no way to hold onto them practically, but now that the infirmary has a temperature control unit…”

“Is that something like a fridge?” Jun asked.

“Yeah, it’s science for fridge,” Ryota said, “That reminds me. When you and Saihara found those bloody handprints on the beach you totally should have let me know. I could have tested that blood… It might have made everything a lot easier, knowing the culprit’s blood type. Everything I got from the crime scene just seemed to be Nanjo’s. The only other A-negs here are Yume, which is kind of a given, and Snow.”

“We didn’t think of it, sorry. And sorry that Yume was so rude to you during the trial, too. You didn’t do anything to deserve that.”

“I mean, I didn’t, but she should apologize to me herself. There really isn’t any reason you should be speaking for her, unless there’s something I’ve not been made aware of.”

“No, nothing like that. I mean. I’m not really trying to apologize in her stead, just apologize that you had to deal with that, from her. We’re sort of friends, so I wanted to make sure you knew that I didn’t agree with her,” Jun said, “You didn’t make much effort to defend yourself, though…”

“No, I didn’t…” Ryota sighed and held a hand to his cheek. “But Yuji was my knight in shining armor. He stood up for me when I didn’t have any idea what to say. I suppose, well… I believed that you all would determine I was innocent, but I wouldn’t have minded if you decided I was guilty either.”

“Wouldn’t have minded letting all but two of us die because you were too lazy to come up with your own defense?”

“I would have also been dying.” Ryota shrugged. “So as far as I see it, it’s not a big deal. I’m glad that you did figure out the truth, though. That would’ve been a really stupid way for all but two of us to die. Say, who do you think Itadai would have even spared?”

“...Huh.” Jun crossed his arms. “I didn’t think about that at all. Good question. I mean, probably not himself, right?”

“I don’t know. He went to the trouble of trying to cover up his crime, after all. Even if he figured he deserved to get caught, he gave it a shot. I guess… Maybe he’d save Yume, as some sort of apology for killing her brother.”

“Haven’t some people in the past planned to save two people _not_ including themselves, though? Self-preservation isn’t all that important to covering up the murder if you can think of two people you’d give up your life for. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t contemplated it, to let Hikari and Ayano get out of here safely.”

“Sounds like a _really_ complicated murder-suicide,” Ryota said, “But I guess if you wanna die anyway you may as well save a couple other lives? Never really thought of it that way. But if Itadai was gonna save two people, I can’t imagine it’d be anybody other than Yume and _the person he killed_. A little counterintuitive there.”

“Just a little bit. But I mean.” Jun shrugged. “We did find out that it was kind of an accident. The murdering thing. It’s kind of terrifyingly easy to kill someone by accident?”

“Humans are very fragile,” Ryota said, “But also strangely durable too. It’s kind of weird to me, I mean. Nanjo was killed by one blow to the head, but I survived being _real_ badly beat up. Which I don’t want to talk more about, mind you. But the basic fact is… Hm. Perhaps it was my vampiric blood which saved me, but then. I can’t imagine the Mirai twins are one hundred percent human, either.”

“Fair theory?” Jun said.

“You’re the only person here that I’m sure is a human, really,” Ryota said, “But thank you for the stability. I appreciate that.”

“I’m always glad to help. Even if the way that I’m helping is by being so absolutely basic that you can’t even imagine that I might be some sort of supernatural creature.”

“Don’t worry! You’re not a sci-fi creature either.” Ryota giggled. “Though, watch you prove me wrong, huh? Turns out that you’re a werewolf. There’s something to imagine, jeeze…”

“If I were a werewolf, then I’d actually be my own type,” Jun said, “Huh. I guess that’s my favorite supernatural creature.”

“Mhm. That is not a surprise at all,” Ryota said, “But, I’m curious. Would you even want to be your own type?”

“Hm… No, my type would get even less plausible if I were my own type. Since the appeal is to be with a guy who could bench-press me. The more capable of bench-pressing that I become, the more difficult it would be to find somebody who can do that _to_ me.”

“That makes sense,” Ryota said, “That’s a strangely specific type, though. I don’t bother having a type. Too much trouble.”

“So. Are you saying you’ll just like _any_ guy?” Jun asked.

Ryota shrugged with a smirk. “I do have some standards. But think of it, you ever heard of a picky vampire?”

“I… Guess that I haven’t,” Jun admitted.

“Doesn’t exclude you. Just a fun fact. I know I’m not your type, but I figured. Maybe that’s a little ego boost?”

“It… Strangely, yes. It does help my self esteem to hear that your apparently very few standards do not exclude me. Thanks, Nageko.”


	88. Daily Life: Day Four (Begin To Sauce)

** 11:00 AM / 1100 Hours **

Jun arrived back in the dining hall right on schedule. His self-enforced schedule to have dinner ready on time. This was the toughest part of it, getting started. It was just a lot of waiting, stirring, and adding the occasional additional ingredients for several hours to let the sauce get its proper flavor, until it came time to make the pasta and combine everything. He set the bag of tomatoes down and got straight to work. The main version of the sauce was definitely not friendly to dietary needs, so he was actually going to make two separate pots of sauce. One of them would be stripped of any offending ingredients for the sake of anyone who needed it.

After all, the main recipe included browned meat, as well as flour and an egg for thickening purposes. Tomato sauce seemed at a glance like it would be a given, that it be vegan and gluten-free and everything, but that was not the case for this or plenty of other recipes. Jun really didn’t mind making a separate pot of sauce, though. It was a much simpler version, and he was going to be in the kitchen all day for the main sauce anyway, so it really didn’t end up being any additional work.

Carrying on, he focused on cutting vegetables, browning the ground beef, and preparing herbs and spices. This sort of thing was relaxing for him, not because he considered himself a good cook or even really ‘a cook’ as a hobby, but he did like learning his mom’s recipes. There were a lot of things in his life that he didn’t necessarily consider his own interests, but that he enjoyed because they represented connections to people in his life. He didn’t care about cooking, for other people or just for himself, at a base level. But he did enjoy cooking with his mom, and he enjoyed learning his mom’s recipes so that he could… He guessed, still have some part of her with him when they were apart.

And to carry on her memory, if he was still alive when she no longer was. To make sure that the recipes she put her heart into got to live on beyond her. It was important, she always told him, for somebody to be able to carry your memory. There always had to be somebody in the world who knew you enough, or knew something of yours well enough, that if you died there would definitely be a mark left behind. Jun thought that philosophy made a lot of sense, _especially_ in a Killing Game context.

Hikari and Ayano knew him well enough that if he died here, he still would have existed. There was a reason that he existed, he wouldn’t just be forgotten with time as if he was never born in the first place. Some people might want to be forgotten that way, but Jun didn’t want to be. Nanjo had Yume to carry his memory, but Itadai… He just had to hope that there really was somebody out there who knew enough about him to do that. Ugh. He wasn’t trying to think about dead people while making pasta sauce, but unfortunately, his mind just led him right there.

And he’d have to keep thinking about dead people, too. Even if nobody else actually ended up dead, two people did, and that was two people too many. He didn’t understand how some people could be so evidently nonchalant about the situation. Hikari’s complaint was that she was made to feel sympathy and therefore couldn’t _enjoy_ the execution, and that was kind of the best he could hope for from her… But Homura, too, just talked about how it was somehow a fair punishment for Itadai to be killed in such a gruesome way. Though he’d also spent a good twelve hours completely withdrawn, so maybe he’d already coped and moved on in his own way.

Jun might not be able to understand certain reactions, but he couldn’t really hold it against others for reacting in their own ways. He couldn’t see inside their minds, he couldn’t presume to know how they actually felt or thought about anything. If pretending that everything was completely fine was the only way that some of his peers could manage the shock of this situation, then that was their prerogative. And even himself… Could people outside of himself even tell that he was this torn up?

By putting on his own brave front and going through the day, he was managing. And maybe that meant that others thought he was pretending everything was completely fine. So he didn’t want to make assumptions about anybody. Even the people who seemed to tell him their opinions outright, weren’t necessarily telling him the truth. Well, mostly. He completely believed Ayano and Hikari’s respective positions, and he believed Saya’s as well. She flat-out admitted that she was keeping up an optimistic act because she felt that showing her sadness would make things worse.

Would it make things worse? Jun figured that depended on Mercury’s real intentions. If she really did want them to suffer the maximum amount, then showing their sadness would encourage her. He guessed if anybody knew how Mercury acted, then it would be Saya. But on the other hand, that wasn’t how she worded her explanation now, was it? That was a bit worrisome. Made him wonder if somebody somehow _worse_ than Mercury could have been involved in Saya’s everyday life, to lead her to that conclusion without her suggesting that the rest of them make an attempt to follow in her footsteps.

Speculating on how his peers felt didn’t really help anything, though. It wasn’t any better than just thinking about dead people directly. He took a deep breath, and did his best to focus his attention back on his actual task. It was a relaxing task for _as long_ as he didn’t let his thoughts get away from him. If he let his thoughts become lost in the sauce everything would be just fine.

For now, anyway.


	89. Daily Life: Day Four (Sauce Goss)

** 1:00 PM / 1300 Hours **

Jun had finished the active part of setting up the sauces, for now. In about an hour he had to add in a few more ingredients, but he already prepped those. So until it was time to properly assemble the meal, this was the ‘idle’ process of making dinner. He thought back to when he had told Ayano that she could come keep him company at some point while he was cooking, and assumed that she had given up on that at this point. Or, maybe she still would. Either way, he had been thusfar unbothered by anybody else. He would have preferred to be bothered, especially now that he was idle. If he had been able to lose himself in unpleasant thought while he was still in the active phase, of course it would happen again in the idle phase.

Luckily, he was able to escape that fate. Not because Ayano came to visit, but just as he figured he was about to start thinking about things he shouldn’t, somebody _else_ walked into the room. That somebody else being Irarako, who practically kicked the door open, startling Jun out of whatever train his thoughts were trying to board.

“Ebizakaya!” He exclaimed, “Hi. What’s up?”

“Syoko was uh-mentionin’ that you were prolly in here. I tried lookin’ for to you in your brandspank lab first but I guess I missed you there! Good to see the Syoko intel correct’s.” Irarako shut the door behind herself.

“It sure is,” Jun said, “I’m making sauce, and that takes hours. At least with this recipe. Why were you looking for me?”

"Was wonderin'. Why'd you go say that stuff how you thought be more likely you than Itadai who did the murder? You ever done anythin' bad like that without realizing before?"

“Well… Not as far as I’m aware, no. I’ve done things without thinking first or without realizing, but I don’t think that’s ever actually ended up with me hurting somebody. I just figured that it was possible, because, well. I don’t know. If I’m capable of doing things without realizing, then obviously that could include something as bad as murder, right?”

“Don’ think you’re give yourself near ‘nough credit,” Irarako said, “If you’re a good person it ain’t like your brainweird’s gonna just up an’ take total control a’ you an’ make you do shit you never would ever do.”

“It isn’t like I never would ever do it, though,” Jun said, “I understand that I… Could. In circumstances like this especially. I don’t normally have any reason I’d want to hurt anybody. But you’re right, that ‘brainweird’ doesn’t completely take over and make people do bad things. It can make it easier to do bad things, though. If you’re dissociating badly and somebody attacks you, it’s easier to end up killing them in self defense instead of just escaping. Those kinds of things, you know?”

“Mm.” Irarako looked down, now staring at the floor. “So you thought… Seriously… That you could have been the killer?”

Jun paused there. Irarako sounded almost normal there, which meant that she was thinking this through slowly. Like she was struggling to process the idea at all. He too, then, had to take some time to think of what to say in response. “I did. I didn’t want to think it, but I had to. I knew that I might be capable of killing somebody to try and free my friends, and I didn’t remember what happened at his time of death. So I had to admit the possibility to myself. Sometimes we realize things about ourselves that we don’t like. Thoughts we’d never _decide_ to act on. I just know that I might lose the decision if my brain acts up.”

“I’ve wanted for to kill somebud before,” Irarako admitted, “But it was a specific person an’ I wouldn’ done it. Not on purpose. Never done nothin’ on accident like that, like the way you describe. Done on accident dumb things but always knew I did ‘em.”

“Then, I guess you’re just a better person than me.” Jun chuckled. “I mean, I am kind of a normal guy. My morality’s pretty neutral. I’m not a bad person, but I couldn’t say I’m especially good either. I’m like, lawful neutral, what with my talent being what it is. I have to ask now, though. Who got you angry enough that you thought about killing them?”

“Aww, just this guy who started datin’ a girl what I real liked.” She pushed her fingertips together a few times, fidgeting in place. “Not a whole serious deal. Not even whole, wanted what to kill him much as thought hey, wouldn’ it be convenient if this guy who did a right crap thing to me ended up dyin’? But I’m glad he didn’.”

“Did this guy know about your crush?” Jun wondered.

“He sure did!”

“Then that was a dick move! Even the nicest people find themselves wishing that rude people would get comeuppance,” Jun said, “Do you know if he dated her on purpose because he knew you liked her, or was it more innocuous and he just failed to ask your blessing before asking her out.”

“Well.” Irarako crossed her arms. “I couldn’ stay mad what for very long. I caught ‘em up’n smooching but when they explained it to me. She was the one what did the askin’. Proactive ladyhood and alla’ that.”

“That makes sense. But that’s a big bummer, huh.” Jun shook his head. “I really can’t imagine being in that situation, actually. I mean, mostly because I don’t tell anybody if I have a crush. It’s embarrassing enough to have to eventually tell the person I have a crush on, I don’t need to get anybody else invested in my romantic abilities. If that means that somebody accidentally steals my crush without knowing, then so be it. Hey, at least I don’t feel betrayed if that happens.”

“Well excuse me for not havin’ that kinda foresight,” Irarako said, “But, thanks for answerin’ my question. Brain was runnin’ wild wonder if you got some kinda big secret baddie alter ego. Good to know that normal’s just at your everyone thoughts and not everyone brainweirds.”

“Uh… Yes! Yes. It’s everyone thoughts,” Jun said, “Don’t worry! I’m definitely not evil. Did you really need to come looking for me to confirm that?”

“Yeah! I don’t wanna anybody to be evil, or have evil versions in the soul!”

“I could be wrong, but, er… Aren’t multiple personalities usually in the brain?” Jun asked, “And for that matter, not usually evil?”

“Oh. Right. Well you could be the evil one to start with an’ have a multiple personality what who’s good?” Irarako offered, then froze. She blinked a few times, tapped her temple, then whirled towards the door. “Sometimes Barasu works my brain does that. Works, I mean. Brain works. Thoughts got to be suspectigated. See you round!”

And just like that, she was gone. Jun wasn’t sure whether to be disappointed that he was left alone again, or glad that he was able to help her brain work in whatever way it just had.


	90. Daily Life: Day Four (A Good Reason)

** 3:00 PM / 1500 Hours **

A few more hours, and few more… Stirring. That didn’t really work, did it? Goes to show just how braindead Jun was leaving himself in this process, because if he were not braindead he’d be thinking too much instead. The only thing which snapped him out of managing to completely engross himself in the act of alternating between stirring two separate pots of pasta sauce was the fact that somebody else finally came to pay him a visit.

“How’s the cool dinner going, Barasu?” Emi asked as she walked in, having not knocked or otherwise made her presence known before asking.

Jun couldn’t help but jump. He was just so engrossed in what he was doing that any outside sound was doomed to startle him. He collected himself quite quickly to greet her, though. “Hi, Oowada! Sorry you caught me off guard, I was just really focused on this sauce.”

“Are you really that into this stuff?” Emi asked.

“Well, no, I’m just stirring. I don’t need to be paying attention for the sake of the sauce, but for the sake of myself,” Jun explained, “If I only allow sauce to exist in my mind, then nothing else can exist in my mind, particularly bad things, which are currently prone to exist in my mind, will not.”

“Ohh, I get you. Bad things are very prone to exist in all our minds right now. My solution’s been to spend most of the day exercising. Doesn’t keep the bad thoughts away, but it gets them out pretty quickly. Long as they’re angry thoughts. Angry thoughts sweat out easy. Really, as long as they’re not just completely miserable thoughts you can sweat ‘em out.”

“What about anxious thoughts?”

“Anxious thoughts sweat out _great_, if you’re having them. Not that I’m having them. What’s there to be anxious about? Nothing like what just happened can happen again. I’m just so…” Emi hit a fist against her palm. “Pissed off! Mercury, whoever the fuck she really is? She’s got the nerve to do this kind of shit to us? To hurt people this way. Ugh! It makes me so mad! I’d be boiling over if I didn’t have exercise with which to get these feelings out!”

“Then I’m glad that you do have it,” Jun said, “I’m not sure that would work for me, though. I can’t really find it in me to feel angry at all, even though I should… It’s just kind of covered up by fear and sadness, if that makes sense?”

“Everyone processes shit in their own ways.” Emi found a clean spot of counter and leaned against it. “So I’d say that’s pretty normal. It’s all about how we view the situation. Sounds like you feel pretty helpless? Meanwhile, I feel like it’s just disgustingly audacious to pull this kinda stuff on us.”

“If you put it that way, it makes sense. I feel trapped, while it sounds like you’re just waiting for a chance to escape and punch Mercury’s lights out.”

“Fighting? Hm… I guess, but I mean. I’m at least third in line to go punching her. Ebizakaya has the ups on me in fighting prowess, and Yume’s got it in the fighting probability sense. I think it’d stick it to Mercury more if we just got out of here and lived quiet, happy lives. Don’t you?”

“Huh. Yeah, that would stick it to her pretty bad. You’re an anachronistic one, Oowada.”

“I sure am!” Emi lifted an arm and flexed lightly. Jun blinked a few times to see it, realizing that if she were to flex _heavily_ she would probably produce the cartoon cliche of a bicep tearing through the sleeves of her shirt. “I get angry pretty easily, but I’ve never really felt like anyone deserves me to get angry _at_ them. You’d think that Father’s the one who taught me that, but it was Dad. He taught me the things he learned in anger management. Don’t hurt people and don’t hurt things, but don’t hold onto it either. Find a way to get it out, and if it really doesn’t go away, that’s when you know you have a good reason to be mad.”

“What do you do with it once you know you have a good reason?” Jun asked.

“That’s when you do something productive about it. If you’re mad for a good reason at somebody you care about, you make sure that you’re in a good place, then you talk to them calmly and figure out a solution. If you’re mad for a good reason at some sort of injustice, you find some way to help with it, or at least to speak out against it. And if you’re mad at somebody who put you in a literal killing game. You resolve to figure out what they want from you, and never ever give it to them!”

“That actually makes sense. Your parents taught you some pretty good advice.”

“Of course they did. Any bad advice I ever heard came from other people,” Emi said, “So I mean, dang. Teachers and stuff? I still ended up hearing some pretty rotten advice in my life. Working to unlearn that shit. I’ll have you know, I’m on the verge of a breakthrough!”

“Bad advice from teachers, huh? What, like PEMDAS being completely literal?”

“Huh?”

“Well, I mean. We probably ended up with mostly the same teachers so you probably did learn it right, but I’ve heard some people didn’t. Cause, you know. It’s parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division left to right, addition and subtraction left to right. For order of operations. But some people learned it like multiplication is always before division and addition is always before subtraction. Which doesn’t really work.”

“I don’t really get math,” Emi said, “I think I was taught it the correct way and then didn’t remember it in any way, whether correct or not.”

“Ah. So from where you stand, any math teacher gave you loads of bad advice.”

“Heh, yeah, thereabouts!” Emi laughed. “Well, the normal way of learning it probably just didn’t work for me, I wouldn’t say it’s bad advice. Most people understood it. But you know, I’m an artsy kid, and a jock, there’s not a whole lot of room left over in my brain to even get close to being a nerd. You can only be like, two out of three.”

“Two out of three, huh? Then I’m way behind, I’m only a nerd. Even then it’s not like I’m _that_ smart, but I guess it fits me best…”

“You’re an artsy nerd,” Emi said, nearly cutting off Jun’s sentence, “No doubt.”

“How am I artsy?” Jun asked.

“You’re a fan of architecture, right? That’s art. Nerdy art, but it’s still art. So you’re an artsy nerd, like how I’m a jock-ish art kid.”

“My title flows a lot better than yours. You’re not an artsy jock?”

“No, because I’m primarily an art kid and secondarily a jock.”

“The way you talk about this classification system makes me think that you _are_ a little bit of a nerd too. That you’re all three.”

“I am definitely not all three.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m sure that _I’m_ all three.”

“Whoa!” Emi and Jun both exclaimed at the sudden addition to their conversation, turning to see that it, of course, was Syoko.

“Don’t mind me! I just had an idea, so is it alright if I also use the kitchen for a bit? I promise I’ll keep out of your way.” Syoko waved both hands in front of herself.

“Sure thing,” Jun said, then turned back to Emi. They kept up their small talk, with occasional interjections from Syoko, for about another hour till Jun hit the point he needed to get back to active prep and kicked her out so that he wouldn’t get distracted, with Syoko then turning her full attention to whatever her own task was as well.


	91. Daily Life: Day Four (Dinner is Served)

** 5:00 PM / 1700 Hours **

Jun was finished assembling the pasta components into various dishes, not combining the pasta and sauce yet. It hurt him to skip that part of the recipe, since cooking the pasta in the sauce for just a couple minutes made everything just a little bit better… But it was more important to give people the freedom of choice and combination in this case, so he could get over himself. Syoko was finished with whatever she had been doing, too. She shut the fridge, turned toward him, and winked with a finger over her lips for him to keep quiet.

Of course he would keep quiet, since he had no idea what it was that she’d just done. He nodded, then picked up two of the serving bowls. Syoko swooped in next to him to get the other two main bowls. Sauce, allergy sauce, pasta, and non-gluten pasta. There were a few smaller dishes of things like grated cheese and butter as well, those would need a second trip to the kitchen. Nobody here had serving experience the likes of which would be necessary to carry so many dishes at once. A truly underrated skill.

Even so, it didn’t take very long to get the meal set up on the buffet table out in the dining space. And just in time, too, as people were arriving to eat. Meals being ready approximately an hour before the ‘official mealtime’ was a natural conclusion that everyone seemed to fall into pretty naturally. After all, it was better to have time to eat in peace before whatever new hell was announced at the official mealtime. Jun served himself a bowl and took a seat. Normal pasta, normal sauce, and just a little bit of cheese. The way it was intended, because he didn’t have restrictions that would prevent him from properly enjoying the recipe.

Homura sat down a few seats from him at the same table, his bowl filled with what seemed to be the normal pasta, butter, and lots of cheese. Before Jun could say anything, he pointed his fork towards him. “Do _not_ go thinking that this is me not liking your cooking. Your help with the meals I’ve made more than proves your ability! But I do have that fruit aversion.”

“Tomatoes…” Jun started.

“Are only a fruit botanically, not culinarily, yes. But that’s just how my tastebuds work, I guess! I’ve tried all of the things that are botanical fruits but culinary vegetables and they are still not good. Just the way of the world. I’m perfectly happy with what I put together here! And if you ever made an alfredo sauce I’d be all over that.”

“I do not know my mom’s recipe for alfredo sauce,” Jun said, “But I’ll keep that in mind in the future.”

“Thank you! That’s very nice of you,” Homura said, then started to eat his bowl which to Jun looked very boring but to each their own. Ayano sat down on his other side, then, to each her own because she had one bowl of sauce and one bowl of pasta. Armed with a spoon.

“Hi, Ayano,” Jun said, and didn’t point out her strange method because he was used to it. She liked both components of this meal, but not combined. She usually ate the sauce with a spoon first as if it were soup, and ate the then-cooled pasta completely plain with her fingers.

“Hi Jun. Thank you for making pasta and sauce.” She smiled directly at him. “I was looking forward to it all day. I’m sorry I never came to visit you while you were cooking, I completely forgot that you said it would be okay because of the fact that I have been intermittently very distressed, in between being excited for your pasta and sauce.”

“That’s very understandable,” Jun said, “I did my best today to not be intermittently very distressed. I think I did pretty well! I only got very distressed for a little while and then I managed to put the bad things out of my mind.”

“Congratulations to us for coping,” Ayano said.

Syoko sat down across the table from Jun. Bless her heart, it looked like she had prepared her bowl in exactly the same manner as Jun himself had. “Yes, congratulations! Myself, I spent some time crying because I failed at coping. Unfortunate. Carrying on, I have managed to put things out of my mind and return to normalcy for the time being, and I’m very ready to try this fabled pasta sauce.”

“Oh, you haven’t before?” Ayano asked, “Oowada said that she’d tried it at a neighborhood potluck…”

“Of course I never tried it at any of those events.” Syoko dropped a hand as if this was the most obvious thing. “I could tell at a glance, it was of supreme quality. I really enjoy fancy foods, sure, but I always start with the meals that look worst so that the people who brought them don’t feel bad, and so the nicest looking stuff is gone by the time I get to it.”

“Poor you,” Ayano said in a completely sincere tone.

“No, don’t worry!” Syoko backpedaled. “Usually the stuff that _looked_ bad was actually really good! I don’t mean look worst like unappetizing, but not pretty, or not something that most people present would recognize. Everyone put hard work into bringing something for the potluck, after all, and when I did find real hidden gems I could tell people that they _had_ to try it. I’m not like, a party martyr or anything!”

“I am a party martyr. I am sacrificing myself for the sake of everybody else by being there,” Homura said, “My presence is a delight but parties are a special hell. Crowded noisy ones, anyway. I don’t mind group hangs.”

“Of course. A group hang. Having a few people over. Not a party, but an intimate get-together.” Syoko cupped her chin in one hand. “As long as there aren’t too many people in one space, and music isn’t blasting, then it’s enjoyable. Right?”

“Not too many people in one place,” Homura agreed, “And any person who I don’t get along with counts as like, four people. Lucky I don’t dislike any of you guys or even going to meals would have me stressed out!”

“Going to meals doesn’t have you stressed out already?” Mono asked as she appeared in the center of the table. She jumped to an empty table in the middle of the room to address everybody. “Apologies, apologies! But it’s coming up on six, and it’s already time for a brand new batch of motives… So, descending from the ceiling right now is a screen with a list on it. This is called the VIP list. And everybody you see on here… Was, as of earlier today, being forced to witness your Killing Game.”

Kurou and Ayu Ueda  
Chihiro and Mondo Oowada  
Rifa Kiriyaga  
Megumi and Gavin Kirisame  
Kokichi and Shuichi Saihara  
Keisuke, Alois, and Sara Fujinuma  
Sayaka and Nami Kaguya  
Adachi Murimura  
Poppy Lovett and Demi Ross  
Kenta Nageko  
Miyuki and Sakura Fujishiro  
Veronica Snow  
Tsumugi Shirogane, Amai Oishi, and Tsukune Madara  
Dia Nagata

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I did put the VIP list in chapter 12 but it's here again for reference. The chapter is still over 1k words without the list so worry not, it isn't padding.)


	92. Daily Life: Day Four (The Questioning Motive)

** 6:00 PM / 1800 Hours **

“So what are you supposed to do with this list, you might be wondering?” Mono raised both of her hands.

“Actually, no, not at all, wasn’t the motive just to show it to us?” Ryota asked.

“Afraid not!” Mono exclaimed, and suddenly a set of bars came down over the doors of the dining hall. “Sorry. But you won’t be allowed to leave this room until you complete the other part of this motive. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t take _too_ long, so you won’t be in danger of punishment. But each of you needs to ask, and have answered by me, a question about the names on that list. Starting with… Barasu! Yeah. You should ask the first question.”

“Uh… Okay, so. You said that the names on the list, they’re all being _forced_ to watch the game, right? Have any of them been able to escape it?”

“No, nobody has. The only meaningful escape would be to leave society completely. Away from any electronic device with the capacity for display. Isolated in the middle of the woods without a cell phone, or anything. Now as I said before, the showings have only just begun this morning, starting of course at the start of the game. Over time, some may consider it worth leaving their everyday lives behind to escape viewing, but none have yet decided to take that dive. Next up is Oowada.”

“Right. Their everyday lives… So that means that the games are being broadcast to all of their personal devices? The VIPs haven’t been gathered into one place just to watch our game?”

“Correct. The only kidnappings that have taken place in service of this game are your own. Next, Ueda.”

“This list… What is it that ties everybody on it together? Why is it these people who are being forced to watch the game?”

“What ties everybody together is simply that they’re all in some manner tied to _you_ people. This is also by far not a conclusive list of people the game is being shown to, but those others will find it easier to escape. Tsubasa.”

“Mika… My sister, you know, my most hated person? If all of these are people who are connected to us, then why isn’t she here? I know she isn’t dead. You already told me that much.”

“Mika Tsubasa should have been a VIP, but could not actually be located. She might still be watching the game depending on if she is currently around anybody else who is being shown the game, but her whereabouts were unknown at the time of composing the list.”

“Oh, good for her.” Shin crossed his arms and gave a satisfied nod. “I’m sure she’s happier not seeing me at all.”

“Moving on. Homura! I bet you’ll have a good question.”

“Dia Nagata. That’s the replicant in the last game who had to go through a whole bunch of loops of the Killing Game over and over? So, objectively. She has the most Killing-Game related trauma in the whole universe. Whose _fault_ is it that she has to watch, huh? I never took her for the type to have a kid.”

“Dia Nagata remains childless. She’s being subjected to this game due to the fact that there is a replicant here. We are not going to fall apart into chaos wondering about that right this second, we are going to get through this motive first. Yume’s up next.”

“Fucking finally. I’ve been sitting on my question for a _while_ now. If these people are all supposed to be connected to us, why don’t I recognize _any_ of the names on your bullshit list?”

“You seriously don’t recognize your benefactor’s actual daughter?”

“I mean, yeah, I guess, but it’s not like she’s _connected_ to me, dumbass.”

“Er… Anyway, to answer your question. Nobody for you or your brother counts as a VIP, I’m not completely sure why. You aren’t the only one here without a direct human connection, though. No one or even two people can accurately represent the city of Kobe on the list, where the game is being broadcast only on all television screens both public and private. Hanazaki now?”

“So, ummm. Adachi’s on that list? Does he still love me?”

“What… What sort of a question is that? How am I supposed to know? He’s on there because he’s your ex. It doesn’t matter if he still loves you. For all I know he’s there specifically for the fact he _doesn’t_ still love you. But I guess I never said you couldn’t ask stupid questions so that counts! Mercury won’t let it count again. Saihara’s next in line, ask a real question.”

“Yeah, so, you said that for the VIPs, they can’t _possibly_ escape. But one of those VIPs is a cybersecurity expert. How can you claim to get through Doctor Megumi Kirisame’s firewalls?”

“Through the art of very specific study. Her expertise was accounted for, and apparently it will take her at least three days to figure out how to purge the override on her screens, and after that point the prediction is that she can clean one device a day. That’ll keep her watching through the Killing Game. Sato’s turn.”

“Speaking of the Kirisames, actually. Is Gavin on the list because of me, or just because his wife’s already on there?”

“Gavin is there because he mentored you, yes. Megumi is likewise there because she’s mentored others in this group. Coming up next, Yoshiro.”

“Oh, oh! I was really curious, so. There’s no ‘Yoshiro’ on that list but I _know_ that Mercury didn’t change my last name cause why wouldn’t she use Mars or Hako or something with the people that she could claim are related to me… My question is, the Yoshiro family. Are they on that ‘secondary’ list thing, like Kobe?”

“The person who assembled the list has no desire to make your existence known to your birth family. In fact, she probably went out of her way to make sure that they won’t see this game.”

“The person who… Oh. I see.” Saya brought her hands up to the butterfly decoration on her collar, the cheery demeanor almost faltering.

“Let’s just keep going. Lovely Miss Ruka?”

“I’m kinda surprised, but also glad nobody asked the question that I thought of. Is it really because of us that these people are being forced to watch… Or is it because of them, that we’re forced to be in here?”

“Whoa there. Uh, I guess that the answer is. Both? It’s a self-fulfilling cycle. Mercury wants every one of you here for your own unique reasons. But she also wants to hurt the people you’re connected to, which served as a factor in her decision. Let’s move on from this weird question. Nageko.”

“Somebody’s missing from the list who should be there. Does that… mean that she’s dead? Sachiko?”

“Your sister is alive. It just seems she was not determined to be somebody who needs to see this. As I said about others, she may be witnessing the game through other means, she just isn’t being hounded by it at every turn. Mister Snow?”

“Y-Yeah, um. I was wondering. So, there’s a few people there because of me. But if Poppy and Demi are there, shouldn’t… Luci also be? Luci Winger?”

“I don’t know if-”

“Oscar Winger, maybe. I never knew which one was their legal name.”

“If you must know, fine. Lucille Oscar Winger is dead. They’ve been dead for years. Next. Ebizakaya.”

“Same sorta question there what Evie had. Rifa’s there. But her boyfrien’ ain’t. What’s the deal?”

“Are you going to make me answer that? Seriously?”

“Yeah. I wants know.”

“Ending this whole thing on a _real_ downer note. Though this answer’s a more recent development... Your uncle is also absent because he’s dead, Ebizakaya.”


	93. Daily Life: Day Four (The First Argument)

“That’s ridiculous…” Evie muttered, “Luci’s not dead. They’re… They definitely haven’t _been_ dead. I. Didn’t I just. See them?”

“I dunno for ya, Snow,” Irarako said, “Maybe I shoulda asked somethin’ that might not had such an intense answer mysel’ but I was just too curio. I was just tellin’ Barasu what that I might’ve once wished that guy was dead but I was glad that he wasn’... An’ now he is?”

“Are you saying right now that your _uncle_ got asked out by the girl you had a crush on?” Jun questioned, “Also, my condolences that he’s dead.”

“S’not like it was a weird thing. Well. Maybe a lil bit a weird thing but ain’t illegal thing. Rifa was two years older’n me so, eighteen at the time, tha’s legal. An’ my uncle only twunny-five. An’ now he’s somehow died… So young…” Irarako shook her head. “For someone not an Ultimate it’s young an’way.”

“Eighteen and twenty-five is still a pretty weird gap!” Saya proclaimed, “At least, for claiming to be a normal boyfriend-girlfriend relationship it is! It’s weird to be _dating_ at those ages for sure, for sure.”

“Well they ain’t datin’ no more. Oji-san’s not livin’.”

“I’m sorry that you two needed to get such unpleasant answers,” Shin said, “I was the first to ask ‘why is this person not on the list’, and my answer was much kinder than yours.”

“I just. It doesn’t make sense to say that Oscar’s been dead for years,” Evie said, “I’d understand if it was just that they’d died recently. Since I’ve been kidnapped for this game, sure, I’d accept that. But has it really been… There’s no way that it’s been _years_...”

“Evie,” Irarako said, “I don’ really wanna get into all this righ now cause I got my own bad all revelations what swirlin’ but… Think maybe someone else ‘members it?”

“Someone else?” Evie asked, then looked down and frowned. “Ah, so… Okay. Maybe you’re right. I’ll try to figure it out.”

“Not to brush over your pains,” Homura piped up, “But you know, the answer I got was _pretty_ suspicious, wasn’t it? There’s a replicant here? What do you guys think about that?”

“I dunno.” Syoko shrugged. “I don’t really think much of it. That’s just another way to be a person, so it’s not as if it actually matters.”

“Well sure, on an interpersonal level,” Homura said, “But the last game with a replicant in it… That replicant was the source of tons of loopholes in the rules, and could interact with the game’s systems in unique ways. If they haven’t come forward about this fact, then there are two… and a half, possibilities. One is that the replicant is acting maliciously. The other is that they are unaware that they’re a replicant, and the half possibility, may not actually be capable of the same unique interactions with the system anyway.”

“What were those unique interactions?” Saya asked.

“Dia appeared whenever her real name was called, could walk through the building’s structure, and glitched out the game instead of dying when she was killed,” Homura said, “But part of that was because she was just made of data at that point… If the replicant here already has a body in reality, then they probably can’t do the same things. But we gotta at least consider that somebody here is hiding this from us for the sake of some nefarious scheme.”

“Pfft.” Hikari cupped her hans around her mouth to make her noise carry across the dining hall. “Yeah, I don’t think so. Uh, not to throw myself under the bus or anything, but I’d be seriously shocked if anybody had a more nefarious agenda than I do. And I am definitely not a replicant. Like, I’d be better off being a replicant, probably. But my parentage is very known and very biological.”

“Oh, shut up.” Homura rolled his eyes. “People can _surprise_ you, that’s the whole idea with these hacky games. Again, most _recent_ game in history, the fifth murder was committed as a premeditated act, intended to be malicious, by somebody who seemed perfectly kind and friendly up to that point! I am the fucking expert here. If I say we need to worry about something, then we need to worry about it.”

“Damn, Homu-kun is going off!” Yume called out.

“That’s. Shinku.” Homura pinched the bridge of his glasses. “You aren’t my friends. I don’t want you to be my friends. Don’t call me by my first name. Just listen to me. God. As far as you’re all concerned, I’m more like an authority figure than one of you. I know what I’m talking about, and I have no intentions of getting close to anybody here. _Understood_?”

“We aren’t going to consider the youngest person here an authority figure,” Yuji said, “No matter how knowledgeable he may be. You’re sixteen, you’re more of a kid than the rest of us. Just a kid who’s studied up on Killing Games.”

“Fine. Not an authority figure, then. Just somebody whose opinion is _really_ worth taking into account!” Homura groaned and dropped back into his seat, hands flying to his headphones. “Whoever’s the replicant here. I don’t really think you’re malicious. I don’t think you even know. But I just can’t trust you anyway. I’m sorry.”

With that, he brought the headphones over his ears, then pulled his legs into the seat with him to press his knees to his chest.

Usually, Homura just seemed to take some sort of joy in sharing his knowledge of the Killing Game, of being the smartest person in the room, but there was something more serious about the way he referred to this particular problem. Jun might not have been the best at figuring people out, but that much was obvious. Homura let challenges from others roll off of him under normal circumstances, but something about this actually put him on the defensive, actually made him shut down.

“Is he quite alright?” Shin asked, looking over from his own table.

“Yes,” Ayano answered, “Well… Not as far as you’re concerned, maybe. But none of us can do anything to help with this so he’s as alright as he is currently going to get. Also, he most certainly can’t hear us now that he’s put those on, so, you aren’t being _completely_ rude by speaking about a present person in third person!”

“Er. Right, sorry.” Shin shrunk back into his seat a bit. “That’s curious, though. I mean. I spent quite a lot of time teasing him about a possible lack of cooking ability the other day and he didn’t seem to care at all.”

“We must’ve just hit a touchy subject! We should drop this and move on!” Saya called out, and nobody had a valid reason to argue that.

“One more thing,” Mono said, then hesitated a few moments. When Homura started to lower his knees back to a normal seated position, she tapped the back of his hand gently, and he removed the headphones. “I have one more announcement I have to make, everyone’s required to hear it, and I’d like to get it out of the way, if it’s alright?”

Homura nodded.

“I wasn’t allowed to warn you that there would be motives at dinner today, but I’ve been given permission regarding the next one. I can tell you now that tomorrow night there will be an additional motive, and this one will be a repeat of one from the past.”


	94. Daily Life: Day Four (The Second Argument)

** 7:00 PM / 1900 Hours **

“Well alright then. Until that time, I think we should all carry on as usual.” Saya had started standing up to leave, when Syoko jumped from her seat.

“Wait, wait! Before anybody leaves, there’s actually something that I wanted to share. A surprise!” Syoko explained, then bounced off in the direction of the kitchen once more. Everyone waited in awkward silence for a few moments, but Homura was the one to break it.

“Mono said tomorrow night. Not tomorrow at dinner,” His voice wasn’t nearly as strong or as lackadaisical as usual, but at least he was talking again, “I think I know which motive is going to be reused.”

“Whiiich one would that be?” Tooru asked.

“Why should I tell you guys? You don’t care about my opinions anyway.”

“Good going, Sato,” Yume griped, “You got the nerd to shut up about exactly the kind of shit we’d want him to share. Are you proud of yourself?”

“Hey now, sweetheart. You set off that encounter just a mite before I did, so I wouldn’t go pointing fingers,” Yuji said.

“Or you could just _ask_ me whose fault it was. If you gave a shit about what I think. Which you don’t,” Homura complained, “So, no. I don’t think that I will share what the motive is going to be. Not yet, anyway. Besides, what do I know? I’m just a kid. All my years of studying up could have been completely wrong this whole time.”

“...Whose fault would you say that your momentary meltdown was?” Ayano asked, “If you’re willing to share that much.”

“Awe, Ueda. I know _you_ give a shit about what I think. For future reference if anyone wants to bother with keeping me in a passable mental state. I am not Homu-kun to any of you. I’m Homura only to my roommate. Otherwise, I’m Shinku, because we’re not friends. I’ll let you _know_ if you can call me by my first name. It’s important to me and I want that to be respected.”

“So it wasn’t my actions-” Yuji started.

“_**Furthermore**_.” Homura turned and glared in his direction. “I might sometimes seem flippant but I’ll always say if we can _all_ be flippant. If something is serious enough that I actually say we need to be worried about it then I want to be listened to. Is that so much to fucking ask? If _I’m_ scared then it’s a sign that you really should be scared too.”

“But you said yourself that you’re not actually that concerned about the replicant. That it was just a possibility. So what exactly do we need to be scared of?” Shin asked.

“Even. If. The replicant has no malicious intentions.” Homura took a deep breath. “And no special abilities. I know replicants are just normal people who happen to be made of code. But code can be manipulated much more manually than flesh and blood.”

“So what you were really trying to say before we were rude to you…” Yuji realized, “Ah. You just wished to warn us that a replicant among us may be at risk of being… Shall we say, possessed? By Mercury Mars?”

“Yes. I was trying to say that. Now you know what I wanted to share, and I still don’t want to share what the motive is going to be.” Homura made a point of turning his body away from those two.

Thank goodness, Syoko returned at that moment. Jun wasn’t sure how much longer he could take this tense atmosphere. She walked out of the kitchen carrying in both hands, a cake. It was covered in a chocolate frosting, with red candy-melts stuck to the sides all around. She brought it straight to the table where Yuji and Shin were sitting with Ryota, and set it down in the center. “Happy birthday, Nageko! You’re eighteen today, right? I figured that I may as well go ahead and make you a cake! You mentioned that you liked chocolate, so that’s the frosting. And the inside is red velvet, since that’s just red chocolate, I thought it matched your aesthetic! And… And…”

Syoko trailed off, because Ryota wasn’t reacting to her words. Not in a way that made sense, anyhow. Jun craned his neck to figure out what was going on, and that was when he saw the expression on Ryota’s face. He was slack-jawed, eyes blank, and… shaking.

“Nageko, are you. Okay?” Syoko asked.

The next few moments were a blur, but Jun managed to catch most of what mattered. Ayano stood up and walked towards the door. Yuji stood up as well, but didn’t do something nearly so innocuous. Jun wasn’t sure exactly what he did but did know that when the dust settled, he would have knocked Syoko to the ground. He was distracted from actually seeing Yuji’s action becase Ryota moved. He couldn’t, unlike the others, be said to ‘stand up’, as it was more like he fell out of the chair immediately into a clumsy, desperate sprint.

And the next moment, that was it. Ryota had careened out through the door and Ayano calmly followed him, and Yuji was standing over Syoko on the ground. “_What_ made you think that was a good idea?”

“What are you- What- I was- I was trying to be nice!” Syoko protested, her voice cracking. “What made you think that _punching_ me was a good idea??”

“Don’t you think that if Nageko wanted to celebrate at all, we would have _said_ so?” Yuji shouted, throwing an arm out to his side. “We left immediately after it was announced at breakfast, for somebody who’s supposed to be _so_ perfect, shouldn’t you have noticed that and thought twice? Maybe the fact that Mono herself apologized for the fact that she was saying that it’s Nageko’s birthday? How was there anything here which made you think that this was a good thing?”

“I… It’s a birthday,” Syoko said, “How was I supposed to think it was a bad thing?”

“Maybe if you thought _twice_ you would have.” Yuji took a step away, then a deep breath. “I’m going to go. Ayano could tell what was about to happen, sure, but she doesn’t know how to help the way I do.”

So Yuji left the room. Jun looked over to where Syoko was picking herself up off the floor, and she wouldn’t meet his gaze. Hikari’s laughter filled the background with noise. Jun didn’t want to be here anymore, so he got up from the table. He’d go back to his lab. It was his, after all. So he could find something to do there. Better than being here any longer.


	95. Daily Life: Day Four (Lab Discovery)

** 8:00 PM / 2000 Hours **

Jun was back in his lab, having escaped the dining hall that seemed to be filled with some sort of ‘get mad with each other’ gas today or something, since everybody was so ready to be at each other’s throats. More likely, people were just tense because of the Killing Game and everything, but either way, it was much more calm out here. He knew he didn’t have too much time, just a couple hours before the outside world was filled with ‘hazards’, but he still had some time. Despite the generally boring nature of his lab, it still belonged to him, and offered things of interest to him.

The large graphing paper and pencils were exactly the sort that were used when it came to designing buildings, both visually and floorplan-wise. Maps of geographic areas were just confusing to him, but maps of buildings were not. Even though the Monopad had a general map available, he knew that it lacked certain areas, like the room where he woke up, or where Ryota had woken up. Using the Monopad’s map as a guide, he drew out a floorplan that included all of the ‘secret’ areas that he was aware of. He was just finishing up, after about ten minutes of work, when the door opened.

He looked up to see Emi walk in. “Hey, Oowada. How are things down there?”

“Not so great. I mean, they calmed down, but it’s a mess. Sato’s in hot water with Shinku and Syoko, Yume’s in it with Shinku too… Ebizakaya’s mad that Sato punched Syoko. Ruka is siding with Sato because ‘it was awesome to see miss perfect get fucking decked’. Tsubasa still seems put off by Shinku’s reaction… Am I missing anyone?”

“What about Snow?”

“I think he left just after you did. Not getting involved, which makes sense. Everyone’s probably still fuming as they all go their separate ways now…”

“Huh. And how about you? What do you think about this whole thing?”

“It’s pretty fucking dumb. I mean, I get that nobody wants to be in the wrong, but from where I stand, it’s obvious. Sato and Yume were being rude to Shinku. He might be acting petty in response, but he has the right to do so. Syoko shouldn’t have made an entire cake as a surprise, and Sato shouldn’t have punched her for it, even _if_ it’s having a really bad effect on Nageko. And it doesn’t help anyone that Sato already left the room for everyone else to pick sides without him even present.”

“That’s… About how I feel, too. Several people did things wrong. I’m sure that it’s just that everyone is tense, though. I mean. Two people died yesterday,” Jun said, “No matter what we try to do to get back to normal, we can’t deny that’s got to have an effect on people.”

“I mean, of course it does. Especially, if you consider… Some people are fighting their own new silent battles, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are others who are being given space because they’ve done nothing wrong. That’s what Syoko said, and I think I believe her. After that trial, anyone whose room didn’t match, they have to have a good long look inwards.” Emi sighed. “Don’t believe me, ask Shinku. He’s the one who’s seen every room.”

“Oh no, I believe you. If you put it that way, then, yeah. I guess that some people are going to be even more on edge than others,” Jun said.

“Or maybe more checked out than others,” Emi said, “Cause they’ve got bigger things to be worried about than interpersonal drama.”

“That’s a good point, huh. Well, anyway. Not like we need to be thinking about that. Like Syoko said, they’ll come out in their own time, and all. Trying to drag Itadai out before he was ready was what got Nanjo killed. Er. Assuming that I interpreted all of that right? I am, apparently, kind of oblivious to these things.”

“You’re oblivious, but you _are_ right. Not to victim-blame, of course. Really, it was just a lot of bad circumstances. If Nanjo hadn’t tried to get Itadai out of the closet, they’d both be alive, but there are plenty of other things that went wrong too. I think so, anyway.” Emi groaned, then leaned against the nearest wall. Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and she jumped away. A scraping sound continued. “What… Is that?”

Jun, on a hunch, looked above him. It was the ceiling of his lab, opening up to reveal glass paneling that showed the sky. The sunset, actually, or the last remnants of it. “Huh. Oh, that makes a lot more sense.”

“What does?” Emi asked.

“Oh, see, my hobby box had a telescope in it. But I figured it was pretty useless, given the outdoor hazards. If my lab’s ceiling opens up to show the sky, though. Then I could use the telescope from in here! I mean, I don’t know a whole lot about using a telescope or identifying celestial objects but I know, enough?”

“Yeah that’s what makes it a hobby,” Emi said, “I lucked out and my hobby box just had a bunch of my real-life dolls. Or maybe that’s less lucky because I could have had the dolls and also a hobby. On the other hand, my main hobby is exercising, which is mostly done either without any equipment or with equipment too big and varied to stock in a box… Could’ve given me a few resistance bands, but I do prefer having my dolls!”

“You’ll have to show them to me sometime. Seems like you really care about them, not just the craft of making them.”

“Of course I care about them. You can’t make things like dolls… And not put your heart into them. You’re not just making them, you’re bringing them to life, in a way.” Emi took a deep breath. “Well, come on. Let’s go get your telescope and bring it over here.”

“Ah! Um, well. It’s a pretty unwieldy thing to…” Jun trailed off as he realized the unamused expression he was receiving. “Right, right. You can probably lift it above your head with one hand, can’t you?”

“If I put my back into it, I could lift _you_ above my head with one hand,” Emi teased, “Have you not realized by now just how deceptive my clothes are? Come on, look at this much.” She held her arm out and clenched her fist, tensing the muscles in her forearm. That was a pretty good show of what she was capable of, without ripping any fabric. Though she could rip fabric. Emi Oowada was a… Weird kid. But, of everyone here, Jun was glad he got to hang out with her this evening, and not any of the bickering majority.


	96. Daily Life: Day Four (Stargaze)

** 9:00 PM / 2100 Hours **

With the telescope in place, Jun immediately started messing around with it. He barely understood how to focus it on normal large celestial objects, but the one time that he _had_ previously utilized the tool for this hobby had been inside of a Neo World Program, so at least he was fumbling through pointing a telescope at a relatively familiar sky, as opposed to a completely foreign one.

While he was trying to find something interesting to focus the telescope in on, Emi was puttering around in the lab. He could hear her, but he wasn’t sure what she was doing; Not like he minded, he had nothing to hide. Finally he was able to get the telescope into focus on a ‘planet’. It vaguely looked like a cross between Jupiter and Saturn, and was definitely the brightest thing in the sky. What with there being no moon and all. There had in fact, never been a moon present in the current iteration of the Neo World, so it was decent attention to detail on Mercury’s part for the island to lack a tide.

Not to praise the person who definitely kidnapped a baby once, stole a dead body, kidnapped several more people to probe their memories and subject them to a Killing Game, and hacked a number of electronic devices including those belonging to a literal cybersecurity expert. But then, if she had been able to do all of these things on her own, it would be pretty impressive. Jun doubted that. Saya had mentioned that Mercury had a girlfriend, and other friends who tended to stick around the area. He could only imagine that those represented her allies, and each of them had some kind of hand in this scenario.

When he stepped away from the telescope, he turned to see that Emi had moved the mattresses off of the cots in the ‘jail cells’ and placed them on the floor instead. She clasped her hands in front of herself and smirked. “I mean, the telescope is pretty cool, but only one of us can look through it at a time, right? So I figure if you know enough to use a telescope as a hobby, you know enough to stargaze, too. It’d be comfier this way.”

“Oh yeah, definitely. I got the telescope focused on this fake planet.” Jun pointed to a bright light up in the sky. “It doesn’t really exist, it’s just part of the NWP’s sky, but it looks pretty cool. Since it’s in focus you’ll be able to see it fine if you just peer through.”

“That’s pretty cool! And, after I take a look at the planet, I’m sure that there are some constellations in this sky too, right?” Emi asked, crouching down at the telescope. “Those are always cool because, you know. Human brains and seeing things where things might not necessarily be. It’s why sock puppets can seem to express emotion, you know.”

“What like, we imagine them having faces even though they’re just hands covered in fabric?”

“That’s exactly it.”

“Well, anyway, the other thing you said,” Jun moved on, “Constellations, yeah, there are a few. Smart of you to move the mattresses over here if that’s what you want to look at, since it’s easier to observe those with the naked eye than through a telescope. Focusing specifically on a group of stars is a lot tougher than focusing on one object. I never made it to that workshop.”

“I haven’t been to workshops in a long time,” Emi said, “I guess I probably should, broaden my horizons and all. But I really just practiced dollmaking in them until I was good enough to use real materials, and didn’t go back. Exercise workshops aren’t really worth the time, since the effect doesn’t completely transfer to your real body… No matter what I do here, I won’t get any stronger in real life, just avoid getting weaker.”

“Yeah, that does seem like a counter-intuitive thing to have workshops for. I only took the astronomy workshop because it seemed like a fun thing to do. My family and I used to always go stargazing together, I thought it’d be cool if I learned more about the sky in the NWP so that for once it could be me pointing out the constellations to my family, instead of Mum pointing it out to all of us.”

“Oh, that’s actually really sweet! I mean, I did first get into working out as a family activity, myself,” Emi said, “I guess that when you’re an Ultimate, it’s hard to enjoy things outside of the talent you’re hyperfixated on unless you have some other reason to get into them, like your friends or your family.”

“Huh. That makes sense, yeah. Most of the time I was just too focused on being a good kid and doing well at things to worry about what other sort of stuff I could enjoy, unless I had a reason to slow down and enjoy it,” Jun said, “And with my _friends_ we didn’t try to have common hobbies, since we were so busy with our own stuff most of the time, we just did basic kid stuff like play video games and tool around town.”

“Hah, same here!” Emi said, then dropped back from the telescope to drop onto her back on the right-side mattress. Jun sat down on the other one, only for Emi to grab his arm and pull him to lie down too. Resistance was… Remarkably futile. He was on his back in a split second. “So, go on then. Tell me about the constellations, Jun.”

“R-Right, of course.” Why was he stammering? He knew them well enough that he shouldn’t be nervous about embarrassing himself with false information. Fuck, Emi wouldn’t even know if he _did_ feed her false information. So he steadied his voice and started telling her all about everything he knew regarding the skies of the Neo World Program. On Earth, he never could have done this. In Dome City, he’d go off of his memory of family stargazing nights, and here, he had his memory of the astronomy workshops. Eventually those would have had classes in reality, to breed familiarity with a more realistic sky. This one, however, was simplified. Easy by comparison to identification in reality.

He’d been talking for nearly an hour, when he realized two things. One was that he’d just been using one hand to point out the constellations, and Emi had grabbed onto the other without him noticing. The other was that her breathing patterns had changed, and she was now fast asleep.


	97. Daily Life: Day Four (Jun Has A Crisis)

Jun found himself in a conundrum here. The clock on his Monopad noted that it was nearly nighttime, so if either of them wanted to sleep in their own rooms, they would need to go now. On the other hand. Well, was he boring? Was he just so boring and that was why Emi fell asleep in the middle of hanging out with him? God, was she just humoring him this entire time and considered him a really stupid lame person and- Seriously, stop jumping to those kinds of conclusions without any further investigation. Seriously. He was holding her hand; it was warm.

Was it warm? Or was he just clammy? That wasn’t a very good measure at all, so he took his other hand and placed the back of it against her forehead. Ah, also warm. So, he stopped worrying that he was boring, and instead started worrying that Emi was sick. He didn’t want to just wake her, if she needed the sleep. He tried for a split second to pick her up, but, well. She was kind of built like a rock and that was absolutely not going to happen. As for leaving her here and going back to his room on his own…

He could of course, get his hand out of hers, it wasn’t a deathgrip or anything and was probably an idle act on her part, especially if she was feeling feverish. Didn’t have to mean anything. Jun wasn’t tethered here, was the bottom line, but just because he wasn’t physically tethered didn’t mean that he would leave Emi behind. That was a bad idea, leaving somebody asleep outside of the dorms alone. That was a recipe for another murder. Would anybody dare to do another murder so soon after the last one? Jun couldn’t assume that they wouldn’t.

After all, somebody may have been planning to take advantage of a situation just like this one, somebody becoming trapped in the lab building, and hadn’t changed that plan at all when Itadai had committed a murder instead. There was nothing saying that there had to be any meaningful ‘cool-down’ period between tragic events, after all. The universe didn’t have that kind of mercy. And, well, even if Jun hadn’t already decided that he would stay here for Emi’s safety, it was too late to make any other decision anyhow.

** 10:00 PM / 2200 Hours **

“Hey everyone, this is the nighttime announcement! Remember to stay indoors, even if you’re somewhere inconvenient, unless you think that you can take on the hazards. I sure couldn’t… Well, anyway. See you for the morning announcement in eight hours.” Mono’s voice flooded the halls momentarily, then there was silence but for the sound of breathing again. If Emi was actually sick, Jun just hoped it was nothing serious and could be cleared up with a visit to the infirmary in the morning. And that he wouldn’t catch it from spending time with her.

But, if he was going to catch it, he already would have, so he didn’t see a reason to go to the trouble of trying to shove Emi over so that she was completely on one mattress, and pull the other mattress away. Instead, he did extricate his hand to go back into the ‘cells’ and retrieve a blanket for himself, at least, to sleep more comfortably. He lay down on his side, facing Emi, but that was a bit too… It was just a little-

He turned so that his back was to her. This had been a strange evening, and he wasn’t really sure what was going on. He still had the pit of anxiety in his stomach from worrying that she’d fallen asleep because he bored her, but what did it even matter much that he bored her? Why did he care? And there was another pit of anxiety worrying that maybe there was somebody lurking in this building with bad intentions. The rules prohibited any one person from killing ‘more than two people’. That meant that if somebody were really determined, his presence wouldn’t even make Emi safe, and neither of them would be safe at all, and.

Well on the other hand, that kind of premeditated action would take a sort of cruelty that he didn’t quite expect from anyone here. And, if anyone here did have such cruel intentions, then tonight would be far from the night to act on them. Anybody, after the scene at dinner, would likely have their part in that incident pointed to as a reason for suspicion. Jun also seriously doubted that anybody had _faked_ anything. Ryota didn’t run off like that as a cover to kill somebody later, his reaction was clearly genuine and visceral. Homura didn’t shut down to give off an impression of helplessness with which to clear himself, either.

Thinking through each possibility one at a time like this, Jun was able to calm his anxiety over maybe being killed… And in the time that took, the false-rooted anxiety in his own blandness had subsided as well, leaving only a few worries. The natural worry of sleeping next to somebody, which was comparatively trivial, and the worry for Emi’s health which was able to be set aside as a problem he could do nothing about until morning came.

And any other worry remaining- the strange, nebulous one which connected to the reason he turned his back on her, was something that he couldn’t necessarily dispel because he couldn’t necessarily pin down in the first place. Did he. Did he like Emi Oowada? She really wasn’t his type of girl, far from it a number of ways. Did she like _him_ was perhaps a more anxiety-inducing question, then. Was that the point of her behavior this evening? Or, well.

Did she _only spend time with him because a fever was clouding her judgment_? That too was completely possible and, like the worry before that he had been boring, actually made him almost feel worse than the worry that he could be murdered. What was his brain doing tonight, seriously? Why did he care?

It took almost another hour, with his brain running wild in all of these varied concerns, for Jun to be able to fall asleep himself. Eventually he was, eventually he did. And really, thinking alone couldn’t give him any answers. There was little point to fixating on issues internally this way, no solution which could be found. It took time, or research, or communication. Jun knew this, but, well. Anxieties didn’t follow the rules of rational thought.

And he’d be fine in the morning. Or at least, better.


	98. Daily Life: Day Five (Mistake)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

“Hey everybody, it’s morning! Make sure that you head over for breakfast. I know dinner last night ended up with some conflict, but you still need to eat. Hope you have a nicer day?” Mono’s morning announcement woke Jun from his slumber, and he was… Face-to-face with Emi. He must have rolled over in his sleep. Oh, jeeze.

“Oh!” Emi exclaimed, and sat up like a bolt. “Oh no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep like that. I. Oh, my…”

“Huh? No, don’t worry about it. You seemed to have a fever so I assumed you just didn’t feel well. I didn’t take offense, or anything,” Jun said, “And I, uh. I promise I didn’t do anything weird, I just stayed here because I thought it could be unsafe for you to be sleeping in here alone, and all. I wouldn’t do that. I just checked your temperature then went to sleep.”

“What makes you think I’d worry about you doing something weird?” Emi asked, “I mean. What kind of ‘weird’ thing would you even do?”

“Uh well, that’s, uh-” Jun stammered.

“Chill out, I’m just teasing you,” Emi said, then crossed her arms. “I wasn’t sick, by the way. I just run hot when I don’t get enough sleep, which I didn’t the night before. Still wasn’t anything to do with you, that I fell asleep here. I actually, uh… Had a pretty nice time hanging out with you last night. So you know.”

“Ah! That’s good to hear, uh, yeah. When I thought you were sick I was pretty worried about you. And also worried that you were only spending time with me because you had a fever and your judgment was impaired. I’ve been trying to have better self-esteem but sometimes it’s hard, you know?”

“Wow. Yeah, even if I had a fever, I wouldn’t hang out with somebody who I didn’t want to hang out with,” Emi said, then took a deep breath. “But, I was pretty sleepy so I did… Some things that I might not have, otherwise. I’ll admit that much.”

“Uh. Y-Yeah, you might’ve,” Jun said, “I assumed…”

“It’s just… Uh, do you remember what Itadai said? ‘Everybody knows what happened to me’, but I don’t?” Emi looked away. “I mean. Uh, I can pretty well assume what happened to Itadai. What I mean is, I don’t know what happened to _me_.”

“What happened to… You?” Jun suddenly felt like he was very out of his depth.

“Ah, that makes it sound really serious, doesn’t it??”

“It kind of does, given. Well. What we can presume happened to Itadai.”

“Huh. Well, if I don’t have an active memory of whatever happened, then it just can’t be _that_ serious, can it? For all I know nothing did. I don’t know if anything did. Because I don’t know what would have, if it did. Do you follow?”

“I think I follow,” Jun said, “But why are you telling me this stuff? I mean. If you really trust me this much, then I’m honored, but. I didn’t think we were _that_ close.”

“We’re not, and we shouldn’t be. Can’t be. I don’t… Ugh.” Emi ran a hand back to push her hair off of her face, only to let it fall so it was obscuring her features even more. “I feel like something must have happened. Because I didn’t think twice about falling asleep next to you, I felt safe and fine. But when I woke up I felt, for a second, _terrified_. There’s always stuff like that.”

“I mean, that doesn’t mean that we can’t become close. If you’d want to, otherwise, then… Uh. I’m not sure what to say, but. It doesn’t make me annoyed that you woke up feeling scared or anything, if that’s what you’re getting at?”

“You don’t understand, it’s not. I mean, I can’t predict what’s going to be a problem.” She seemed to be shrinking into herself even further as she spoke, her voice shaking. “I can’t even tell who I’m supposed to _be_ sometimes, I get so scared of _nothing_. Like something I don’t even know about is trying to block me off from even understanding myself! That’s… I don’t know what to do, I can’t be around people and I _really_ can’t be alone and I. I’m sorry. I guess you don’t need to know this stuff, I could’ve just told you to fuck off and it’d get the same effect…”

“Maybe you’re telling me this because I might be able to help? Come on. You don’t _really_ want me to fuck off, do you, Emi?”

“What I want… What I want doesn’t even make any sense to _me_ so yeah, maybe I do!” Emi whirled on him, a wild look in her eyes through that curtain of hair. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, calling me that, come on. I just told you that I _don’t_ want my actions last night to mean anything to you, I still don’t, I definitely don’t want that! It’s the only thing I’m sure of, and why the Hell would you want it to anyway? I know what your type is. I’d never be like that, so you’d never like me, right? And I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t want to be your type of girl, I wouldn’t want you to, that’s. I. Fuck!”

And before Jun could make any defense for himself, Emi had pivoted back around and shoved her way through the door of his lab, leaving him in a state of absolute confusion. What she was talking about… Went right over his head, for the most part. He didn’t know why what he said had made her more upset. Or when she’d heard what his type of girl was, but he figured that since he told Saya, she had decided to gossip it all over the place. He wouldn’t hold that against her.

He kind of didn’t have the capacity to hold anything against anybody else right now, when he felt inclined to hold against himself whatever it was that he’d done even if he lacked an understanding of what he did wrong. All he knew for certain was that he had upset Emi, and even without comprehension of how he’d done that, he had to feel like shit for it. What a way to start the day, wasn’t this? But he couldn’t let it hold him up too much. He had before and he would again, go through his normal routine while feeling awful about a recent social interaction.

He waited a few more minutes to give Emi time to be back in the main building, and… Away from running into him one-on-one, he doubted she would want that at the moment, then made his way there himself.


	99. Daily Life: Day Five (You Haven't Been Asked)

**7:00 AM / 0700 Hours **

Jun had gone back to the main building and stopped into his dorm for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Homura was on his way out just as Jun got there, and greeted him just with a small wave, his headphones already on but without any other signs of being stressed out. Jun assumed that meant he just woke up feeling a bit overwhelmed. _Samesies_, Jun caught himself thinking. After the quick shower he’d found himself in the Dining Hall, and Emi wasn’t there yet. He checked the meal sign-ups list. Syoko was on breakfast, so he wandered into the kitchen area.

“Morning, Syoko. Anything I can do to help?”

“Hm, well, that depends,” Syoko said, “Are you asking to help because you just have a compulsive need to always be helping and never relax, or are you asking to help because you have some reason not to be in the common area?”

“It’s a little bit of both,” Jun admitted, “Is that a ticket to ride?”

“Oh, sure. Get in here.” She motioned for him to step further into the kitchen, and he did so, closing the door behind himself. “Did even _you_ somehow manage to get into a fight last night the way the rest of us did?”

“Not last night! Actually, I had a pretty nice night, except for anxieties keeping me awake. Everything between dinner and trying to sleep was kind of… Great, though. I mapped some of the secret rooms, discovered a new thing about my lab, and hung out with Em- With Oowada. She helped me move the telescope from my hobby box and we looked at Jupiturn.”

“Sounds romantic,” Syoko said.

“Uh!” Jun flushed. “It might but also uh no it wasn’t and the fact that it could even possibly be construed as romantic apparently is the problem because she yelled at me a bunch this morning about how she’s got triggers she doesn’t understand and also doesn’t want to be my girlfriend and now I want to avoid her because she’s scary but also I don’t want to make her any more upset and-”

“Breathe,” Syoko reminded him.

He took a deep breath, then looked up at her with his most sheepish eyes.

“Thank you. Moving on. Yes, that reaction from Oowada doesn’t surprise me at all,” Syoko said.

“W-wait, it doesn’t?”

“Not in the least. Especially when it’s you. Not to say that this is your fault at all, rather just that certain factors about getting a crush on _you_ would unfortunately lead to certain personal issues rising to the surface. And that’s only getting into the issues that Oowada has actually confided in me about…”

“So she does have a crush?? Wait, what issues?”

“Probably,” Syoko said, “But those issues are definitely going to stand in the way of it going anywhere. As for what they are, I’m really not at liberty to tell you, that would be Oowada’s call. But believe me when I say, even if it was something that you did or said, it’s not your _fault_. These issues are Oowada’s own to figure out.”

“But. I mean, what if I wanted to help? What if I could?” Jun asked, “She seemed so upset with me for even beginning to imply that maybe, she didn’t need to figure out the issues on her own. I mean. I might not be perfect at it but I have experience with policing myself to avoid hurting people with innocuous stuff, I have to do that for Ayano all the time. Like. Anything that comes up as a problem, I can _avoid_...”

“What are you getting at here?” Syoko asked, “Are you saying that you’d _want_ to date her, or do you just begrudge her not wanting to try?”

“That makes me out to be some kind of villain…”

“I wouldn’t say villain. But maybe, a little bit selfish. I wouldn’t blame you. You get the impression that a girl likes you, only for her to yell at you and say that she doesn’t want to be with you, for reasons that you can’t understand. Anyone would feel a bit annoyed, or perhaps even lied to, to think that romantic feelings are present but with no intention to act on them. But I imagine that Oowada would have mentioned, and this is relevant to those issues you bring up by nature of being you, not being your type?”

“I… Well. You’re right. If anyone here’s my type, I gotta admit, you’re the closest. So maybe I went on the defensive, about feeling both wanted and unwanted at the same time? Like. Uh.” He groaned and pressed his arm to his forehead. “Not that I wouldn’t- I mean. It’s like Oowada is _nearly_ somebody I’d wanna date, it’s conflicting, it’s like crossed wires. But that’s not the important part, it’s more like. It feels like she likes me, but thinks I’d be a bad boyfriend. So even if I don’t wanna be with her, it’s as if I need to prove, that I would be a good boyfriend. And I would be! I think! I can… I just know I’d be able to handle the stuff that she seems to think I can’t handle.”

“Sure. But since Oowada doesn’t want to invite you to handle it, it’s not your place or your responsibility to handle it,” Syoko said, “And it’s not some _stain_ on your integrity that you’re not being asked to try. Really, what would you say if Oowada asked you out?”

Jun fidgeted. “I guess, uh. I would, give it a shot, maybe? Like I said it’s. I wouldn’t say I _have_ feelings for Oowada. But I almost could. It’s. _Weird_. I mean it’s like. I have a crush one second and the next I don’t? I really don’t know how to explain what I mean.”

“If you were a more clever man, you could figure out what your heart means.” Syoko shrugged. “But alas, you are not, and I have been sworn to not share my own cleverness with you.”

“Seriously? You can’t just hide Oowada’s issues from me, now you also need to hide your insight on my _own_ stuff?”

“If that insight would reveal Oowada’s issues, then yes. I am a good friend and I don’t break promises, but I’m giving you the best advice I can. Just… Leave some space, okay? That’s all it sounds like you both really need right now.”


	100. Daily Life: Day Five (Dear Everett Evie Snow)

** 8:00 AM / 0800 Hours **

Half an hour ago, Syoko had finished making breakfast, and Jun had eaten at a table with Yume, Shin, and Ryota. It was a strange table to pick, sure, but Jun still didn’t want to sit with Emi, and this odd assortment of people did seem to be the least likely table for him to make any sort of passive statement of whose side he was on regarding the previous night’s conflict. At least, Ryota and Yuji both had no hesitation to eat the breakfast that Syoko prepared, so that implied some amount of water under the bridge.

There was something strange this morning, which nobody wanted to call attention to until they’d eaten. It was the Mono instinct, he supposed, wanting to give everybody a chance to eat before throwing a wrench in everything. A minute after eight, when it seemed that Mono didn’t have any breakfast announcements to make today, Irarako was the one who asked the all-important question. “Say’n now, Evie. Not to be offendin’ but just, curious. Care to explain what for reason of the skirt-wearin’?”

Evie turned to look at Irarako and blinked a few times. Ayano opened her mouth to offer a translation, but found that Evie already had an answer before she got the chance. “Oh, well. Do I need much of a reason to wear certain clothing? But, I understa-and. Especially with all of those clues that Itadai left you, however, I assure you. I’m still a boy, in any sense that matters to you… But I’d ask that you refer to me as Everett, instead. Mother is watching.”

“Oh! Awe, sorry bout that, Everett. Gee, how many’a you are there an’way?” Irarako seemed nonplussed by this reply.

“This seems incorrect,” Ayano said, “Snow is not capable of understanding Ebizakaya’s speech patterns in a meaningful way. And he has outright stated that he prefers the name Evie for the fact that he considers it marginally more masculine than Everett. Specifically as an example.”

“Oh, has he now?” Everett asked, bringing a hand to his face to hide a small laugh. “Well, that’s ridiculous. Mother would never approve of him saying a thing like that. Everett is a wonderful name, and Mother put so much thought into choosing it.”

“Say,” Syoko said, “What did you mean by, ‘in any sense that matters to you’?”

“Hoh? Well, I suppose if you can understand this it doesn’t hurt to say so. Mother has always wanted to have a daughter. Unfortunately, she birthed a son, and try as I might I can’t much get away from that. But I suppose if I can’t find it in me to be a girl, it doesn’t hurt to be a bit _less_ of a boy. You’d call it ‘demiboy’, I believe.”

“That seems like a really weird way to find an identity…” Syoko wavered a bit.

Everett moved the hand from in front of his face to instead fidget with one of the stubby pigtails he’d cowed his hair into. “Well, excuse me, but it’s the least I can do for her sake to not be _completely_ cis. Maybe for normal people it’s a weird way to have an identity, but frankly, I’m a bit surprised that given my nature I was unable to be any more feminine than this.”

Jun noticed, again, that Evie’s… Everett’s speech patterns seemed different. Under normal circumstances, he spoke mostly Japanese but excluded complicated words he couldn’t translate. During the trial, and when talking about Fire Emblem, he dropped into English near-constantly for those complicated words. And now… He was using the very same complicated words in Japanese without stumbling.

And so, he thought back to what had led Irarako to run out of the kitchen yesterday when they were talking, and realized that there was only one good explanation for the differences in language fluency, and seemingly, personality in general. This was probably the strongest Jun’s brain had ever come to a conclusion in his life, and it was unlikely to do so again, but…

“Hey,” He spoke up, “Everett. That’s who we’re talking to right now, yeah?”

“Yes. I am Everett.”

“You’re Everett, the demiboy who wants to be more feminine in order to please his mother, but can only succeed in being ‘not quite a boy’.” Jun crossed his arms and nodded at his own deductive prowess. “You’re not _Evie_, the boy who hates his mother and just wants to be taken seriously despite his babyface. And you’re certainly not… That other guy, who’s even worse at Japanese but says ‘tsk’ a lot and knows how to reprogram a strategy table.”

“Oh, look at that, Barasu’s trying to act like he knows people better than themselves again,” Emi complained.

“I-I’m not-” Jun tried to defend himself.

“Barasu is completely correct.” Everett came to his rescue. “And I know this perfectly well about myself, for that matter. I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret, though I wasn’t sure how to explain, either. So I decided to start with introducing myself. Evie would have rathered keep this whole thing under wraps, but… Mother is watching! So I’m here now.”

“What exactly is this whole thing, anyway?” Hikari asked, “Do you just like. Act completely different in front of your mom?”

“No, no. They’re three different people,” Homura said, “Everett, Evie, and… The third one. It’s called Dissociative Identity Disorder. Usually caused by intense childhood trauma, so like, wow, Killing Games should really see more of it than they do? I won’t ask what happened, or anything. And only three of them… I know that cause I looked in everybody’s rooms.”

“Yes,” Everett said, “Our room contains three screwdriver kits, and one of those cupcake piping kits that Mono stated were intended for nonbinary individuals. That marks Nanjo, Evie, Snow, and myself, respectively. Snow is the name of ‘the third one’.”

“Huh… Interesting,” Saya said, “Even I cannot say I expected Mercury to respect the individual personhood of DID Alters!”

“I’m not sure it was respect so much as an intention to out us as a system…” Everett shook his head. “Even now, I am a bit concerned that you’ll misunderstand, and suspect me of murder just for the fact that I have a certain mental condition.”

“Nahh nah!” Irarako exclaimed, “We wouldn’ do that cause you’re our friends an’ all! All three of ya cause I mean. It ain’t a bad thing it means we got extra friend!”

“I caaan’t say I really understand this,” Tooru said, “But I don’t have to. Not gonna be weird about it.”

“Apologies if this does come across as ‘weird about it’,” Yuji spoke up, “But what, exactly, prompted you to make this appearance, hon? Was it last night’s motive, hearing about your dead friend that did it?”

“Er, not quite.” Everett sighed. “That memory is Snow’s responsibility, actually. Just earlier that day, he was present, and that motive wouldn’t have been nearly as jarring for him. But, I told you already why I’m here. Mother is watching. I can’t let Mother see either of them, behaving as poorly as they do.”

“Thank you for being open with us,” Homura said, “But guys, come on! He’s not here to be your encyclopedia for all things DID. I mean, wouldn’t it be stressful if you were put on the spot to explain every little thing about how your brains work, or don’t work?”

“...Oh dear. Yes, I apologize,” Ayano said.

“No need. Thank you, Shinku, but by coming out with this information I have already prepared myself to clear up any and all confusions regarding my, and our, nature,” Everett said, “I’m the most eloquent, so I’m quite well-equipped to answer! But, it’s simple enough, isn’t it? Each of us holds a different responsibility to keep our body alive and not, you know, in a constant state of emotional breakdown. It’s a compartmentalizing coping mechanism taken to the level of legitimately splitting into multiple people. None of us are ‘evil’, we all just want to survive the best we can. And I’ll spend time in the Strategist Lab today, so you know where to find me if you need.”

Jun didn’t have any other questions to ask. For once, he was actually among the first people to be _in_ the loop.


	101. Daily Life: Day Five (Everyone's ------ Hero?)

Jun, not having any further questions for Everett, instead decided to leave. Once again he took advantage of the fact Yuji had pointed out to him, that dishes were an automated chore which no human needed to do, and overcame his innate desire to make himself useful. He wasn’t sure where he wanted to go, necessarily, but he still didn’t really want to end up being around Emi. Obviously she was still holding this morning against him, and he would rather avoid any possible confrontation. He just wandered around the extra hallways of the main building for a bit, including a stop in the gift shop.

And again, it seemed that he spaced out much too completely, because when he again realized where he was, it wasn’t even in the main building at all. This time he had continued moving with no thoughts, brain empty, and found himself standing now… In Itadai’s lab. But surprisingly enough, he wasn’t alone. Standing there in the middle of the room, which was contrastingly silent to the last time that Jun had been in here, was Homura.

“Hey roomie,” Homura greeted him without even turning around, “I’m kind of surprised you ending up finding me here. Thought everyone was gonna stay away from this lab.”

“I’m kind of surprised I ended up finding you here, too. I didn’t really decide to walk here… I just did.” Jun shrugged. “What are you up to, anyway?”

“You just. Walked here without deciding to?” Homura questioned, but then shook his head. “That doesn’t matter, whatever, you’re weird. I dunno. I’m just… thinking, I guess.”

“Have you changed your mind about saying that Itadai’s punishment was fair?” Jun asked.

“No, no. I don’t think that I will,” Homura said, “It was a fair punishment. Like I said, it’ll only become unfair if too many of us die. I’m just thinking, you know… I kind of still wish that it hadn’t been those two.”

“Who would you have it be instead?” Jun asked.

“I dunno, I guess. Me, and whoever’d wanna kill me? Hah. Maybe it’d be you. Maybe that’ll still happen.”

“Wait, what? Why would you think I’d want to kill you?”

“It’s not so much a matter of wanting to kill me. _Anyone_ would wanna kill me, after how much of a pain in the ass I’ve made myself, let’s be real. But you’ve got plenty of opportunity to do it. So that’s why I think that you’re most likely to kill me.” Homura turned to face him, and brought one hand up to adjust his glasses. “Nothing personal, I’m sure. But you’ve got the best shot at me, and you know, you’d be doing everyone a favor.”

“I… No, I don’t think that people want you dead, Homura,” Jun said.

“I can’t see why they wouldn’t. And I mean, me dying first, that would've been a pretty fair punishment for me and everything I’ve done, too. It’s still totally fair. It’ll be fair just a bit longer,” Homura said, “Someday, you’ll understand what I mean. Well, I hope so, anyway. I could be wrong with what I’m saying. I’m wrong an awful lot. Another reason you’d be hailed as a hero for killing me.”

“That’s going a bit far, even for the current conversation. Hailed as a hero? Nobody’s going to be hailed as a hero for killing anyone, even if they _were_ a nuisance that everybody wanted to be rid of. Which you aren’t,” Jun said, “What even prompted this?”

“Well…” Homura clasped his hands behind his back and turned away again. “I guess it’s coming in here, thinking about those two. With them as the first two deaths, can you blame me for feeling unsafe? And, I told you. I’d rather see my death coming, than for it to come as a surprise. If you killed me here, right now, then I’d be expecting it. And then I wouldn’t need to keep being afraid.”

“I don’t see why those two dying first would make you any more afraid… But whatever the case, I’m not going to kill you. I’d never want to do that,” Jun said, “I donno why you think I would.”

“Trust me, you would,” Homura said, “Sometime, you would, I’m sure of it. Hah, maybe what you need is just for me to answer that question. You really are oblivious, you live with me and you never even noticed?”

“Noticed what?”

“Oh what? What could I possibly have in common with Nanjo and Itadai, to make me feel like I may be at a higher risk of dying next?” Homura gave an exaggerated, sarcastic shrug. “Look, I mean. If I’m next, then there’s no more of us here. For all _I_ know, Mercury has got some big vendetta against guys without dicks.”

“I… Well, okay, yeah, I’m _so_ stupid oblivious to these things,” Jun said, “But that has no bearing on… That wouldn’t make me want to kill you! Why are people putting me in so many weird, confusing conversations already today? I got yelled at by a girl and egged on to murder a guy and it’s not even _nine_ in the morning yet!”

“Damn yeah, it really is that early. Pretty pathetic of you, don’t you think?”

“It’s. What? It’s pathetic to get into complicated conversations in the morning?” Jun furrowed his brow. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Not what I was referring to, but whatever. I guess you still don’t want to deal with any of this stuff… If you don’t wanna kill me, or have a meaningful conversation with me, then I don’t need anything to do with you right now.” Homura waved both hands. “So could you just leave me to think about my thinking stuff, alone? Thank yoooou bye-bye~!”

Jun couldn’t really stick around after such an obvious dismissal, could he? So he just gave one wave of his own and turned to the door to leave. Yeah, he didn’t want to kill Homura. And he sure didn’t want to continue this talk into what Homura would consider a ‘meaningful conversation’, if _this_ confusing bullshit wasn’t already it.

And he was barely out of the door when he physically bumped right into Syoko. He had also had a serious, though less confusing, conversation with her earlier. And knowing his luck… He was about to have another.


	102. Daily Life: Day Five (Have To Crack A Few Eggs To Make An Omelette)

**9:00 AM / 0900 Hours **

At least, glancing at the time, it was now after nine. So his complaint of how many tough conversations he’d had before nine was rendered in stone at complaining about two confusing conversations and one simply serious but follow-able conversation. He could have a new complaint about the number of conversations he’d had before ten, though, because he could already see the look of concern on Syoko’s face.

“Jun… What were you doing in there?”

“Uh, well first off, I wandered in there in one of my infamous fugue states,” Jun said, “Last I knew I was in the extra corridors of the main building, and then I was in there. Homura was in there too, so we ended up talking for a while, and he said some… Weird stuff. Did you know that he’s trans?”

“Yes, of course. I know when anybody is trans,” Syoko said, “Of all the skills that I have, my trans-ceiver is among the top classed among them. Unrivaled, truly. And certainly not even a little bit rivaled by anybody cis. Least of all you. You live with the guy and you couldn’t tell?”

“Yes, he mentioned that too. He made fun of me for not figuring it out, and he said that he thinks everyone hates him and said he’s surprised I haven’t killed him yet. And some other cryptic stuff? I don’t know. I’m spending today being confused over and over.” Jun put a hand to his forehead. “It’s all very stressful.”

“No doubt, no doubt. Well, at least you managed to somehow avoid confusion with Everett. How did you ever… Even I didn’t expect that from him, but you and Ira both seemed to have complete confidence.”

“Well, I only had my confidence because I noticed Ebizakaya was confident, and I put two and two together. No one person has such a drastic change in language fluency, too… It wasn’t like there was a lot to lead me to conclude that Evie was actually more than one person, I just happened to figure it out soon enough that I wasn’t caught off guard,” Jun said, “A stopped clock is right twice a day, or something?”

“I suppose, I suppose. I’ll be really freaked out if you start figuring out even _more_ about what’s going on here.” Syoko smirked. “Go ahead, see if you can predict who else is an egg.”

“An egg?” Jun asked, not completely understanding.

“A trans person who hasn’t admitted it to themselves yet,” Syoko explained, “It’s a term for somebody who’s in denial about their own identity. Like how Itadai was. There are certainly others… But I’m not going to talk to any of them. At least, not about that.”

“Well, why not? I mean, if you’re able to tell…”

“Obviously I don’t want anything happening like what happened with Itadai. One of the ways I can prevent that is by not making the same mistake that Nanjo did. Itadai wasn’t ready for any of us to know. I have no idea how the others might feel about it. Maybe if I spoke to them, it would be okay. But then, it could just hurt. I’d rather avoid causing any harm, than take the gamble that I might be able to help.”

“I guess that makes sense, when you put it that way… Jeeze, have you seriously figured out that many people?”

“Well, I didn’t figure out Itadai until during the trial… I might be a bit liberal in my suspicions currently, though. It’s a bit hard to believe there would actually be that many of us here, unless that was somehow part of the selection process,” Syoko said, “Well. To make a decision like that, there would have to be a pretty seasoned therapist involved, wouldn’t there? And as far as we know, it’s just Mercury. And she’s the Ultimate Counterfeiter, she wouldn’t have that kind of skill… I understand her knowing once she got us, since she could get into our memories. But I’m probably just overexaggerating certain traits in people. There can’t be as many eggs among us as I’m currently assuming. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, maybe you’re going too far, but I don’t think it’s impossible,” Jun said, “Yoshiro was mentioning that Mercury had ‘friends’ around pretty often. Mono and Mercury are presenting this situation to us as if Mercury is the only one behind this, but I kind of think she has to have a team.”

“A team… If that were true, then somebody involved _might_ have made this type of decision after all. I mean, if we think of it this way. Mercury seems interested in us because of our various connections to certain people, right? I’m sure that there are _plenty_ of people with similar connections to us. Our parents weren’t the only Killing Game participants to have kids. You three are twenty, and Oowada is eighteen, but there were enough kids of participants that just as many from Dome City could have been picked up at the same age as me.”

“Hm… Yeah, that makes sense,” Jun said, “So there’s got to be other factors, that _we_ were the specific people picked out of anyone. There’s plenty of other Ultimates with connections to past games, I’m sure?”

“Absolutely. There are _so_ many people who would fit what we can call ‘Mercury’s criteria’. To narrow the selection down, you think somebody else on her team… Perhaps a therapist, decided to take the opportunity and pick us from that pool based on their own standards?”

“Maybe… Yeah, maybe,” Jun said, “Though, that person probably needed to lie to Mercury about what those standards-

\- The world- -Shook -Around them - 0-  
“Is that true? Are those kids right? You lied to me about your choices?”

“I wouldn’t say that I lied. Some of them were selected because I believed them likely to progress the Killing Game itself. I’ve done nothing to harm your game. I just took the chance to make things a bit more interesting for myself, too. I had a few theories I wanted to test. Can you really blame me? I’ve been helping you for so long, I should get something out of this too.”

“What exactly are you getting out of it this way?”

“Answers to my curiosities. Ah, and if I’m correct, perhaps another new daughter. You know how I love to take care of girls. Really should have let me babysit that Yoshiro more often…”

“Oh, whatever. I need to get back to work. Eva set up the program so it’s unstable when I’m not there, as a failsafe measure. Just. I hope you’re right, that your selfishness didn’t fuck this whole thing up for me…”

\- - ---- ----------- ------------- -were. I bet she said something like ‘these kids are most likely to commit murder’?” Jun offered.

“Did you just feel that?” Syoko asked.

“Uh… If by that you mean, a weird earthquake in which time didn’t feel real for about a split second, then yes.”

“Strange. Must have been some sort of glitch in the NWP, though. I do think I’ve experienced that before, though, feeling lag as a participant rather than an observer is kind of disorienting,” Syoko said, “I’m sure it’s fine, though. I mean, even if it wasn’t fine. It’s not like we can do anything about it.”


	103. Daily Life: Day Five (Ayano The Nurse)

** 10:00 AM / 1000 Hours **

After their mutual strange experience, Jun and Syoko decided that their combined theorizing power was just too powerful for the Neo World to contain (a joking explanation, but figuring out anything more serious was likely to put them in a sour mood) and parted ways. Jun was feeling a bit nauseous, so he decided to return to the main building. Rather than take the door directly to the infirmary, he went through the gift shop again, because he just felt like it. When he got there through the interior door, he spotted Ayano standing in front of one of the cabinets.

“What’s up, Ayano?” He asked, getting her attention. She turned to see him, and frowned.

“You don’t look too well, Jun. Sit down.” She pointed at one of the infirmary cots, which were of a worse quality than the cots in his lab’s fake cells.

“Hey, hey. I don’t need to sit, I just wanted to get some Tums or something, my stomach’s bothering me,” Jun said, “You look completely fine, though, so what are you doing in here?”

“I’ve decided to become a nurse.”

“No, seriously.”

“I… Was gonna steal some medicines and put them in my room,” Ayano admitted, lifting a hand to her cheek with a sigh. “I mean, just in case, you know? I don’t want to have to come in here for ibuprofen every time I have a headache and have people judging me for it…”

“I don’t think anyone will judge you for that,” Jun said, “But I understand, yeah. It’s hard to shake those kinds of worries. Why’re you just staring at them, though?”

“I’m not, actually.” She held up her right hand, which had been out of Jun’s view, to reveal that she held a sharpie marker in it. “I was just going to take some, but I realized that they’re all labeled with weird names. I’m relabeling them properly, since I can tell what they’re supposed to be pretty well.”

“Oh, that’s nice of you. Think you can hand me some Tums, then?”

“Certainly.” Ayano reached into a drawer labeled as ‘basic because it is the opposite of acid’. She came back with, yep, those looked like Tums. Those terrible, chalky, chewable antacids. They were pretty unmistakable. She handed them over, and while he was examining them, dropped another pill into his hand. It immediately hit him with a sickly smell of eucalyptus and wintergreen mint. “Take that one, too. It’s a different type of anti-nausea, so it might help more.”

“Oh, thanks,” Jun said. He walked over to the sink to get a cup of water and swallowed the pill with it first, then ate the tums, then drank the rest of the water to get the taste out of his mouth. “It’s a pretty extensive infirmary then, huh?”

“It certainly is. There are no hormones, but I assume that since the infirmary was ‘unlocked’ for us, those were directly provided in people’s rooms,” Ayano said, “But that doesn’t mean there are no controlled substances. There’s ‘flower juice’ here, which I can only assume is oxycontin… Please do not take any oxycontin.”

Jun grimaced. “God, trust me, I have absolutely no intention of ever going anywhere near that stuff. Why would they even put that in a Killing Game…?”

“Failed murder attempts might lead us to be glad for it,” Ayano said, “Or injuries from the outdoor hazards. It’s nice to have the option, at least. Though I do wish that we had some way of locking it so that it was only used in truly necessary scenarios… Along with the other controlled substances represented here. Nobody needs to leave this game with a new addiction.”

“Yeah. Medicine taken here does have a real life effect…” Jun noted, “I will never really understand what degree the NWP impacts reality. We kind of just have to assume that everything will, huh?”

“Human bodies are confusing enough without adding an extra layer of existence,” Ayano agreed, then lifted her marker to keep relabeling the medicine drawers. “There really are a lot of things in this infirmary, though. Even supplies for casting, dressing, packing wounds… Which does make sense, but. I sure hope we don’t need to use them.”

“Supplies for casting…” Jun observed, “Hey, that means we could get Evie’s leg set better, right? If anyone knows how to use that stuff.”

“I do not know how to use this stuff,” Ayano admitted, “My knowledge of first aid is incredibly basic. I learned some of it after… Finding Doromo-san.”

“Oh.”

“I guess I never mentioned it because I didn’t want you to worry. But it did change the way I looked at some things. I guess I thought, you know… If I had gotten there before Doromo died, I couldn’t have even done anything. I would have had to watch someone die. So I took a few workshops to at least think that maybe, I’d have a chance at saving a life if I was ever in that situation…”

“Maybe when we get out of here, I should do the same thing,” Jun said, “You mentioning it, I guess that I wouldn’t be able to save somebody’s life if I had to.”

“Yeah, you… Probably wouldn’t,” Ayano said, and blinked a few times. “Huh, that’s. Weird. I just had some Deja Vu, about you saying that. Have you said that before?”

“I don’t think so, but I guess it’s always possible,” Jun said, “I say a lot of things, I don’t remember all of them. Er, actually…” He realized that despite knowing Ayano and Hikari would both tell him if they were missing memories, he still had failed to mention this fact about himself to either of them. “Since getting here, I’ve felt like there might be some gaps in my memory.”

“_Might_ be?” Ayano asked, looking towards him again. “I’d be kind of surprised if there weren’t, really.”

“Huh, alright,” Jun said, “So are you missing stuff, with the Killing Game and all?”

She tilted her head to the side. “I don’t think so. But then, maybe I wouldn’t be able to tell, you know? I don’t keep track of things as well as you do. So you’re able to notice this stuff. But maybe it’s not connected to the Killing Game at all, you know?”

“...I guess that’s possible,” Jun said, though he wasn’t sure what else could have possibly prompted him to lose memories. Then again, that was what Yuji seemed to be worried about with himself. Jun had been keeping himself from worrying by telling himself that it _had_ to be connected to the game, but maybe it wasn’t as simple as that. “Well, thanks for the medicine. I’ll leave you to your theft in peace.”


	104. Daily Life: Day Five (Sometimes You Just Have To Feel It.)

** 11:00 AM / 1100 Hours **

Jun actually left the infirmary through its exterior door this time, though he wasn’t sure where he wanted to go from there. His thought process was more ‘leave Ayano to her task’ than ‘move onto my own next task’. So he hadn’t really gotten that far yet. Typical of him. Well, he had to make some decision, and that decision was to walk around outside because honestly, the fresh air felt pretty nice, and why did he usually do his aimless wandering indoors? That was pretty stupid of him. So it was time for outdoors wandering, though enough in control of his own facilities this time that he noticed Yume sitting on the beach.

It wasn’t the shallow swimming beach that she was sat at, but one of the other sides of the island, with a short but rocky drop to the ocean. Her legs hung over that drop, as she was again dressed in her outfit with the shorter skirt. Jun watched from a distance for a few minutes, then made up his mind to approach her, taking a seat beside her on the rocks. “Hey, Yume. How are you holding up?”

“...Not so great, to be honest,” Yume said, “I thought that I managed to, I dunno. Push down the anger and shit I was feeling? For once? But I guess that’s the issue with pushing it down, it doesn’t get rid of it, just makes it different. Cause I just feel… Shitty. And I mean, last night, you know? I was part of the first argument. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, so I ended up being rude to someone who didn’t deserve it.”

“You hardly said anything,” Jun said, “I’m not blaming anyone for that. Everybody’s really tense, now that the Killing Game actually started. We can try to pretend like we don’t think it’ll happen again, but no matter what, the tension’s there.”

“...Yeah. Fuck, I mean. I’m trying to feel… Normal. To be normal, I guess? But it doesn’t. I mean. My brother’s dead, my _twin_ brother got murdered cause he was being a stupid idiot who can’t organize his emotions reasonably again. And I am also a stupid idiot who can’t organize my emotions reasonably, just in a different way! Ugh! This whole thing is just so _fucked_!”

“I mean, I agree,” Jun said, “It’s really fucked. But I wouldn’t say Nanjo died because he was bad at his emotions. He died because Itadai killed him. Maybe he ended up in that situation because he was bad at his emotions, sure, but Itadai’s the one who did it. Honestly, I… It’s hard for me to want to say it was either of their faults. It’s the Killing Game, you know?”

“You could say it’s the Killing Game if it happened again now that we’re all on edge. Or if this had anything to do with the motives that Mono gave us. But that wasn’t the case,” Yume said, “So I blame both of them. Nanjo was a horny dumbass. Itadai got so caught up in his own head that he lost track of how he hurt others, up to and including lashing out and killing Nanjo. I can kinda understand that stuff. I lashed out at Itadai myself, after all… So both of them fucked up, and fucked it up for the rest of us too.”

“So you feel… What exactly?”

“Mad at them both. Really mad. And I miss Nanjo. And I feel like a bad person for being mad at Nanjo about this but I am, anyway. I’m super upset with both those idiot guys, and I guess with the universe too, for letting things play out this way. And I don’t know how to deal with it, really. I don’t know how to handle being angry with two dead people and the universe.”

“Your hobby box just had blankets in it, right?” Jun asked, “But, the gift shop has some other things. Even if it wouldn’t be ‘good’, I know that sometimes people are able to get their anger out through drawing. There’s notebooks and pencils.”

“Doubt it. What I really need is to be able to beat something up, but there’s no punching bags here. Pillows and shit aren’t nearly enough.” She sighed and dropped back onto the sand. “Usually, beating up a training dummy or something works. But that ain’t here. So I’m just burning up with nothin’ to do about it cause I can’t just attack a _person_ the only person who I’d wanna attack is already dead. And that, in the courtroom? Just wasn’t it. Not fucking enough.”

“...Would killing him have been enough?” Jun asked.

“In that courtroom right then, the way I felt… Killing every single person in the room wouldn’t be enough. So really, I’m grateful that Saya pulled me away. I don’t want to die. But, in that moment, I just wanted to burn up and take anyone I could down with me. Is that fucked up, Jun? How fucked up am I?”

“I mean… I don’t really think you’re fucked up,” Jun said, “But you put way too much stake in my opinion, I think. I’m not someone who has the authority to say if something’s fucked up or not.”

“Well, if you put it that way.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t tell you who’s a real authority you could ask, though. I dunno. Uh, Mono’s got the memories of a psychologist, right? Maybe she could tell you.”

“I don’t really want to ask _her_.”

“...Yeah, I wouldn’t either,” Jun said, “But, well. I do want to help you, in some way. Would it help if I let you punch me?”

“We’re friends, why would I punch you?”

“Just pretend like I’m a training dummy!” Jun flashed a thumbs-up.

Yume sat back up and narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you some kind of masochist?”

“W-What? No, not at all-”

“So it’s just you considering your own physical comfort less important than my emotional comfort,” Yume cut him off, “So I won’t punch you. It wouldn’t really make me feel any better, cause I don’t like. Wanna hurt my friends. Cut it out.”

“I guess I am doing that, huh?” Jun shook his head, defeated. “I’m trying to be nicer to myself, but it’s the only thing that I could think of. I wouldn’t mind a little bit of pain if it helped a friend.”

“Sure. That can be a noble way to think,” Yume said, “But not in the way that you invite your friends to hurt you. Jeeze.”

“Would you have taken me up on the offer if you didn’t decide yesterday that we’re friends now?” Jun asked.

“That’s a dumb thing to ask. No, honestly. I wouldn’t. Just cause I say I wanna punch shit, and I’m feeling fucking awful, doesn’t mean I actually wanna punch a real person right now. Just don’t know how to sort this. I dunno if there’s anything that I _can_ do, with your help or otherwise. I might just have to keep feeling this way.”

“Oh. That’s… sad.”

“Sometimes there’s just nothing to be done.” Yume shrugged, then carried the motion up to lace her fingers behind her neck as she looked up at the sky. “Just have to sit in these feelings. Just have to be kinda fucking miserable. Oh well. It’ll sort itself out eventually.”


	105. Daily Life: Day Five (Lunch Is Not A Real Phenomenon)

** 12:00 PM / 1200 Hours **

Jun sat there with Yume just a little while longer, then picked up and went back to the main building after she teased him for the noises his stomach was making. Due to his anxieties this morning, he hadn’t actually eaten nearly enough at breakfast. The past few days he had enough in the morning that he wasn’t hungry again until dinnertime, but not today. Lunch had never been an official meal, but he decided to partake of it today. He left Yume sitting at the cliffside when he made his way back, again through the gift shop. He picked up a bag of chips on his way through, then retrieved an apple and peanut butter sandwich in the dining hall kitchen.

He glanced around once he was back from the kitchen, noticing that he wasn’t the only person eating lunch. Yuji and Ryota were over at a table, and upon making eye contact, Ryota lifted a hand to wave him over. He approached and took a seat. “Hey there. Feeling better today, Nageko?”

Ryota shrugged. “Well, I was kind of already feeling better last night, but, yeah. It was just a bad moment. I had, er… A bad experience with a birthday, is all, so I was caught off guard. If Syoko had just asked me ahead of time, it probably would have been fine. I would have given her permission, and then I would have been able to prepare myself.”

“Dear, you wouldn’t have to do that. If you need to prepare yourself to receive a kind gesture from somebody without being hurt by it, then it’s not much of a kind gesture at all,” Yuji said, “I still can’t believe that she didn’t even think to ask.”

“It’s… Not really her fault, so we can drop it,” Ryota said, “I’d rather we just drop it, honestly.”

“Sure thing. So, what are you two up to today?” Jun asked.

“Not a whole lot,” Ryota said, “I checked in with Ayano again to make sure that she knew that I’m fine, and then I messed around in my lab for a while. Yuji came and asked if I wanted to grab lunch with him, so I did.”

“I’m still a growing boy,” Yuji said, “I’ve been eating lunch every day. Excluding, of course, when the trial was going on. Oowada has been, too, but I guess she decided not to today…”

“I haven’t seen her since breakfast,” Jun said, “She’s probably trying to avoid _me_.”

“Whyever would she avoid you, hon?” Yuji wondered.

“I…” He shrugged. “That’s a whole mess, honestly, I don’t think I understand it well enough myself to actually explain it to anybody else. Sorry.”

“Oh, no, that’s perfectly reasonable,” Yuji said, “Well, it isn’t reasonable that you’re in such a mess that it defies explanation, but I understand that such messes can occur, reasonable or not that you be subjected to them.”

“Er, thank you,” Jun said, “It’s, well. Not to bring up yesterday again, but the fact you got involved in both arguments kind of put you in an unreasonable mess too, didn’t it?”

“Precisely. I have my own experiences with such unreasonable messes that I understand how one could reasonably fail to properly describe or convey such a turn of events,” Yuji said, “Or perhaps not even want to, let’s be honest here. I wouldn’t pry into your personal life if you didn’t wish to share it even _if_ it were easily explained.”

“It’s generally good form not to pry too much into people’s personal lives, yes,” Ryota said, “Unfortunately, this game does seem to invite that sort of thing as well. Though, I guess ‘become nosey and suspicious of everything about everyone around you game’ doesn’t have the same ring.”

“I’d like to think that I’m not being any more nosey than I usually am,” Jun said, “Unfortunately, yes, I am under normal circumstances a bit more, uh, meddlesome. Than is socially accepted.”

“That surprises me,” Ryota said, “I sort of took you as the type to mind your own business. Or, maybe it just seems that way because you’re not acting like being intrusive is justified by the situation.”

“No, I am just naturally intrusive. It’s a shameful flaw,” Jun said, “But I guess that I don’t care enough about how bad it is, to actually stop being this way. I wouldn’t say the situation justifies it… I mean, except for during investigations and trials, but that’s not trying to find out people’s pasts and secrets for the sake of it, it’s trying to find out who’s the culprit and maybe some secrets accidentally get dug up in the meantime.”

“Mhm, yeah. So, I bet, you’re like. Suuuuper curious about me,” Ryota said, “And what the fuck is going on with me. But, you’re not being weird about it. You want to know, but unlike some others, you aren’t acting like you’re entitled to the truth _just in case_ I commit a murder someday.”

“Like you’d ever do that,” Yuji said, “It’s absurd to even think that you might, dear.”

“Awe, thanks Yuji.” Ryota laughed, then glanced back towards Jun and tucked a bit of hair that had fallen from the clips back behind his ear. “Well, I’m sorry that you need to stew in the ‘not knowing’, but really. Anything that’s going on with me, none of you need to know it. I mean, nobody needs to know it at all, really, it’s not like it would change at all from anybody knowing. My situation is on me to manage.”

“That’s a pretty cavalier way to look at things,” Jun said, “But don’t be afraid to reach out if you need it, either… I mean, I’m not really good at this stuff. But Saihara’s good at a lot of things. If you can forgive her for last night, she’d probably be able to give you good advice even if you didn’t tell her what the problem is.”

“Forgive. I mean, there’s nothing to forgive, she didn’t really mess up,” Ryota said, “She had no reason to assume… And, like I said, if she asked ahead of time I’d have been fine. Fuck, I could have even been fine with the surprise if not for that motive. Knowing that he’s watching.”

“That’s…” Jun realized, “I do know something about what’s going on with you, yeah. So ‘Kenta’. Would that be your dad, who uh. Tried to kill you?”

“Yeah. That’d be him,” Ryota said, then stood up. “You know what? I want to make it up to Saihara. Prove that there are no hard feelings. What if we had a party tonight, just a nondenominational party? And I asked her to help plan?”

“I think… That actually would smooth things over,” Jun said, “If you want to.”

“Well, far be it from me to say you shouldn’t,” Yuji said, “It isn’t that hard to be just a little bit observant and considerate of the people around you. So I’d say there’s something to forgive there. But if you forgive her, dear, so will I.”

“I do, yeah. Thanks for standing up for me again,” Ryota said, then waved as he walked off towards the exit of the dining hall.


	106. Daily Life: Day Five (Gossip Hound)

** 1:00 PM / 1300 Hours **

Jun started to stand to follow Ryota, but Yuji grabbed him by the wrist to hold him back instead. “I think that Saihara will be more willing to listen if Nageko talks to her alone, don’t you?”

“I mean… I’m on pretty good terms with her,” Jun said, “But now that I think about it for two more seconds, yeah, okay. If I went along it might seem like it was my idea or something, like a kid trying to get bickering parents to get along again…”

“Of course, those two could _never_.” Yuji chuckled. “Oh, it’s my turn to be nosey, Barasu. Did your parents fight a lot, when you were growing up?”

“Not really,” Jun said, “I mean, I was never scared that my moms were gonna get divorced, or that my dad would leave, or anything. They all argued playfully a lot, sure. And of course there were serious fights, from time to time. But, yeah. I never thought that my family was going to fall apart, even at the worst of times.”

“You have… Three parents?” Yuji asked.

“Well, uh. Yes?” Jun shrugged. “I mean, I’ve got my mom and my mum. And my mom’s, I guess best friend, but he helped them raise me so much that he was always more like ‘dad’ than ‘uncle’, if you get it?”

“Oh, ‘best friend’, of course.” Yuji winked.

“No, for real, he was her best friend. Or more like her brother, it was just _that_ platonic. Apparently he even called her onee-chan back before I was born. And I think that’s enough of you being nosey. You heard more about me just now than I’ve actually heard about you…”

“Ah, that’s true, isn’t it? Allow me to remedy that for you. It might seem curious to you, that Nageko wishes to have a party after reacting so immediately last night. But… Wouldn’t you still wish you could have a birthday party, without needing to feel bad, if something awful happened on your birthday? You’d miss all the good birthdays you had before that one. You’d effectively wish you could move it to any other day, or just have a celebration which doesn’t relate to the fact you’ve grown a year older.”

“If you put it that way, then it makes perfect sense,” Jun said, “But, good grief. What sort of… Why would something awful enough to spoil the entire event happen on somebody’s birthday?”

Yuji narrowed his eyes. “Are you honestly going to be appalled at the particular _day_ something terrible might happen, after that last trial? There was somebody here who was named out of spite by a woman who said she would abort a boy, who ended up being transgender. After that, can you really be caught off guard by even the slightest hint of anything else?”

“I… Guess. Should you really be telling me this about Nageko? I kind of was prodding _you_.”

“Nageko and I are _roommates_. Information about us is effectively the same, as far as the nosey are concerned.”

“Yeah right. I mean, my roommate says that I’m the only person who can call him by his first name, and I really don’t understand any information about him at all.”

“Maybe it’s the other way around, and Shinku knows everything about you. Maybe even things you don’t know about you.”

“That’s really creepy and I can’t see how that would be true,” Jun said, “So, come on. I’m more curious about you. Your question about the VIP list was about your _mentor_. So, what I’m really wondering about, is your girlfriend. You’ve mentioned her a few times, but, she didn’t come up during that conversation at all. Didn’t you wonder why she wasn’t on there? Or is there something else weird going on here? Is ‘Sara Fujinuma’ your girlfriend?”

“No, I’ve never heard that name in my life,” Yuji said.

“So she wasn’t on the list. Why not ask about that? Aren’t you worried that she could be dead?”

“I’m not worried that she could be dead.” Yuji crossed his arms and looked away. “Wow, you really are nosey. My girlfriend isn’t any of your business, but I’m certain that she’s alive.”

“Huh. Then, you must just be pretty glad that she isn’t being forced to watch the game.”

“She… Is alive, and isn’t being forced to watch the game. That’s right. It’s definitely reassuring.”

“Dude you’re… bad at lying,” Jun said, “But I don’t really know what I’m trying to catch you out on.”

“I’m not lying! I know that my girlfriend is alive and isn’t watching the game!”

“I believe that,” Jun said, “But I somehow don’t believe that you actually find it reassuring, dude? What, do you think that you’re going to be able to pull off some big heroic move during this game, and you’re disappointed that she won’t be guaranteed to see it? I mean, you did punch a girl. Should be glad she didn’t see you do that.”

“Right… Look, are you trying to get me to say I was lying about having a girlfriend? Why would I lie about that? I mean. Have you met me? I’d be more likely to be lying if I said that I _don’t_ have a girlfriend. Her name’s Hiyoko, she’s certainly real.”

“Aha. So the fact that she isn’t necessarily watching the game means that you don’t have any checks and balances to keep you from cheating on her, huh?” Jun offered.

“It… Wouldn’t be cheating anyway, we’re in an open relationship. We’re both too much for one person to handle.” Yuji chuckled. “I mean, the usual terms are that we’re ‘not dating’ on nights out, but we’re also ‘not dating’ when on vacation. This might fall under that heading, in a weird way. Er, whatever the case. I would not cheat, regardless of if my girlfriend was watching, if the current situation didn’t actually already fall under exemption from being cheating.”

“Huh. I can’t say I expected to find that out,” Jun said, “So you’re swingers… Uh. Fine, I’ve got one other question for you that’s a little bit more focused than whatever that was.”

“I just told you a fact about my _sex life_, I don’t think I owe you any other information about myself…”

“I mean, I can give you a fact about my sex life if it evens the scales, I’m actually way more curious about this other question.”

“Ah, yes, the only fact which exists about your sex life, which is that you don’t have one, right? That would be a clever loophole.”

“I _do_ have one, well outside of this game had one, but I’m not actually going to even those scales unless you make the deal with me.”

“...Now I _am_ curious, but okay, tell me the question first. I won’t make a deal and get suckered into telling you something seriously secret.”

“I noticed that Nageko calls you Yuji. But, you still call him Nageko. What’s the deal with that? If you’re close enough already to be on first name basis, shouldn’t you just be on first name basis flat out?”

“...That’s too personal, hon. Looks like what you get up to in the bedroom will stay a mystery to me.” Yuji stood up from the table, and brought his arms straight up into an exaggerated shrug. “Sorry! Come on, let’s go meet up with Nageko, and if all went well, Saihara.”


	107. Daily Life: Day Five (Party Planning)

Jun hesitated to agree with Yuji on the idea of moving on from their conversation, but then, what was he supposed to do? Say ‘no, I’m not moving till I get an answer’? Yuji would just leave without him if he said that, there was absolutely no reason for Yuji to answer a question that he didn’t want to answer. So Jun stood up and followed Yuji out of the dining hall, where they encountered Syoko and Ryota just about immediately in the hallway.

“Hey guys!” Ryota waved to them again. “I talked with Syoko, and we worked things out.”

“Yes. I apologized for being presumptuous, and I’d absolutely love to help plan a party for no reason,” She said, “I think that it would be fun, and a good way to try and deal with all of this tension that we’ve had going on between us since the trial. If we can just relax and have a nice time together for an evening, then everything will be alright. I just wonder where we should have it…”

“I’d say the beach,” Yuji said, “But it would take us a few hours to get everything set up… And we’d want to clear out before the hazards arrived, so that’s about a half hour before nighttime as a safe buffer to finish up and get back inside. So that’s four and a half hours at most. I’m not sure how much fun we can actually pull off, in that little time?”

“So I guess we have to hold it indoors… And here in the main building, too. So do we just decorate the Dining Hall?” Jun asked.

“That’s awfully office-party of us,” Syoko said, “Barely entertaining at all, you know? If we had to just have it in the Dining Hall, why have a celebration at all?”

“I agree,” Ryota said, “It just isn’t worth it if we have to do it there… So, maybe the plan’s shot, huh? We could try for tomorrow in daylight hours…”

“No, no, don’t do that!” Mercury’s voice startled the four participants. “Look, I have _enough_ control over the hazards, I could keep them from coming out for just one night. You can have it on the beach as late as you’d like. Isn’t that kind of me? Isn’t that wonderful?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s kind of you,” Jun said, “I’m sure that you have some ulterior motive. Why are you doing this?”

“Ohhh, jeeze, you got me. I’d really like it if you have this party of yours as soon as possible, because that’s always a recipe for another murder to occur, and I’m really bored,” Mercury said, “I’ve never liked the ‘teen drama’ genre, and that’s all you kids get up to in between the killing. Arguing and fucking and misunderstanding each other, it’s like Dawson’s Creek but I actually expect it to get interesting eventually.”

“What is Dawson’s Creek?” Jun asked, mostly to himself.

“So you’re doing us a ‘favor’ because you hope it will entertain you more sooner?” Syoko asked, “That’s weird. You’re very strange, Mars. You do realize that if this doesn’t result in a murder, you’re enabling us to have a beach party, which is in fact very teen drama of us?”

“Eh, I’ll take that risk. Kiraaa…” At that, Mono popped into the hallway, seeming caught off guard from the unconventional summoning. “You’ll help these kids set up their beach party, won’t you? Make sure that there are plenty of options for them to find nice, private places in which to murder.”

“Okay,” Mono said, then waited a few minutes to find that Mercury had no further response. She motioned for Jun to lean down and whispered to him, “I won’t do that. I mean, I’ll help you set up, but I won’t place any structures for murdering to happen or anything.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Jun said, and it was almost not sarcastic.

“Finally, some slight gratitude,” Mono said, then started to walk towards the gift shop. “Well, what are you waiting for? Don’t you guys wanna prove Mercury wrong by having a super fun beach party where nobody turns up dead?”

“...Well, that’s up to you, Nageko,” Syoko said, “This was your idea, so do you want to go ahead and have it tonight, even though she said those things?”

“I mean, since we have the option to do it tonight, we may as well take it,” Ryota said, “I mean, we’d prove her wrong if we had a party without anybody dying, period. She’s acting like it’s inevitable whenever we have it, and she can quicken the process by letting us do it tonight… I don’t want to just give up on doing anything fun out of fear.”

“That was my thinking too!” Syoko confirmed with a grin. “So, let’s get to work!”

Yuji and Jun looked to each other and shared a nod as well, so the four participants and one moderator walked into the gift shop and gathered in canvas bags as many party materials as they could carry, before carrying on to the beach. Admittedly, there was something a bit awkward about planning a party on a beach that had been previously used to try and dispose of a murder weapon, but that was just how things were in this place. Just like they couldn’t give up on planning activities because those activites might lead to a murder, they also couldn’t abandon locations just because they were related to a murder that had already happened. Maybe if it was someplace really unfortunate, like a death in the Dining Hall, it would become difficult to manage, but the beach was the beach.

Jun was pretty sure that most real beaches had probably seen their own fair share of involvement in crimes, so he couldn’t be too torn up about it. Dome City had no Ocean, but there was a lake with a sandy beach that served about the same purpose for the city’s kids. There were oceans on the planet, outside of the dome. It was more worthwhile to fix the atmosphere of a land area than to try and capture or separate an ocean which didn’t have nearly as much practical use.

But even the lake beach back home, probably… Did have some involvement in a crime, now that he thought about it. He wasn’t sure how he knew that, he couldn’t think what that crime would have been, but it wasn’t like Dome City was completely crime free. Even when people were provided for, there were always bad people and always mistakes to be made. And beaches attracted involvement in that crime. Bottom line was, Jun didn’t actually find himself that weirded out by having a party on this beach. It was a passing thought, was all, before he got to work on setting up with the others.


	108. Daily Life: Day Five (Not So Great An Idea)

** 4:00 PM / 1500 Hours **

They were making alright progress so far on setting up, as these things could go. Mono had done the extent of her abilities by spawning in some things like beach chairs and coolers, but there wasn’t much else she could really do; If an item existed or was planned to exist anywhere in the game, she was locked out of placing it herself, so most of the prep had to be done by human hands using whatever they could find of use in the gift shop. For example, the coolers didn’t come filled with ice; That had to be done manually.

Being ‘strong men’, quoth Ryota and Syoko, Jun and Yuji were tasked with going back and forth hauling bags of ice for the coolers. That would take a while. Jun was kind of a weakling by some standards, he was considered ‘weak for a man’, but that didn’t mean he had any trouble carrying two bags of ice the necessary distance. He placed the plastic bags into canvas ones, though, so he could have handles and not be directly holding the very cold ice. Yuji did the same, but he carried four ices at once, two in each of his canvas bags. He could technically handle five or six, but that would start to get unwieldy. They did need so much ice, though.

Luckily, the gift shop ice freezer case kind of seemed to have an endless supply, which helped. They had already been working on setup for over an hour when they ran into two others in the gift shop- Shin and Saya.

“Hey there!” Saya greeted the boys, “Mercury told us that you’re having a party. What are you working on right now?”

“We’re getting ice for coolers,” Jun said, “Syoko and Nageko are decorating out on the beach. Did Mercury also tell you that the hazards are disabled tonight, so we can stay up late?”

“She did mention that, yes. So you’re filling coolers… Don’t you need something to go in those coolers?” Shin asked.

“Well… Hm, it seems that we just didn’t get so far as that,” Yuji admitted, “I was going to grab some bottled beverages from in here, but I suppose that it would also be reasonable to have food available, wouldn’t it?”

“Precisely, that’s why I’m here. We can put ingredients from the Dining Hall into some of the coolers, and I’m sure that Mono could provide us with _some_ method of cooking outdoors. I’d like to offer my services, with doing that cooking,” Shin said, “I was signed up for dinner this evening anyhow, and I honestly find the prospect of gradually offering different foods easier than making a meal for everyone at once.”

“Huh! Yeah, that makes sense. In that case, Jun, let’s get this batch of ice out and let the others know, then I’ll finish this up and you can help Tsubasa gather food?” Yuji offered.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Jun said, and lifted his two bags of ice while Yuji grabbed his four. Everybody went out towards the beach, the ice was dumped into additional coolers, and Jun got the attention of the other two. “Hey Syoko, Nageko. Yoshiro and Tsubasa volunteered to help set up too. Tsubasa’s gonna handle food, so I’ll help him bring the stuff in here.”

“Oh! That’s nice,” Syoko said, then looked at Saya. “And what would you like to help with?”

“Heh, well, I was thinking. We know we’ve got the supplies in the gift shop and all, and I’m actually pretty good at it, so I could bartend!” Saya pressed her hands together. “I could really make some tasty mixed drinks! I’ve been helping Mercury entertain guests ever since I was little, after all.”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Jun said, “I mean… Our NWP pods would be in Japan, right? That means only three of us are old enough to drink legally. I’m not sure that we should be breaking laws while we’re here…”

“Yeah. Even if we decided to go by Dome City’s laws, that only adds two people,” Syoko said, “Nageko and Oowada. And I mean, sure, you could only serve them, but that would still be kind of rude to the people who are too young.”

“Hey now, lighten up!” Yuji chuckled. “It’s a party, after all. And I mean, really, it’s a pretty small law to break. It isn’t against the rules here. If it’s a choice between somebody committing a murder, and some minors getting drunk?”

“What makes you think someone will be murdered if people aren’t drinking?” Shin questioned, then shrugged. “But I have to say, I think it would be fine too. We all deserve to loosen up a bit, and it would certainly be easier to do that if we were drinking. The gift shop has no restrictions on who can get booze, so it must be expected of us. And, to be frank, I sincerely doubt that any of us _haven’t_ had a drink before.”

“I haven’t,” Jun said, “I’m straight-edge. I’m a square.”

“So you’ve said,” Ryota chimed in, “But as somebody who is very much not a square, and also suggested we have this party in the first place, my vote is for yes alcohol.”

“Are you forgetting the fact that the previous murder culprit _was drunk_?” Syoko asked, pressing two fingers to her temple with a sigh. “I mean, I can see that majority rules, so I’m just talking to the void at this point. But I just don’t think that it’s a good idea, to be inviting people to have a drink. I mean, we don’t know each other that well. For all you guys know, somebody here could be an alcoholic. You did tell me to be more considerate about possible problems, remember?”

“I mean… An alcoholic? Seriously?” Yuji asked, “We’re teenagers. I’m pretty sure none of us even have regular enough access to satisfy the criteria for that.”

“I… Well, like I said. It doesn’t matter if I think it’s a bad idea, since those of us who do think that are outnumbered.” Syoko crossed her arms. “Well. I guess that the gift shop _is_ always open anyway, so it’s not changing much. I just… Don’t mind me. I guess it’s fine.”

“Just for tonight,” Jun relented, “But I’m still not advocating for breaking the law! Just turning the other cheek, this once.”


	109. Daily Life: Day Five (Start Of The Party)

** 6:00 PM / 1800 Hours **

Having settled the minor disagreement on the matter of whether alcohol would be served at the party or not, everybody had moved on to their own tasks. Yuji finished putting ice in the coolers, Saya transported booze and mixers, and Jun helped Shin gather food while Syoko and Ryota did the rest of the decorating. Eventually, it seemed ready, and Mono made a facility-wide announcement for everybody else to come on down to the beach.

Shortly after the announcement, one guest arrived, just Yume. “Hey! Just wanted to give you a heads-up, folks are probably gonna be a bit longer. I’m also gonna go back to my room then come back, uh. You guys also should! Mercury I guess added a whole bunch of swimsuit options to the gift shop, so we were on our way over here and spotted them and yeah.”

“Was nobody coming from the labs building?” Jun asked.

“Oh, I dunno. I mean, not everyone was coming from the main building. Ebizakaya went to check for others in the lab building to let them know, though, so it should be set real soon. You guys oughta check out the suits yourselves, though. Plenty of options. Weirdly nice of Mercury to do all this…” Yume said.

“It isn’t actually nice at all,” Saya said, “She probably hopes that this party will result in a murder-”

“Yeah, she outright told the initial four of us that much,” Syoko confirmed.

“And also, um, she might actually have the intention of seeing people here in swimsuits,” Saya said, giving an awkward shrug. “Uh. I dunno, exactly. Well. She says that she only has eyes for Kira… And she might make Mono take that sort of form during the party at some point, too? Which is weird but. Weirder is that, yeah, she’s just kind of off the deep end about this stuff?”

Yume stood there for a moment, then laughed. “Oh, whatever! You wear a cute swimsuit to the beach, a whole _lot_ of older creeps are gonna ogle at you. I can handle _one_.”

“Oh, certainly! I won’t bother wearing a swimsuit because my current outfit is more suited to my role as bartender, but I wouldn’t bother caring either. I don’t know if anyone really should.”

“Besides,” Yume said, “There’s perfectly modest options, too. So if anyone wants to avoid being ogled outright, they’ve got that choice.”

“Huh. See, that detail, that is strangely kind of her,” Saya said, “But, take your ups where you can get them!”

“Anyway. I’m gonna go and get changed, whichever of you are interested in swimmin’ should too.” Yume turned and walked back towards the gift shop. The party preppers, excluding Shin and Saya, shrugged around at each other and proceeded to all walk that way as well. Yume wasn’t kidding that there were plenty of options in the gift shop; Since Jun had last walked through, several of the centerpiece shelves had been entirely swapped out for rotating racks of suits. He decided to go for the easiest, most simple option, a pair of solid brown swim trunks.

“Wow, that’s creative,” Syoko teased him, then held up her own selection. It was a plain black bikini with a translucent blue-and-pink gradiented pareo over the top. “But, then again, I guess that boys don’t get such cute swimsuit options as us ladies do.”

“I bet a sun hat would go well with that,” Ryota chimed in, pointing to Syoko before pulling out his own selection. Skull-patterned black trunks, and a grey short-sleeved rashguard. “I guess this works for me…”

“It doesn’t _need_ to,” Yuji basically muttered, but then showed off his own… Selection. It was hardly a selection at all, really just a small bit of fabric. A lime green speedo. “What were you saying, about not having cute swimsuit options for men, Saihara?”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” She joked, “You’ve got to actually wear that now.”

“Oh, I did intend to. Back in my room, I’ve got a pair of sandals this exact shade. Coordination, my darlings.” Yuji couldn’t help but laughing. “It’s amusing, but I’m not really kidding. I’ve got nothing against being ogled, after all.”

“Mhm, mhm!” Syoko nodded along. “Of course. Though, I’m going about it a bit more tastefully. I worked hard for this body, you know? I’ll be ogled through the disarming lens of the barely-there overgarment.”

“People with body confidence are weird,” Jun observed, then turned away to go change into these trunks in his room. Upon returning to the beach, he wasn’t actually the last person back, through it seemed anyone who had gone straight from the main building in the original grouping had made it out. That was represented by Tooru, Everett, and Homura. Everett wasn’t wearing a swimsuit at all, just sitting on the beach in his regular outfit. Tooru wasn’t dressed nearly as indecently as Yuji would be, but still wore shorter trunks with little white stripes on the side.

Homura’s suit was a bit similar to Tooru’s, being short and red as well, but in being not so tight it seemed more decent. Jun caught a glimpse of something odd on his back, as he didn’t wear a t-shirt or a rashguard. Upon trying to look closer, Jun realized it was several somethings. A tattoo of a rose on the small of his back, and a few odd-looking scars, patterned almost like tree bark. That was probably a sore subject, so he wouldn’t bring it up, but he just might have to ask about that tattoo. It was a rare thing to see among the Japanese.

As he had been observing those who were already here, others arrived on the beach. It seemed that both Hikari and Yume had similar thinking to Syoko, wearing relatively revealing swimsuits with transclucent wrap-skirts, a bit less coy than Syoko’s full-dress pareo. Yume’s was a similarly simple bikini, while Hikari wore a suit with a plunging neckline and laced-up sides which was somehow _more_ risque. Ayano’s was comparatively somehow _less_ risque despite just being a bikini with an odd fur trim.

Irarako was in what Jun could only really call a half-wetsuit, going down to her elbows and to her knees. It looked athletic, and in that respect, suited her. Finally, there was… Emi, who, okay. Jun had to admit that strange ‘flipping’ crush was firmly in the ‘on’ position right now, what the hell. She had her hair pulled away from her face in a ponytail, and wore swim shorts with a cropped tank top which exposed her midriff. And her abs. Fuck, she had _actual abs_, right, of course she did, she was built like a _very small tank_. Jun… Wasn’t really sure what he was going to do about this.

** Beach Party Image Gallery: https://sta.sh/28qmonuymjt?edit=1 **


	110. Daily Life: Day Five (Agreement To Wait)

With everybody there for the beach party, people started to have fun. Now that swimsuits had been made available, plenty of people went straight for taking the opportunity to go swimming. Emi, however, wasn’t yet; She was just hanging out next to the table that Shin and Saya had set up, eating a raw carrot that she’d pulled out of one of the coolers. Shin had been able to get a charcoal grill set up, and was just waiting for it to heat up enough to start cooking.

“Uh, hey, Oowada,” Jun said as he approached. “I wanted to apologize for this morning.”

“...You didn’t really do anything wrong. I was just stressed out, and I guess I jumped to conclusions and took it out on you,” Emi admitted, “If I was really still upset about that, I wouldn’t have come here at all. I skipped lunch cause I didn’t wanna run into you, but that’s on me, and I’m fine now. But that is why I’m eating this carrot. I usually don’t go from breakfast all the way through till dinner.”

“I figure,” Jun said, “You can’t really build muscle mass without calories to go into it, right?”

“Mm, exactly. So I end up eating a lot, for my size,” Emi said, “And… Look. Going back to what I said this morning, I really couldn’t articulate it clearly, so I want to just clear some things up. I do… Kind of like you. But the thing is that I’ve been having some trouble lately, figuring some stuff out about myself. So until I can say who I am, you can’t know who I am. And I don’t want to ask you to like somebody who might not really be me.”

“That… Yeah, it makes more sense that way.” Jun looked down and pressed his toes against the sand. “I’ll be honest with you, too. You make me feel… Strange. It’s as if I like you romantically one minute, and just platonically the next? So maybe that’s because, I like one version of you. I can’t tell if it’s you now, or who you ‘really are’ peeking through, or something? And since I don’t know which it is, I don’t know if I have feelings for you.”

“Heh, well… I guess we just have to wait until I get my shit sorted out, then,” Emi said, “And then see if it’s anything, or if it’s nothing.”

“Yeah… I did want to say, you look nice with your hair up off your face like this,” Jun said, “I mean, in general. I don’t think that what you normally wear actually suits you that well? Which is, fine, if that’s what you like to wear, but. Uh. Sorry, that’s, I just-”

“No.” Emi held a hand up for him to stop, and smiled. “Well, normally saying that to somebody would be a serious foot in your mouth, but you’re in luck. I’ve been thinking about changing up my style lately anyhow.”

“Oh, you have?” Jun asked, “I imagine it’s not quite like this, though.”

“Pfft, no!” Emi laughed. “I mean, midriff _and_ shoulders exposed? That’d just make people think that I’m showing off, if I dressed like this on the daily. I wouldn’t wanna do _that_.”

“I mean, why not show off? It’s a real accomplishment, to be able to have muscles like yours,” Jun said, “You may as well let people see what you’ve managed to do.”

“Eh… I mean, people usually think that you’re an asshole if you do stuff like that, though. Everyone’s always making fun of ‘muscle bros’ and all,” Emi said, “I was just thinking that I might start wearing, like, a cool coat?”

“You could rock a cool coat. Not on top of what you usually wear, though. That would be an absolute fashion disaster,” Shin said, “Hi, did you forget I was here?”

“Sort of!” Emi squeaked, then composed herself. “Uh, sorry that you overheard that stuff, then. And, no, I wouldn’t start wearing a cool coat over the stuff that I usually wear. That would look dumb. I’d figure out something else to wear under the cool coat.”

“Oh, no worries, I didn’t need to overhear anything, I was trying to. I could have just walked away and not listened in on your conversation,” Shin said, “But I was curious. I had noticed earlier, that there seemed to be tension between you. I wished to ascertain that this tension was not of any worrisome nature.”

“You! You’re exactly what we were complaining about earlier!” Jun pointed at Shin. “I mean, not me and Oowada. Me and some others. How I’m a nosy person but it’s less annoying coming from me because I don’t act like the Killing Game justifies it.”

“...Huh. I suppose I was doing that. But can you blame me? I just wanted to be sure you wouldn’t murder each other-”

“You’re still justifying it. Dude, just admit that you’re being a gossip hound and leave it at that,” Emi said.

“Ah. Right, of course, I’m sorry. Yeah, I wasn’t really worried you’d kill each other. I just wanted to know what in the world got somebody to have tension with _Barasu_. I’m still a bit… Surprised and confused at the nature of this, I can’t imagine you’re in the same league. Oowada, what _do_ you see in him.”

“G-Given that we have decided not to pursue anything for the time being.” Emi was turning red. “I think that it would be inappropriate for me to answer that question.”

“I also think so. I don’t need the ego boosting that bad,” Jun said, “But, uh, whatever it is that she does see in me, thanks. Let’s move on. Why aren’t you swimming yet, Oowada?”

“Oh, everyone’s in right now,” Emi said, “So I’m waiting till it’s a little bit emptier. It’s disrespectful to try and swim laps when people are just trying to enjoy themsel… Huh.”

“What?” Jun asked, leaning over to see what Emi had just turned her head to look at.

“Yume must be a pretty strong swimmer, to get all the way to those rocks there. I thought that she was pretty weak, but…”

“She must have strong legs,” Jun said, “That’d explain her fighting style, too. I mean, you saw that she was mostly kicking, right? But Yoshiro could pull her away with no trouble. So it’s exclusively her legs that are strong.”

“Kind of impressive, that’s all. As I was saying, I just don’t want to get in anybody’s way, so I’m giving it a bit.” She brought a hand up to scratch behind her ear. “Tsubasa, what’s the first round of food looking like?”

“Chicken and bell pepper kebabs, why?” Shin asked.

“Cool, I prefer red meat. I’ll have my fun when people get out of the water for that food, then eat a bit later.” She flashed a thumbs-up to nobody in particular. “Heh, and I guess once I’ve gotten my exercise in, I could do with a drink, Yoshiro. How about you, Jun?”

“I mean, I’m pretty straight edge, but…” Jun sighed. “Hell, you know, I might die in the next few days. My reasoning is usually that dependence runs in my family, but, if I don’t survive at all there’s no time for a dependence to develop, right? So I may as well try something when food’s ready.”


	111. Daily Life: Day Five (Homura Crypt)

** 7:00 PM / 1900 Hours **

Shin had the first round of food ready shortly, and just as Emi predicted, almost everyone came back to the beach to eat. She took the opportunity to go swimming while people were eating, again, as predicted. Jun took a kebab, and got a drink from Saya despite receiving strange looks from Syoko. He gave her the same justification he’d cited earlier, and she herself had a drink, but for some reason she still seemed uncomfortable. Oh well. Whatever Saya had made for him was actually pretty good, and didn’t burn at all or anything. Kind of dangerous to have a drink this nice, huh?

Well, anyway. Jun was enjoying himself, and everybody else seemed to be as well. Everybody else except Homura, actually. Homura was standing by himself and, it seemed, staring off into the distance. He was holding a can of Strong Zero himself, by the top of the can, down by his side. Jun thought for a moment, then decided to approach. “Hey, Homura. You alright?”

“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Homura said, with a somewhat awkward laugh. “Why wouldn’t I be…?”

“I dunno,” Jun said, taking a few more steps to stand next to him. “You just don’t really look like you’re having fun, is all.”

“I uh… Don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets-”

“That’s Star Wars,” Jun cut him off.

“So it is.” Homura went quiet after that, then heaved a sigh. “I’m just having a hard time, you know? And really, I shouldn’t complain. I mean, compared to some other people here… I know who I am, I’m Homura. And you all know that, too, I’m a guy named Homura, I don’t feel the need to keep that a secret, and I don’t feel the need to deny myself the truth.”

“Just because you don’t have the same struggles as somebody else doesn’t mean that you can’t complain about your own struggles.”

“Frankly, I think you’ve got some of the same struggle as I do, Barasu,” Homura said, “But we don’t need to go into all of that right now.”

“Okay. But I still want to know why you’re not enjoying yourself.”

“I might not need to hide that I’m me, but there’s still things I need to hide. I need to pretend like so many things are fine, when they aren’t. And I can’t just leave and hide, I can’t really do anything about it. I’m stuck at this party surrounded by people who’d laugh if I died.”

“What… Makes you think that?” Jun questioned, turning to now stand in front of Homura, facing him. “Seriously. You’re the only one who doesn’t think you’re friends with people here. You don’t have to trust us, but you have to know that we do care about you. And… Hikari, maybe, but nobody else here would laugh at a death at all. Even if they didn’t like you, which they do, they wouldn’t _laugh_.”

“Oh, is that really so?” Homura questioned, then made an attempt to seemingly hard-pivot the conversation. He lifted his free hand to point at the drink in Jun’s hand. “Is that really necessary?”

“Huh? You’ve got a drink too, nerd. At least I’m _legal_.”

“I’m just having the one,” Homura said.

“Well, so am I.”

Homura narrowed his eyes. Jun decided that meant it was his turn to change the topic. “That tattoo you’ve got. That’s pretty unusual…”

“It’s pretty pedestrian, I thought. It’s just a rose,” Homura said, “Nageko seemed to think that it was really cool.”

“Well, it might not be the most original subject for a tattoo, but I meant the fact that you _have a tattoo_. Especially at age sixteen.”

“Ohhh, yeah, sure. It might be a little bit weird, but you know, I decided that I wanted to get it to commemorate a certain, very important event in my life. You can’t truly begrudge me that, can you?” Homura asked, and leaned toward Jun. Just like when Ayano did it, sudden eye contact from Homura was a very unsettling thing.

“Er, no, I can’t. Still, that’s just not a really normal thing to do in Japan, right? It makes people think that you have mob connections?”

“Hm. Yeah, maybe,” Homura said, “But did you know the origin of yakuza tattoos, Jun?”

“I can’t say I do.”

“Before they claimed them for themselves as a show of intimidation, tattoos were used as part of the law. They were brands, in a sense, for criminals. A tattoo meant you had committed a crime and been caught. Eventually, the yakuza began tattooing themselves intentionally with that meaning in mind.” Homura took a step back and clasped his hands in front of himself. “I was using the original meaning. I have a tattoo to show that I committed the crime of surviving.”

“Of… Of what?” Jun questioned, and it was his turn to take a step back. “What do you mean, a crime? Isn’t the criminal the person who tried to kill you?”

“Just because somebody committed the crime of killing me.” Homura smiled. “Doesn’t mean that I’m not guilty of living. Really, think of it this way. If you killed me, to spare our peers the nuisance of having me around… Maybe you would be executed, sure, but nobody would say that you did something _wrong_. You’d receive a harsh punishment. So then if I somehow didn’t die, and you were punished for killing me, then I’d need to be punished for surviving too. That’s how it happened, back then. The person who killed me didn’t hate me. Everyone else did. Everyone wanted me dead and gone and that person was doing them a favor. So my survival was a cruel act on my part. A crime against those who didn’t want me alive.”

“That seems like a really bad way to look at things, Homura,” Jun said, “That’s… That’s ridiculous. You should be happy you survived, not acting like it’s some sort of, grievous sin?”

“But it is a sin,” Homura said, “If nobody wants you to do something, and you do it anyway, then you’re doing something wrong.”

“Homura!” Jun snapped, taking a step towards him. “The fact that you survived at all… If it was really that bad, then it means somebody wanted you to be alive! Somebody put in the effort to make sure that you didn’t die, so obviously, not everyone wanted you dead. Maybe somebody did want you dead, but that person’s an _idiot_ and so is anyone else who agreed with him.”

“You… Really aren’t too bright, Jun.” Homura muttered, then turned and walked away before Jun could even begin to figure out what it was he meant by that.


	112. Daily Life: Day Five (Last Memory Of The Party)

Despite the strange nature of his conversation with Homura, Jun was able to get back into the swing of things and have a nice time. Homura seemed to be having fun as well now, though he was definitely doing it _away_ from Jun. He didn’t try to close that gap at all, they’d both enjoy the night more if they didn’t. Why did Jun need to have all of these difficult conversations within the last twenty-four hours? Didn’t he deserve a break? Come on. Even at a party, he ended up in an awkward situation. At least he’d already sorted things out with Emi. It was good, he guessed, to only have one person upset with him at a time.

Shin continued rolling out more food options, and nobody even really slowed down on eating those food options until the fifth ‘course’ that he finished up, at which point a few were left over so he stopped, but kept the grill warm just in case people wanted to eat again as the night waned on. With permission given to stay up late, just about everybody had full intention of doing that. The rest of the night was mostly a blur, though a pleasant one. There was one event which stood out in Jun’s memory of the night, though. It was before the hour had gotten too late and before anybody had yet decided to head to bed, and for that matter, it hadn’t started to blend together for Jun yet, either. It was, probably…

** 9:00 PM / 2100 Hours. **

That’s when it was, and that was actually easy to remember, because Jun had just finished helping Tooru set up a fire pit on the beach. In the meantime, Ayano and Hikari had volunteered together to make one more run to the gift shop and get supplies to make smores. Jun knew that there were marshmallows in the gift shop. About the time that he was finishing up, he remembered Saya approaching the two of them. “Hey! I bet you boys are thirsty after all that hard work making this fire, right?”

“Uhhhh, I guess?” Tooru said.

“That’s just my way of being a pest.” Saya giggled. “What I mean to say is, I tried to make a drink that _tastes_ like smores, while those two are off getting the real ingredients. Just to see if I could do it. And, it’s pretty good! So do you guys wanna try it?”

“Oh, sure!” Jun didn’t… Hesitate to reply? Huh. Maybe he did hesitate and he was remembering it wrong, after all, he only planned on having one drink. Either way, he did take Saya up on her offer, and it was quite tasty, as did Tooru. Nageko also ended up taking one; Nageko was already at this point pretty drunk. That wasn’t a surprise, after all. Nageko was not a square, and was also the unspoken proprietor of this party.

Ayano and Hikari got back with the fixings for smores, as well as some sticks to roast the marshmallows on. There may not have been specific marshmallow sticks in the gift shop before this party was happening, but of course in all of Mercury’s odd support of the event, they had been additionally provided. Everybody gathered around the fire and got their sticks, as well as plates and some ingredients. It was a large enough fire pit for everybody to sit around, of course. Jun and Tooru, and the others who pitched in, didn’t half-ass it.

Ayano put herself right next to Jun, and put a hand on his arm. “Hey. Doing good?”

“Uh, yeah! Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Just checking in. I mean, you’re drinking, so. Everything normal? Not feeling sick or like you’re going to do something impulsive and stupid?” Ayano asked, “I’ve been checking in with Hikari all night, but this is the first chance I’ve got to check on you too. You’ve been drinking water?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, sure,” Jun said, “I mean, you don’t really need to worry about me. This is just the second one I’m drinking.”

“Mm. Well, alright,” Ayano said, but somehow didn’t sound convinced. What was with everyone being weird with him tonight? Whatever. That wasn’t actually the specific event that he remembered, it was just another part of it. A bit after everyone had finished their first batch of toasting marshmallows, Nageko stood up.

Yuji called out, with his much louder voice, “Hey, Nageko’s got something important to tell you guys, so pay attention!”

And everyone turned to look as Nageko spoke. “Um, yes, I. Do have something important to say. The thing is that, this version of me… It’s not exactly… I mean, well, some of you probably already figured it out a long time ago, because I’m not really the best at pretending. And I don’t think I actually need to pretend, here. I mean, I either die here, or I face consequences when I leave. I was pretending to be safe from people outside, but. You know. Being ‘Ryota’ doesn’t do anything to keep me safe while I’m here. All it does is hurt. Nobody’s going to do anything to me just for being me. I was being afraid of people who can’t even reach me here.”

With that, Nageko reached up and pulled the clips out of her hair, letting it fall back over her shoulders. It was a cute cut, enough that even Jun, in his infinite wisdom, immediately understood. She continued. “I have to tell you, I was never, at any point, in denial. I was just in the closet. Back… In the closet. I was hiding from consequences, and when I woke up here still as ‘Ryota’, I wasn’t sure if it would be safe for me to tell the truth. Or how I would go about that, really. It’s been years since I actually needed to come out to anyone. But I got tired of hiding, with you guys, and of implicitly asking others to lie for my sake when they did figure it out. So that’s it, right? Nice to meet you. I’m Hiyoko. And, um. I might be too drunk to remember I did this, tomorrow! So feel free to jog my memory.”

Syoko started clapping, and called out with her voice cracking, “Oh, I’m so proud of you! Thank you for trusting us enough to come out with it like that!”

Hiyoko’s cheeks were already red from the alcohol, but turned a bit redder at Syoko’s praise. Then, Yuji stood up next to her as well and put an arm around her, worsening the redness even further as he said his own piece, “Ah, and you see. We’ve known each other for a while now. I didn’t say as much because then I would have needed to explain why, and out Hiyoko before she was ready. Given that she’s my lovely girlfriend, and all.”

Hiyoko brought a hand up to her cheek, looked down, and squeaked. “This is a… Lot of attention all on me, isn’t it? Let’s um. Let’s get back to the party! Thanks for listening!”

And so they did, well into the night, with their friend Hiyoko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiyoko is obviously not dressed this way right this moment but here is her sprite:


	113. Daily Life: Day Six (Night Motive)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, the reappearing motive is the _nightmares_ motive.
> 
> Every individual dream relates to **somebody**. Go ahead and try to figure out who.

** 2:00 AM / 0200 Hours **  
~~

I’m in love.  
No, I’m not in love, why would I be in love.  
But I am in love. I don’t know why. Why am I in love?  
Come on and destroy me if you’ll just tell me you love me!  
Break me to bits and tear me limb from limb and just say it and   
I’ll forgive you over and over and over!

~~

I really just wanted to protect my big brother.  
What did I do to deserve this?  
Well, I know what I did.  
Of course I know what I did.  
I broke all the rules.  
But you know, it was for a good reason, right?  
So _what_ did I do to deserve this?

~~

N̴̷O͏̸B͏̴͟͞O̷D͜͟Y̛҉̡'̵̧̢͜S̡̕ ̶̕͢͞H͢E̵̴͜͡R̷E̸͜͟ ͜͏̵̸̢T̵͢͏̛O̸͝ ͜͡C̢ƠV̸͟͟Ȩ͟͠R̷̡͏̨ ̶̛͠F̷͢͢O̶̷R͜ ̶͝͝Y͞͏Ǫ̶U ͘͟A̸̵̛͘͞N͡Y̨̛̛͘M͏̶̵ǪR̷͘E͞͏ ̢̕͘͜  
̧̛͞W̷H̸A͢҉̴T͏̶̧͘ ̷̸̧DO̸̵̢͟͟ ̸͟Y̴̡Ǫ͘Ų̵̡͟͡ ̡͢͟T̴̴̨H͟͠I̢̕N̷͝K͠ ̴̕͞Y͘͡O͏U̧̡̧'̷̧͠R̕E̸͠͞ ͏̢̢͠͞D͡͠O̴̸̵̡I͏̡͏͘N҉̢̨G̕͞͡  
̵̷̷̨͠S̨͢͡H҉U̷̸̧͏T͜͏ ͏͡U̵̡̕P̴͞͡ ͟͏S͜͝H̵̕͟U̵̸̸͘T̴̵ ̧̡҉̨͟Ư͜P̨̕͡ ҉͡S̡͏͠H͜҉̕U̧͏͢T̴̷ ͢͜͡Ư̷͟͟͝P̵  
̸F̨̢͠U͘͡C̛͢K̸̵͜ ̸̨̛͝O̶̴̧̕͠F̵͘͘̕F͘͢ ̧̧͠͏F̶̶̵̡̧U̸͢Ç̷̢͘͟K̢͞͝҉ ̶̧O̢̨͘͞F̨͡҉F̸͢ ̕̕͜͟͞F̶̨̕U̶̸̸̢͠Ç͡K̸̨͠͝ ̵̛Y͜͝O̵͜U̵̴  
̛͘͡IT̶͟͟'̴͡͝S̵ ҉̷͝͞J͝Ư̴̡Ş̵͝T͏͜ ̢̕͡A͡҉ ̧̛̕M̷̧̛̕͢A҉̛̕T̢̛̕T̛͡Ȩ̢R̡͝ ҉҉͜O͢͢͠͝F̶ ͟͝T̨̕͟͢I̡̧͏̴M͟E͘͜ ҉U̡N̵̕T̕͞Į͞҉L͞͏̡̨ ̢͜͏̴̧Y̵̵͢͝O̶̴̡̕͞U̸͘͢͠ ̷̴͟͠R͘U̕͟͡͝I͜͞N̶ ̡͘͘E̵̷͟͠V̛E̸̢̛̕R͢҉͢͏Y҉T̴̛̕͢͝H̶҉I̶҉N̶͟͠͝G͟͝  
̕͜Y̡͠҉͢͠O҉̸͡͏Ų̵ ̶̛̛͡C̷͡͠A͏̶N̵͜'̨̕͞T͏ ̨͠C͢͢O͢͝N̸̸̢͝T̸̨̛R̨O͘L̶̵̢̨̕ ̵̢͟͡͠Y̧̛O̡͜͟͢U͟Ŗ̛͜ ̸̨͜͞͠S͏̵͞T͠͏̶͞U̧̧͘҉͝P̶̢̡͢Į͟D͘ ̸̢̛͘͝F̵͡UC҉̧͝K͞Į̧N͏̛҉͞G̨͞ ̸͜S̶̷͢E̵̡͟͜͞L̵҉F̢  
̛͘͜͜͞  
͢͝Y҉̛͜͜Ǫ̕U̵̢̨̕͢ ͠͝S̵̛̕H̴̷͜͝O̴̢̕U̵͟L̢͜͟D̡̨̧͜͡ J̨̡U͠͡҉S̨͏̕҉͞T̨ ̧͢͟͠K̛͏̡I̛͡͝L̶̡̢͟L̵ ̷̶̛̛̕Y͏̢O͝U̡͜͞R̷̸S͞E̢͞҉Ļ͢͞F̴̸̴͢͝  
̵̡̕͞Y̴͟O̢͏҉U̡͢͠'̵̡̢͟͜L̨͜L̢͜ ̛͟͟͞B̡̢͜͠E̴̴̛ ̶̢͟͜Ş̴̸͡A͠͏̷V̸̧̛͟͢I҉̶̴̢N̛G͜͞͝ ̴͏̡̛A̢̡͡ ̶͘͜L͘I̷̢͟F͝҉̸͘͏E̸.҉̨̢

~~

The hare said to the tortoise, I’m sorry for what I said to you before.  
I’ve been doing some self-reflection and I thought to myself that, you know.  
Everybody has different abilities, right? You can keep going no matter how hard it gets.  
I might be faster, but I get tired too soon to finish what I’m doing.  
So it would probably be better if we worked together, and combined our strengths.

And the tortoise said to the hare, I don’t see how your abilities are actually useful at all.  
So I’ll have to turn you down.

And the hare went home and cried.

~~

Grab, turn, grab, turn,  
Here we are again.  
I’m not sure what I did to you-  
Here we are again.  
I can’t imagine how I hurt you  
Here we are again.  
It’s always just been you and me  
Against the world again.

Dance, step, turn, step.  
Here we are again.  
You with him and she with me and  
Here we are again.  
That’s how we were happy so  
Tell me now, again  
What could have possibly gone wrong  
For you to cry again?

~~

There’s the sound of a baby crying.  
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.  
We never wanted you.  
You’re disgusting.  
We’re disgusting.  
Go ahead and die.

~~

“It’s funny, if you keep this up, then it’s really going to fall apart.”  
What’s going to fall apart?  
“You’ll be mistaken for a boy once more. All your efforts will be for nothing.”  
I don’t know why I tried so hard. My efforts. I’d like if my efforts were for nothing. My efforts should be for nothing. This is all just nothing. It’s not right. It’s not a mistake and it never has been. It’s so easy to mistake me for a boy because I am so what are you even saying?  
“You know what happens when people mistake you for a boy.”  
I don’t know, I really don’t. I wish I did. Or maybe I don’t want to know. You don’t think I’d want to know, huh?  
“You just better hope you never see me.”

~~

Three guards stood by a door.  
One of us always lies and one of us always tells the truth.  
And one of us doesn’t even know anything, so don’t bother with that idiot.

~~

Look at me. Look at me, can’t you just-  
No, why would you look at me?  
Cause I’m just.  
I’m not anything at all.

Look at me! Look at me!  
Come on, just keep looking!  
You chose me so now,  
I have to prove that you weren’t wrong.  
I’ve got to be the best!  
I was never your first choice I was never anybody’s, all I can do is get first place and maybe then that will make up for the fact that-  
I wasn’t worth choosing  
Once upon a time.

~~

I was always broken.  
Nothing’s ever happened.  
I’m just a broken person.  
I don’t do things right.  
I don’t do good things.  
But I’m okay with that.  
It’s who I’ve always been and I’m supposed to love myself.

~~

I completely understand why you did it.  
I understand why you did it.  
Why you did it.  
Why did you do it?  
Because everybody hates me so much and they look to you like you’re in charge?  
You come up with all the best games.  
All the best ways to have fun together.  
You are responsible for everybody’s happiness and if nobody wants me around then of course you would need to get rid of me so that’s why, that’s why you did it.  
Right?  
But.  
You killed her too, didn’t you?  
What do we have in common?  
Nobody else hated her. Not like they hated me. Not like she was tagging along, most annoying, ruining everybody’s good time so it’s your responsibility to remove her.  
She and I weren’t born ourselves.  
So is that who you hate?

Or is it something.  
Even.  
Worse?

~~

I can’t move. I can’t move my legs.  
So I can’t help.  
I can’t do anything.  
I wasn’t even there but if I could move then maybe I could have done something.  
Come on and let me up.  
I’ve got it in me.  
I’ve got just a little left in me still.  
I CAN STILL MOVE I CAN’T MOVE WHAT ARE YOU SAYING OF COURSE I CAN OF COURSE I CAN I JUST NEED TO PUT MY MIND TO IT AND I’LL STAND UP AGAIN.

~~

Ha-Ha-How dare you.  
Live a normal life?  
And act like you’re better than me.  
You’re not better than me.  
If anything I’m better than you.  
Better than all of you.  
I’m handling this fine!  
Because this is nothing.  
I have the tools and you all don’t.

~~

It would be really nice if I could know what my name is.  
This isn’t my name.  
It’s a better name but it isn’t mine.  
Because that’s not who I am anymore.  
I can’t be that person again.  
Not again.  
I need to be somebody new.  
But this is a better name for now.  
At least with this name.  
For a few more days.  
I don’t think I’ll bleed out.  
I don’t think I’ll die yet.  
But my wounds aren’t healed yet.  
Either.


	114. Daily Life: Day Six (Sandy Morning)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

Over the course of the night, some people had gone back to their own rooms. Others had not. Those who hadn’t were Jun, Yume, Hiyoko, Yuji, Syoko, and Tooru, all of whom had, at some point during the night, fallen asleep on the beach. Jun was woken up by the morning announcement, ringing in his ears so bad he almost failed to process it.

“Hey everyone. I know some of you only got like, five hours of sleep, but unfortunately I must wake you and breakfast remains mandatory. Feel free to nap later on in the day, though. I’ll also be explaining last night’s motive at breakfast, so at least there’s another reason for you to go there,” Mono’s voice expressed, and then the intercom cut out. So that was the entire announcement.

Jun sat up and held a hand to his head, looking around. He had fallen asleep directly on the sand, so the five hours that he got were probably completely restless to boot. The others who ended up sleeping out here had at least put towels down…

“I had an awful nightmare…” Hiyoko mumbled as she sat up.

“I hope it wasn’t a nightmare that you told us you’re a girl. Because you actually did do that,” Jun said.

“No, no… I remember that. I wouldn’t have been confident enough to do it if I wasn’t drinking, but I meant what I said, and I don’t regret it. When I was actually asleep I had a nightmare.” Hiyoko rubbed the back of her neck. “I guess I wasn’t quite as drunk as I thought, though. I didn’t black out at all, and my hangover is… Not the most disgusting I’ve had.”

“I had a nightmare as well, dear,” Yuji said, then looked around the beach to the others. “Perhaps we all did?”

Yume, Syoko, and Tooru all confirmed that they had also had strange nightmares, but Jun was a bit lost. “I didn’t have a nightmare at all. I mean, I didn’t have any sort of dreams whatsoever.”

“Huh,” Yume said, “That’s pretty weird. We all had bad dreams, and you didn’t dream about anything at all?”

“Yeah… Uh, you know your theory you had that I might have narcolepsy or something? Could that be the reason why?”

“Nah.” Yume shook her head. “If anything, narcolepsy makes you have more dreams. You hallucinate like dreams when you’re supposed to be awake. The only way you wouldn’t’ve had dreams at all is if you weren’t actually sleeping, you were passed out.”

“Oh. But, why would I have passed out?” Jun asked.

Hiyoko burst out laughing.

“W-What’s so funny?”

“Why would you have passed out? I dunno, maybe because you drank too much?” Hiyoko offered, getting to her feet.

“That’s ridiculous. You drank way more than me, and you didn’t pass out,” Jun said.

“I mean, maybe I drank more than you towards the start of the party… I had a bunch of drinks and I think you just had three, by the time I came out? But afterwards, you were _kind_ of pounding them back. Pretty impressive, for a square, but of course you’re paying the price!” She giggled.

“I… I only remember having the two drinks, all night,” Jun said, “I definitely didn’t have three before you came out.”

“Oh. I might be mistaken about early, then. But, wow, dude. I dunno what prompted you to start putting them back like that, and I bet you don’t either,” Hiyoko said, “Looks like you’re the one who blacked out. Can’t say I was expecting that.”

“I was… Also definitely not expecting that,” Jun said, “But I’m not sure I… Jeeze, did I do something embarrassing? This is very anxiety-inducing. I don’t like not knowing what I did. I have to deal with that often enough anyway. Did I say anything super stupid? What did I…”

“Relax,” Syoko said, “I mean. That’s exactly why I was worried about including alcohol at this party at all, but it happened and it’s over with. You didn’t do anything excessively stupid. Everyone was also drunk enough that we just had a nice time, I think. You might have said something dumb to Oowada, though. Left first, and I know you two had _something_ going on.”

“Oh _no_.” Jun groaned and brought his other hand to hold his head as well. “Great, of course, yeah. We got things sorted out and then I probably just went ahead and made things weird again. Ugh. This was a mistake.”

“Yes,” Syoko said, “It was. Well, assuming something even happened. Oowada may have just gotten tired of the party, but on the other hand… You might have just made things worse.”

“I mean, I guess that I’d have to talk to her to find out… I can’t just keep theorizing, I have to ask.”

“Yeaaah. I didn’t see anything either,” Tooru said, “I was just chatting with Tsubasa at that time. His cooking was reaaally good. Not sure why he didn’t go swimming, though. We already know he’s skin and bones, so it’s not like he still needed to hide thaaat.”

“Maybe he just doesn’t like swimming,” Yuji said, “Or, even though we’re aware, he’s still too self-conscious of his body to wear a swimsuit. Speaking of which. Hiyoko, dear, we’ll have to go swimming again so you can wear something cuter than this dreadful cover-up number.”

“Heh… That was a bit disappointing, yes. But isn’t it cute for what I was working with?” Hiyoko asked.

“Everything’s cute on you. But, I’ll be glad to see you wearing your usual fashion again all the same.” Yuji joked.

“Hm, me too! So, I’m going to go and get a shower before breakfast, since I am currently covered in both sand and salt, and maybe that will help me feel a bit more alive, too. I’d recommend the same for the rest of you. Jun especially. Uh, if you can even make it back to your room?”

“Of course I can-” Jun started to stand up but doubled over the second he was upright. “Oh, oh jeeze. Just give me a second, I’ll be alright.”

“I can, uhhh, help you?” Tooru offered.

“I apparently brought this on myself, I’ll manage. You guys go on ahead, I just need a minute.” With that, Jun was left alone on the beach. He steeled himself and walked back to the main building. He went through the infirmary to get some medicine along the way. Something for his headache, something for the nausea… And there was a drawer Ayano labeled as ‘hangover pills’. It would probably make sense for him to take one of those. He grabbed another to offer to Hiyoko when he saw her next. It smelled like eucalyptus and wintergreen. He took the medicines which were for himself with a beverage from the gift shop, then carried on to return to his room and take a shower.


	115. Daily Life: Day Six (Memory Of A Girl)

Feeling a bit more equipped to face the day after taking some medicines and showering, Jun got dressed and went ahead to the dining hall. Homura was already gone when he’d arrived at the room to shower, just like yesterday morning. Huh, that meant Jun had slept places other than his own room two nights in a row. Was that somehow connected to the coldness that Homura had been showing him, then? Well, he didn’t need to think too hard about that. He had two different possible interpersonal issues to deal with and he was a bit more concerned about the issue with Emi. Not that he was unconcerned about Homura…

But Homura was unpredictable enough that it was entirely possible Jun had done nothing to prompt the animosity and could do nothing to remedy it, and it might just sort itself out with no further input from him. As for Emi, they’d come to a mutual agreement last night. And if Jun had done anything to spit in the face of that agreement while under the influence, he absolutely needed to apologize for it and find a solution.

This was _exactly_ why he preferred being a square. He was worried about losing control, and that was precisely what ended up happening. That was pretty stupid of him. He couldn’t even remember making the decision to be stupid, so he couldn’t figure out what the fuck he was thinking. Either way, he was at the dining hall now. The first thing he noticed was that Hikari was sitting at one of the tables. This was odd, because… “Hey, Hikari. Weren’t you supposed to be on breakfast duty today?”

“Well, sure,” Hikari said, “But I went pretty hard last night, and Oowada offered to do it since she was the most well-rested. Say, did you have a nightmare, Barasu?”

“I didn’t, but everyone else who fell asleep on the beach did,” Jun said, “Er, apparently I also went pretty hard last night, and I passed out instead of falling asleep?”

“I knew you weren’t drinking enough water,” Ayano chided, shaking her head.

“I’m feeling a bit better now, though. I took some medicine and got a shower. Speaking of which…” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a dose of the hangover pills. He’d grabbed enough for several people just in case. “Try these, Hikari. They seem to work pretty well.”

“Oh, thanks,” Hikari said, and took the pills that Jun had offered. “I’m not like… Real messed up, but you know, I’m not my bright and shiny self the way that Oowada seems to be her bright and shiny self.”

“Bright and shiny, huh? That’s promising,” Jun said, “I kind of _blacked out_ I guess, so I uh. I’m not sure if I might have said something embarrassing or dumb to her.”

“Yes, I was worried that might happen,” Ayano said, “You blacking out, I mean. I know nothing about Oowada. Are you, um. Hm?” She waved a hand around.

“Uh, no, I mean. Well, we decided not to because she’s in a kind of weird place right now and I’m not sure how I feel either. That’s what we decided yesterday evening, anyway, and I don’t know if I might have just fucked up and made things weird again when I was drunk.”

“If you were going to fuck up and make things weird again, you wouldn’t need to be drunk to do it, you’d just need to be Jun. And you’re always Jun,” Hikari said, “So you probably didn’t! I mean, I dunno. If somebody can like Jun then they’re gonna have to deal with you being such a total pleb, yanno?”

“What? I’m really not that bad!” Jun protested, “If somebody can like me, good grief, I’ve dated people before…”

“Really? Who?” Hikari asked.

“I dated…” Jun trailed off. What the. What the fuck? He knew that he had a girlfriend. He knew things about this girlfriend, even, and he _definitely_ remembered things that he did with this girlfriend. He also knew this was an ex-girlfriend, certainly. He recalled the fact that their relationship ended. He could even picture her face. But… “I. I can’t remember her… name…?”

“Wow, that’s even worse than ‘she lives on Earth’.” Hikari rolled her eyes. “Come on!”

“Hikari.” Ayano put a hand on her arm, staring with wide eyes. “I do believe him. And you should too, and… We should drop the subject.”

“Huh? What, did _you two_ date?” Hikari questioned, frowning.

“Ew! Gross!” Ayano pulled her hand back. “Jun’s like my brother, Hikari, of course we didn’t! But, you know. I just think that whoever Jun did date, we don’t need to worry about that right now, okay?”

“Ugh, I guess.” Hikari rolled her eyes. “I dunno why you won’t let me just make fun of him, but whatever, moving on. You were a boring drunk, Barasu. Totally lame. I can’t imagine you actually did anything to make Oowada upset with you because literally everyone who was drinking was more wild than you. You were just like, normal you, but maybe a lil bit more confident and a lil bit dumber. I mean, what kind of person gets completely blackout drunk and barely even makes a fool of themselves?”

“My kind of person, I guess,” Jun said, “I don’t know. I don’t remember, after all. I guess that it’s because drinking mostly just throttles your impulse control, but I didn’t start out with any impulses _to_ control anyway? If you don’t want to do big foolish things at all, alcohol isn’t going to suddenly put big foolish ideas into your brain. It just reminds you about big foolish ideas you already had and goes ‘that’d be a good idea’.”

“Spoken like a true square,” Hikari said, “I mean, really. I was kinda looking forward to you being a shit, it being your _first time drinking_, and all. That’s an excuse to do dumb shit! Not to just go on to be normie-drunk!”

“Well, it wasn’t an excuse, it was the truth,” Jun said, “And I don’t know why everyone thought it was such a big deal or anything. I mean, I’m the only one who should be freaking out about it being a bad idea, and I kind of am in retrospect if I did say something weird to Oowada. But otherwise. I might die here, even if I’m a square I never meant to die without ever trying alcohol.”

Ayano bit the inside of her cheek and gave him another odd look, then released it and sighed. “You’re not going to die here, Jun. Stop expecting to, you’ll have a nicer time.”


	116. Daily Life: Day Six (Oowada Resolution)

** 7:00 AM / 0700 Hours **

Breakfast was ready shortly after Ayano got Hikari to drop the topic of who Jun’s ex-girlfriend was- He really just couldn’t remember her name, which was unsettling. At least whatever memories Yuji was missing, he knew who he’d dated. Was dating. Yuji was still dating his girlfriend, so Jun’s comparison fell apart a little bit. One thing was for sure, Jun wasn’t dating his mystery girl anymore. He was certain of that.

But… Well, articulating that wouldn’t necessarily be the easiest thing under certain circumstances. The fact that this came up now did give him pause. Maybe he talked about this last night, and that was why Emi left. If he said something that implied he still had a girlfriend, that further implied that he was theoretically open to cheating on her with Emi. Yeah, that could be a possible explanation, couldn’t it? Jun wouldn’t cheat, though. He wanted to make that much clear… But if he just came right out saying he wouldn’t, and he never implied that in the first place- God, socialization was _so_ hard.

And after Emi put the breakfast out on the buffet table, and everybody got what they wanted- In Jun’s case, he took some of the eggs and sausage to make a sandwich… She sat down across from him almost immediately after he went back to the table. Ayano and Hikari both seemed to notice this and sat down at the adjacent table- close enough to know what happened, but far enough away to signal that they were giving space to talk about whatever was happening.

Having noticed this, Jun did take a moment to glance around the room, noting that plenty of others seemed to be an amount hungover. Hiyoko’s did seem to rival his in intensity, given that she was laying on the table and letting Yuji spoon-feed her oatmeal. She did look nice, though, now that she was wearing something that properly suited her, even if her posture was working against her at the moment. Then, he turned his attention back to the task unpleasantly at hand, and Emi staring at him across the table.

“Uh. Hey, Oowada,” Jun said, “I want to be upfront I uh, heard that you might have left early last night because of something I did and I don’t know what that would have been because I also apparently blacked out. But if I did, then, I’m sorry?”

“You can’t really apologize for something that you don’t remember doing,” Emi said, “That might be your knee-jerk reaction, but you can’t really learn from it and be sure not to do it again if you don’t even know what it is, dude.”

“Er. Right, yes, that’s true. So do you want to tell me what it is, that I did?” Jun asked, “Or said or, whatever it was? Because, last I knew we came to an understanding, and we were getting along fine, then I woke up this morning and heard that I might have done something to make you leave the party.”

“Huh. You were really _that_ drunk, huh?” Emi couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “This is going to sound really ridiculous, but Jun, you might actually be dumber when you’re sober.”

“W-Wait, what?” Jun asked.

“You did say something weird, but nothing that ruins anything we talked about. I left because I didn’t want to follow through on that right then… I figured that I’d just go to sleep and not have to think too hard about things. And if you’ve forgotten what that was, it’s more convenient for me now. That just gives me more time to think about what you said.”

“Oh. So, I wasn’t rude?”

“You kind of still were rude. You said it in a rude way. But it’s okay, you were drunk. You’re allowed to be smarter in some ways and dumber in other ways, when you’re intoxicated,” Emi said, “I think that you’re just… You’re more observant when you’re drunk, that’s what it is. And again, I prefer that you’ve forgotten what it is you observed, for now. I just need some time to think. But, you know, I’ll figure things out eventually. And then, maybe… Well, we’ll see.”

“Huh. Alright. Well in that case, I’m still sorry that I said whatever I said in a rude way, but I’m glad that my being blackout drunk actually made things more convenient for you?” Jun scratched the back of his head. “My mind was kind of running wild with things that I could have said, I was really worried. Like, I was just thinking. I had this ex-girlfriend, but what if I forgot to mention that she was my ex, but I did mention she existed, last night? And then you thought that I was willing to cheat on her? Which I would never do.”

“Oh, I can tell that much. The very thought of the fallout of failing to be monogamous after saying that you would probably sends you into an absolute spiraling pit of malexistence,” Emi said, “I would never think that you’d cheat on somebody. Hell, you put such little faith in your own SMV that you probably think you’d never even have the opportunity to cheat.”

“Unlikely, yes. I do think only one person can be attracted to me at any given time. What does SMV mean?” Jun asked.

“I’m making a joke. It’s short for ‘Sexual Market Value’ and was invented as a dumb, problematic term by guys who were mad that no women would sleep with them,” Emi said, “But now I’m just using it to make fun of you.”

“Right, right. Didn’t Kaguya used to talk about those guys? Historic meme style?” Jun asked.

“Mhm, yeah. ‘Incels’. Short-lived movement, that’s what I remember her saying anyhow. Funny that those guys would probably expect you to be one,” Emi said, “Your bone structure is pitiful. But, you’re a nice person, and your awkwardness is the charming sort. Plus, I mean, you go to the effort of getting to know the people around you. So there you go, you still get people liking you.”

“Its a very difficult effort. Socialization is an everyday eldritch horror,” Jun said, “But what else am I supposed to do, isolate myself and never connect with other human beings at all? That sounds even worse than being nervous every hour of every day worrying that one wrong move will make people hate me.”

“Hm, though worrying about that every hour does sound horrifying in a sense on its own,” Emi said, “Putting yourself out there is still the better thing to do. Because, one wrong move hasn’t ever done that before, and it’s unlikely that it will…”

“What makes you think it hasn’t happened before?”

“Because most people who worry about that have it based in complete conjecture and not reality at all. What, are you saying you’re the one person with anxiety who’s actually had a meaningful relationship break off of a single social misstep?”

“Well…” Jun stopped to think for a minute. “I feel like _something’s_ gone wrong before. Like I made one mistake and that ruined everything. But it was probably a lot bigger one mistake than just a social misstep, you’re right.”

“Probably?” Emi asked.

“My memories are pretty foggy things. Spacing out in the gift shop and totally missing the culprit of a murder walking straight past me? That ring any bells?”

“Right, right,” Emi said, “That’s actually a normal thing for you?”

“I guess so. I’m always coming up against memories where I know something happened, but as soon as I try to think harder about details, I come up short. I know I had a girlfriend once, and I remember a lot of what we did together, but not all of it. I know for sure that we stopped dating well before I ended up in this game. I don’t even know a little bit what her name might have been. It’s weird and unpleasant.”

“That sounds… Huh. Sounds kinda like you were drunk then, too.” Emi furrowed her brow. “But that can’t be, right? You never drank before last night, you said.”

“Right, I mean, seriously. I’m a square. I never touched a drop till last night,” Jun said, “I can’t imagine why I would, really. Last night was just a matter of ‘fuck it, I might die’, so. I donno. Maybe I’ll figure it out, and maybe I won’t. Who knows. If I do survive, it might be nice for the memories of this game to get foggy too.”


	117. Reality 1: Three VIP Tales

**Location: What Was Once Hope's Vestige, Towa City, Japan**   
**Date: 2128, September 5th**   
**Time: 0800 Hours**

The noises were still going as Poppy Lovett woke up. She had fallen asleep to their sound, and knew they would continue even when she woke up. It would be the same story if she went into either of the wings’ common rooms, or the Neo Chamber, or even somebody else’s dorm. She shared a room with somebody else who was in the same position. She wouldn’t call him her roommate, because that was a bit too informal for their connection with each other.

Two that she would call roommates were Rifa Kiriyaga, who she hardly knew, and Veronica Snow, who she loathed. They were put in a room together, just next door, to avoid subjecting anybody unrelated to the current situation. That situation, which Poppy was sharing with Demi across the room from her, was an inability to avoid the broadcast of what was being called ‘Mana-Sensei’s Killing Game Extravaganza’. It was, as the name implied, a Killing Game.

Poppy Lovett, Demi Ross, and Veronica Snow were all included for similar reasons, but that didn’t make them friends. None of them were ‘friends’, but shared a common connection to a particular participant, that participant being one Everett ‘Evie’ Snow. Veronica was, as her surname indicated, Evie’s mother, and this position had attracted the ire of her son’s ‘friends’. She thought of them only as friends. Poppy and Demi did not think of themselves that way, and had made this fact clear several times, but…

Veronica was not only under the impression that such a relationship, in which her son was the connecting romantic axis between two uncomfortably close but nonetheless platonic metamours, was an impossible thing and a fantasy spun by the two of them to soil her opinion of her child. She was also under the impression that her child, whose opinion they would not soil for her, was much too innocent and youthful at heart to date even one person, and also not her son exactly? Poppy could hardly even wrap her head around everything that Veronica Snow did and believed, all she knew was that it wasn’t good for Evie, it offended her personally, and for that she disliked her.

Demi didn’t like Veronica either. More than either of them disliked their boyfriend’s mother, though, they disliked being hounded by this television broadcast. This morning was the third day of it, and they’d woken up to more motives being delivered. At least Evie had yet to be targeted by this set.

“Poppy,” Demi got her attention as he sat up, retrieving his glasses from the nightstand. “At this point, somebody has to have died. We might even witness that today. If we’re going to eat anything, I _would_ prefer we did it now. Toast under the specter of death sounds unpleasant.”

“...You’re right.” Poppy sighed, then started to pop the buttons on her pajama top to get changed. She and Demi had no qualms about changing in front of each other. Their relationship was… Strange, she’d admit that much, but she liked it anyway. They were strange people, so it suited them. Despite gendered appearances, both of them would have received the cupcake piping kit were they the ones in the Killing Game in Evie’s place.

Demi considered himself genderfluid, but it wasn’t a complete fluidity. Rather, he fluctuated between completely masculine and androgynous. He never actually approached femininity in his self-identification. Poppy, meanwhile, had the appearance of a woman only for its convenience. She considered that there was no way to present the way she felt, so she never bothered trying.

Poppy Lovett’s identity was no identity at all. The fact that she was even still alive was a marvelous atrocity, given the number of times that she should have died. She felt like nobody and nothing at all. But ‘nothing’ wasn’t a viable gender to present as, so she just put ‘something’ together peacemeal. She wore her hair like one of her favorite fictional characters, the flagship vocaloid. She could, with strangers, substitute her otaku interests for a personality. It wasn’t hard to talk about Neon Genesis Evangelion long enough to finish a social engagement without ever revealing that ‘tell me about yourself’ was an impossible question to answer.

She finished getting dressed, and pushed herself from the side of the bed into her wheelchair. Her right arm and leg had both been damaged to the point of amputation years ago in an explosion. She didn’t like to think about the details of it. In some ways, she appreciated it. By denying the use of prosthetics, she could be closer to ‘nothing’. Not in ways that she was less capable or incomplete without as many limbs, but rather that there was just physically less of her. It was the same motivation which led her sometimes to starve herself. Being barely there was the only way that she could be comfortable.

She was not an okay person. But none of the three of them were. They’d been through hell together, and come out broken on the other side. Evie was three people. Poppy was zero people. Demi was… Well, he was just one person, so at least he was doing better in that respect. He’d also finished getting dressed, so he stepped behind Poppy to brush and tie back her hair for her. She was able to do it herself, but this was something that they enjoyed doing together each morning. Poppy found it relaxing to have her hair done by somebody else, and Demi had a passing interest in hairstyling. Today, both of them were more stressed than usual by the inescapable sounds of the Killing Game, so he took just a little bit extra time to braid the twintails. Fishtail braids, since normal ones tended to feel too tight and heavy for Poppy with the amount of hair that she had.

Prepared to face the day, the two of them made their way to the common area to get some food. It seemed that their fellows in arms had the same idea, because the Killing Game was already playing on the common room’s television, and both of them were already eating food. Rifa turned to see who had just walked in, and breathed a sigh of relief. “So it’s just you two…”

“Yes, just us. You won’t yet be subjecting any innocents to witnessing the game.”

“Innocents…” Veronica muttered, “You think that being forced to watch this means that we aren’t innocent? You two maybe, but I find it hard to believe everyone on the so-called VIP list is guilty of some wrongdoing.”

“That’s not nice of you to say, Miss Snow,” Rifa said, “Accusing other people like that. I know I’m not innocent. I really hurt somebody who’s in that game.” She crossed her arms and leaned forward. “I didn’t mean to, but I did. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, if everyone’s in the same boat. It’s a weird situation. It’s like. Really weird.”

“I just hope it’s over soon,” Poppy said, “No offense to you, Kiriyaga. But it’s quite stressful having my usual life disrupted in all of these ways.”

This wasn’t an inaccurate statement. Poppy and Demi lived in the rec center year-round, so having Rifa and Veronica there was an added disruption on top of the forced viewing aspect of this whole thing. Those two also lived in Towa City, and as the game began airing the VIP list was shown onscreen, so the rec center employees extended an offer to let them stay here during the game. Despite the general fall of Ultimate Hope, Towa was still considered a fairly exclusive place to live, so nobody from outside the city received an invite.

“I don’t blame you,” Rifa said, “I’m kind of just glad to get out of that house… It’s a silver lining for me. But I’m sorry it means that I’m intruding.”

“We are not intruding, we were invited,” Veronica said, “Graciously so. My poor dear Everett… If she had just listened to me, her leg never would have been broken. ‘Evie’. How ridiculous. Everyone knows not to hit a girl, you’d think she would at least take measures to keep safe in a Killing Game…”

“Uh huh… What?” Rifa asked. So this was the first time so far that Veronica showed her true colors, was it?

“Everett only comes out around you, Veronica,” Demi said, glaring over his glasses. “He’s seen enough of the world to know that you’re not really right if you say he’d be less likely to get hurt, were he a girl. Frankly, if _I_ had maintained the falsehood of being only a man myself, then I might have escaped the fate of my peers.”

“W-Well maybe with those people…” Veronica fidgeted in her seat. She almost looked pathetic, but Poppy wouldn’t pity a woman like this. “But out there in the world, mostly, it’s different. A man who is weak will be targeted, but a girl who is weak is cared for. Condescended to, perhaps, but. Certainly, her treatment will be more pleasant than… Otherwise…”

“Are you sure of that?” Poppy asked, “After all. Your supposed ‘weak girl’ still got kidnapped for a Killing Game. He’s just being genuine now. I think that’s much more trustworthy.”

“I guess… I guess we’ll see which of us is right…” Veronica muttered, “If she lives or if she dies.”

And Poppy _nearly_ swelled with rage. But it faded away in seconds to the same cold flame which kept her alive all this time. She hated Veronica Snow. She hated a lot of things. It wasn’t worth exploding over. Nothing was.

\---

**Location: The Future Hangover, Dome City**   
**Date: 2128, September 5th**   
**Time: 1100 Hours**

Dome City, too, had fallen victim to the VIP List. Just as in Towa City, the broadcast was hounding certain members of the community, and was taking over any television which was powered on. Dissimilar to Towa City’s experience, certain televisions had also been completely hijacked into remaining on and broadcasting the game around the community. One of these locations was The Future Hangover bar, owned and operated by husband and wife Daisuke and Torimi Harada.

With this in mind, several of the city’s VIPs had taken to spending their days in these public locations rather than at home. Maybe it was in search of solidarity, or a wish to avoid having their homes soiled as badly by the situation, or… In Nami’s own case, she just wanted to minimize the number of televisions that the game was playing on. Goro wasn’t included on the VIP list, and he didn’t need to see this. So she and Sayaka packed up and went to spend as much of their day as they could at the bar.

Some of the city’s VIPs picked other locations, or just stayed home, but today, as the first body was discovered, Nami was able to commiserate with a few others. Torimi and Daisuke were effectively on the list, since it was their TV which was being hijacked. Some people had come here specifically as morbid spectators, but Nami was unconcerned with them. Amai and Madara had come here, though Tsumugi had stayed home. Likewise Keisuke and Alois were present, but without their daughter Sara. Those two… Were probably wrapped up in their daughter’s connection, as she was close friends with one of the participants.

The same participant that landed Nami and Sayaka on the list, it seemed. Nami wouldn’t have been surprised if she was forced to watch simply by nature of who was _running_ this game, but that just wasn’t enough for Mercury, was it? But Nami raised strong kids, so it would be fine. It had to be fine, right? Some part of her, sickeningly…

Was relieved when the body found was that of a stranger to her. Nanjo Mirai. He was a stranger to both of them, though Sayaka had heard about him before. He and his twin sister had fallen into Akihiko and Shoyu’s laps after their parents walked out on them, as easy kids to look out for and fill the gaps from their own children having either died or left the nest by now. So Sayaka had no relief, Nami could tell from a glance at her face. She was already being torn apart for how this would impact her father. But at least… Well. There was no at least, not yet. Nobody knew who the culprit was, and-

“Don’t you dare fucking say it,” Amai snipped immediately. “None of you know _shit_.”

“Say what?” One of the random bystanders questioned, despite the obvious tension put into the air by that statement.

“Don’t worry,” Alois spoke up, turning in her direction. “For once, I can say that I’m confident ** had nothing to do with this.”

“For once,” Madara scoffed, “We’ve told you a million times, ** had nothing to do with Doromo’s death.”

“But ** had everything to do with a different one.” Nami tapped her fingers against the counter, sharp and harsh. “So forgive us if we wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Hey, Nami, it’s. It’s alright,” Sayaka said, reaching out the hold her by the upper arm. “I mean. Well, it’s not, but we dealt with all of that already. Death is kind of a strong word since, I mean. -- made it. And I agree with Alois that there’s no way ** was involved with this murder.”

“Okay,” Nami said, then dipped her head. “But. Even if we can say that ** had nothing to do with this, fine, great for _those_ three. What about --? What if -- did it? What if, despite everything, the Killing Game and, if… I don’t…”

“Shh. Look, it’s fine,” Sayaka said, “** couldn’t have done it. And -- wouldn’t. I mean, really, think of it this way. They’re both more likely to kill each other than anybody else anyway.”

Nami stopped tapping her fingers. “If -- killed ** I couldn’t even blame --. If I was in --’s place, I… Okay, I wouldn’t want to. But I also wouldn’t be too torn up about ** dying-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Amai shouted, “Are you kidding me? You really expect me to just sit here quietly and hear you say that you’d be fine with it if my ** died??”

A silence fell over the room for a few minutes, as Amai and Nami stared at each other. Torimi even stopped wiping down the counter she was working on.

“I don’t… I’m sorry I didn’t mean that…” Nami brought her hands in close to herself. “I. I’m just scared, you know? I’m really worried about --. And just. Especially in a Killing Game situation, do you expect me to trust ** after everything that happened? Obviously, I don’t want ** to die. If I were in --’s place, then I said I might not be as sad if ** died compared to anybody else. Which is still… Cruel to say in front of **’s mother. I was out of line.”

“Yeah. You were,” Amai said, then sighed as she dropped her weight in her arms onto the table. “I just wish things could go back to normal. But just when we might have been starting to get things patched up, this has to happen. I don’t know what to do, either. I’m also worried. I want ** to make it home safe. Even if things _can’t_ be normal again. Even if you, and the Saiharas, and Oowadas, still hate me, for forever. I don’t want that. But I can accept that, if ** gets home safe. I want them all home safe. I want. I wish we never left Earth. I wish we could have found Mercury back then and made sure that this would never happen. I can’t believe. This is happening all over again.”

“I…” Nami started, then dropped onto her segment of counter as well. “I don’t hate you, Amai. I think that, mostly. I agree with you. This shouldn’t have happened. We… Let this happen.”

And nobody had anything to say to that.

\---  
**Location: Kirisame Residence, Okinawa, Japan**  
**Date: 2128, September 5th**  
**Time: 1400 Hours**

Megumi was incredibly frustrated with everything that was happening right now. And some might consider this to be a selfish outlook, but she was most frustrated by the fact that she couldn’t overcome what had proven to be a technical challenge. Of course it was ridiculous that another Killing Game was happening, but she had been so utterly freaked out by the ‘final’ game in which several people she knew, including a very close friend, had been involved… That she just lacked the emotional energy to get so worked up twenty years later, at least about that aspect.

Or maybe it was just a distraction from being so worked up, that she got worked up about the fact that _somehow_ Mercury Mars of all people was managing to get through all of her digital security to broadcast this directly, relentlessly, into her home. She’d get worked up about that if the broadcast was something completely innocuous, but this added stress was definitely not helping. And with the game taking over all of her devices… She couldn’t even get in contact with half of the list. Some of them, she could. She was a _techie_, and a good one at that, so of course she maintained lower-tech options. A cell phone that didn’t have a real screen couldn’t display a Killing Game on it. While she hadn’t been able to call anyone else on the list directly, she could contact some of them…__

_ _But, unfortunately, there was no low-tech method through which to contact those in Dome City. Megumi didn’t know _how_ any of this was happening. How several participants had been selected from two different planets. How the game broadcast was getting through her security. How somebody had even managed to acquire enough NWP pods in one place to hold one of these- Workshops usually had a limit of eleven, with one instructor and ten students. There was still no technology capable of running an NWP session from separate physical locations, so it wasn’t like it could be two people working at different sites on the different planets-_ _

_ _She couldn’t understand this, and that was more frustrating than anything else for her. She was used to being in _control_, of at least being able to comprehend everything, even if she couldn’t solve it. She could comprehend it, and she could mitigate it, and work towards a solution. Instead, she just had to work towards cleansing her devices of this persistent virus that invaded her very own area of expertise._ _

_ _She couldn’t even begin to think about anything else until she’d managed this much. “Managed”. Even that disgusted her, in a way, she was somebody who tended to excel, not to manage, at least in this field. Worse were the solutions that she’d been offered from outsiders. Her husband, luckily, knew better than to do anything but try to support her, but he was far from the only person in her life. Some had said that she should leave her home so that her programs would continue functioning in her absence._ _

_ _Which was, frankly put, bullshit. If her programs were going to stop functioning, that much would have already been made painfully clear; They were still running, just in the background, and all it took for her to run one actively was to utilize a device with multiple monitors. The game could play on both, but afforded her the small mercy of only playing actively on one screen at a time. She could still get her work done, and could even work on trying to remove the virus. She was making mere inches of progress._ _

_ _That was when her backup phone rang again. She groaned and picked it up, anticipating another fire she’d have to put out. But worse, she realized immediately upon answering, it was another ‘solution’. “Doctor Kirisame, hey. We here know that you denied the option to go somewhere else, but, well. There’s only one other person besides you two in Okinawa on the list, so to consolidate, do you think he could-”_ _

_ _“I can’t see any reason to do that,” Megumi said._ _

_ _“Buh- I mean, you know,” The city councilwoman with whom Megumi was on least terrible terms stammered, “There is a good reason to do it. He’s living in group housing right now, so people who have nothing to do with this game are being subjected to it as well. It’s a matter of public safety.”_ _

_ _“A matter of public safety would have been you sending him to _prison_, not covering it up and letting him take up space in your supposedly charitable hostels,” Megumi said, “Haven’t you ever wondered why we haven’t talked much these past few months? After what he did to those poor kids, I can’t understand how you _all_ voted to hide it. So, I can see no reason whatsoever to now allow Kenta Nageko into my home.”_ _

_ _“Those kids, come on. It was a one-time incident with his own kid, what sort of exaggerated stories have you been hearing?”_ _

_ _“I heard the story from her boyfriend. As far as I’m concerned, Nageko hurt him too. He’s staying there, or wherever you do put him. Whoever’s around is more at risk from him than they are from overhearing the Killing Game.” With that, Megumi hung up her phone, and turned to see Gavin at the doorway. “Oh, good grief. How much of that did you hear?”_ _

_ _“Enough.” He stepped into the room further. “I… She seriously ask us what I’m thinkin’?”_ _

_ _“A place with no conflict is just a place where conflict happens in secret,” Megumi said, “I don’t have time to dwell on that right now. I have to fix the part of this that I have a say in.”_ _

_ _She turned back to her computer without anything further. She should have just hung up on the councilwoman without justifying herself, really, that was a waste of her time. But she was the ‘grumpy’ one and Gavin, who was near-certainly even more upset with the past year’s events, wouldn’t go out of his way to express that. So it fell to her to read the councilwoman the riot act when the opportunity presented itself._ _

_ _And unrelated to that councilwoman in full was Megumi’s next interruption. Two hours later; During which time an unfortunate young man had been executed before he could share his name, and the participants had mutually agreed to go to sleep early. There was welcome quiet on the screen, when a voice suddenly sounded. A voice that hadn’t made any appearance in the game so far, but which Megumi recognized. A voice that let Megumi understand quite a bit about the current situation. It would have been a relief, if not for the content which brought that voice along._ _

_ _“Welll… Huh. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Who knew! Guess we could’ve if we thought to test it. Whoopsie-doodle. Ahh, I wanted this to happen eventually, so it’s fine if it’s early! Congratulations to our VIPs! With the failsafes that are certainly activating at this moment…” On cue, a set of steel blast doors lowered themselves over Megumi’s doors and windows. “You will remain alive, at least for now, as will anybody in the building with you. And I dunno, maybe some others who have failsafes installed? But, really, congratulations…”_ _

_ _Evangeline, an ex-coworker of Megumi’s on a top-secret project, cackled before finishing her statement. “Whether or not the new generation can salvage it… You first get the wonderful privilege of watching the world die.”_ _


	118. Daily Life: Day Six (Motive Pondering)

**Location: Neo World Island**   
**Date: 2128, September 5th**   
**Time: 0800 Hours**

When it hit eight, Mono appeared right on the dot, dropping out of the ceiling into the dining hall and calling out to get everybody’s attention, “Hey all! It’s time now for me to explain what last night’s motive was, and sate your curiosities.”

“Right!” Saya exclaimed, “That was very odd! You said that there would be a new motive, but then we just had a party instead…”

“Not that odd,” Homura said, “Mono gave us the clue we needed. She phrased it as ‘new motives tomorrow night’, not ‘new motives tomorrow at dinner’.”

“Precisely,” Mono said, “The motives weren’t anything delivered outright, but the nightmares that you had last night. Every non-moderator person in the game experienced a nightmare except for Jun Barasu, who drank too much and was actually unconscious instead of asleep. His will be delivered the next time he’s asleep for real at two in the morning. For some reason the nightmares only deliver at that time? I don’t understand it, I never did. So you can nap safely, congratulations!”

“Uh, thank you?” Jun said.

“You’re welcome. But anyway, yes, the motive was to subject you to those nightmares. Mercury had kind of hoped more of you would sleep right there on the beach and be woken up by the nightmares themselves, resulting in some sort of panic murder. This is why she was _so_ supportive of the party, she saw an opportunity for it to play directly into the motive she already had planned,” Mono explained, “But luckily, that didn’t happen. Because of the time the motive was delivered, Yume had no chance of actually waking up. Barasu was unconscious and didn’t receive a nightmare at all. Leaving just Sato, Nageko, Hanazaki, and Saihara at risk of waking up in a panic on the beach, and none of you did. So it’s another murder-free day, hurray!”

“That seems like a really haphazard plan,” Yume said, “Like, seriously. The odds of that working out the way she wanted are fucking infinitesimal?”

“Yes,” Saya said, “That is about how Mercury operates. Frankly, I would be surprised if this game doesn’t stray completely away from what she intended it to be, at some point. Even though she has been planning this for decades, I doubt even that was enough to properly think it through.”

“Huuuh. I’m not sure how to feel about that,” Tooru said, “Is it reassuring, or disappointing, thaaat the person who kidnapped us is working off of an unlikely and incomplete plan?”

“Neither,” Homura said, “I don’t think a Killing Game has ever existed with a likely and complete plan. They’re bad ideas at the baseline, folks! Even the several years that the games were ‘successful’, that wasn’t cause they were planned well, it’s cause the people planning them got lucky.”

“Oh. So it’s just the standard for it to be a ‘haphazard plan’ with our lives on the line?” Shin prodded.

“Yes, exactly.” Homura confirmed.

“I see,” Shin said, “Well, I suppose that we’ll just have to accept that. Nonetheless, as troublesome as that nightmare was… It brought up certain things I would rather never think about at all, I’m glad that it didn’t result in any sort of panic murders”

“It’s a big relief,” Mono said, “And here’s one more big relief for you kids! No more motives. That’s right, there isn’t anything else planned until after another murder. So if neither of these motives have put any of you in the mood for killing, you’re home free!”

“Unless one of us does a murder for a completely different reason that doesn’t relate to either of these motives at all,” Shin clarified, “That’s always perfectly possible, isn’t it?”

“Yes, that… Is possible, though I certainly wouldn’t say ‘perfectly’, myself,” Mono said, “It seems quite imperfect that there’s still a possibility of death after such absolute flops of motives given to try purposefully prompting you to murder.”

“You are one strange Monokuma,” Homura noted, then rose from his seat. “Thanks for explaining last night’s motive, though, isn’t it still possible that it can prompt a murder after all? Since it wasn’t yet delivered to a certain person…”

“What is with you and assuming that I’m going to commit a murder?” Jun asked.

“He might have a point. It’s always the ones you least expect, after all,” Hikari joked.

“What happened to ‘Jun isn’t cool enough to kill somebody’?” Ayano wondered.

“Two things can be true.” Hikari shrugged. “He’s too much of a dweeb to kill somebody. But also, that dweebishness might just be throwing us off and as a dweeb he is actually the _most_ likely person still here to kill somebody!”

“See, that’s the thing,” Homura said, “He sure is a dweeb. And I dunno if he’d be likely to kill. But I know that I’m likely to die! And as my roommate, he’s got the biggest opportunity to do it, that’s all. Though admittedly, he hasn’t even slept in the room for two nights now, so maybe that assumption is a bit flawed.”

“The assumption is very flawed,” Jun said, “I have no intention or desire to commit a murder. I mean, if someone turns up dead, I know saying that won’t protect me from suspicion or anything… But why do you have to suspect me when everyone who should currently be alive still is??”

“Caaaause, if we don’t start off suspecting people of being capable of murder, we can’t prevent ‘em!” Tooru noted, “Reaaally. If we actually took each other at our words that ‘I don’t wanna kill anyone’ then we stop tryin’ to self-police. It’s like when you spaced out in the gift shop. If you were reaaaady for a murder to happen, you’da paid more attention. Just lucky there was enough other evidence to figure it out.”

“Forgive me for not wanting to be looking at all of my peers with scrutiny all the time,” Jun complained, “That’s just rude. Besides, I wasn’t trying to space out. It just happens whether I want it to or not… Pretty often, really, you guys only knew about that time because it was relevant to the murder.”

“That’s concerning, honestly,” Syoko said, “Have you spoken somebody about it…?”

“I’ve spoken to Yume, she thinks it sounds like I have narcolepsy,” Jun said.

“Well, when you get out of here, you might want to look into seeing a professional,” Syoko said, “Not to say you aren’t professional, Yume. You are an Ultimate, after all. But you may not be the right sort of professional that I’d recommend Jun see. Don’t quite buy into that narcolepsy theory for him, is all.”

“For sure, no worries. I don’t even have a lab,” Yume said, “So I don’t completely buy it myself! I wouldn’t buy anything I said without conducting a sleep study to confirm or deny, and I don’t have here what I’d need to produce a study I’d put my faith in. And if all doesn’t go fucking topside, then I’ll never end up with that lab, so we don’t need to think too much about it.”


	119. Daily Life: Day Six (Jealousy, Turning Hikaris Into the Sea)

** 9:00 AM / 0900 Hours **

People started to wander out of the dining hall, including Ayano and Hiyoko, who looked like they were headed off together. Jun hadn’t stood up yet, but Emi did leave, prompting Hikari to scoot her chair over right next to him and cup her hands to ‘whisper’ conspiratorily in a voice that was not actually whispering and was at a normal volume, “Hey, is it just me, or have Aya and Hiyoko been spending a lot of time together?”

“Well,” Jun said, “They do seem to get along pretty well, now that you mention it. Ayano’s fascinated by all of that vampire stuff that Nageko talks about, even if she’s making it all up or something… You know how Ayano can get. She’s fascinated by things that seem bigger than she’ll ever understand.”

“Uh, sure, but I don’t really like it,” Hikari said.

“Why not?” Jun asked, frowning. “Don’t tell me you’ve become a transphobe now too. I swear, Hikari, it’s like you get worse instead of better with time.”

“Now that’s just rude, come on. I’m even using her first name even though I don’t care that much about her, since she prefers it and all,” Hikari said, “You’re jumping to some pretty ridiculous conclusions there. I can be rubbed the wrong way by something without having anything against an individual.”

“What do you… Oh, huh,” Jun realized, “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

“Jealous? Why would I be jealous, come on, you’re being ridiculous.”

“Because you like Ayano, right?”

“H-Ha, what!”

“It’s really obvious. To everyone. It’d be incredibly strange if it turned out you didn’t,” Jun said, “So don’t try to deny that bit. But don’t worry! Nageko’s straight anyhow, so she’s not a threat.”

“I… I know that she’s not a threat romantically,” Hikari admitted, “She doesn’t like girls, but, that doesn’t mean that Aya couldn’t end up liking her, unrequited, and then have no room in her heart for any other lovely ladies, right?”

“That’’s stretching it a little bit. I think that we’re all adult enough here not to be so immature that we completely close ourselves off to other options because of an unfulfilled crush.” Jun crossed his arms. “Well, okay. Maybe _you’re_ that immature, but you can’t judge other people based on the standards of who you are.”

“You. Well, okay, I guess,” Hikari said, “But that doesn’t make me feel any better, even without any of that. I mean. I’m supposed to be Aya’s best female friend! What if she realizes that Hiyoko is a better girl whose name starts with ‘Hi’ and then she’s her best female friend and what am I supposed to do then? I will lose my identity. My entire identity, Barasu!”

“That’s a bit melodramatic, don’t you think?”

“What am I supposed to _do_??” Hikari reached out and shook his shoulders.

Jun scratched his cheek and looked away. “I donno, ask Ayano out?”

“...?” Hikari blinked.

“You don’t have to worry about her replacing you as her best female friend if you’re her girlfriend. If you became her girlfriend instead, then she’d actually _need_ a new best female friend, wouldn’t she? Then Nageko can step into that role and you get to stop being a weirdo about Ayano to everyone who goes near her, including me who should also be your friend.”

“Oh. Oh yeah, you kind of raise a good point there,” Hikari admitted, “But am I really that weird to you? I feel like I’m rude to you in a vaccuum from anything with Aya. I get it that you’d never actually get with her. Even if there wasn’t the whole, yknow, way too close to ever actually think of each other romantically thing. Which I do _not_ get, I knew her longer than you and I obviously don’t feel that way! But yeah even without that, you’re too dweeby and worried about messing up to ever take that leap with her.”

“I-I mean… Well, yeah, I guess so,” Jun admitted, “I know that we wouldn’t work even if it didn’t gross me out for pseudo-familial reasons because neither of us has the reasonable backbone to set functional boundaries and we would kind of just end up constantly annoying each other until eventually we fell apart and couldn’t even pull off being friends anymore.”

“That sounds bad. And also true,” Hikari said, “Which makes sense. It’s about you, lots of things are bad when they’re about you. But they can be good when they’re about me. I have more than enough confidence for the both of us! I won’t do a thing till I can convince Aya to set boundaries for me to follow!”

“That is, assuming if she does date you,” Jun said, “You haven’t asked her yet, she could say no. Honestly, that was my idea of a solution, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it was bad, would it?”

“...Good point.” Hikari dropped her arms back to her sides and acquired a pout. “But, uh, what _am_ I supposed to do, huh? If I just sit here and wallow in jealousy as Hiyoko steals my existing place in Aya’s life, then that can’t possibly end well! On the other hand, if I tell Aya how I feel and she doesn’t feel the same way, then oops, I’ve lost my position with lightning speed. It’s sunk cost, Barasu, sunk cost!”

“I’m not completely sure you’re using that phrase right,” Jun said, “But now you, in your fixation on Ayano, get to experience the kind of personal dilemmas that I incur upon myself every waking moment that I even consider speaking to a person.”

“You live in _Hell_,” Hikari said, “You really have to consider the consequences of every single action that you take??”

“Most… Most people do, it just takes an anxious person to get all tied up in the considering.”

“Usually I’m better than most people so that checks out,” Hikari said, “How do you handle this? All this, thinking about your interpersonal relationships? I don’t want to give a shit. Ughh, Aya, making me _give_ a shit, the only person who can, truly a cunning and excellent young lady…”

“I don’t really handle it,” Jun said, “I usually…”

And he was blanking. What did he usually do? Did he usually handle it? He just kept existing. And sometimes, he didn’t. Huh. Right.

“That’s right,” Hikari said, the panic suddenly gone and her face iced over as she turned away. “You usually don’t.”

And then she was gone.


	120. Reality 2: Renji

**Location: ?????**  
**Date: ????**  
**Time: ?????**

Renji noticed a few things when he woke up that morning. (If it was even morning, a fact he would soon realize he was unaware of.)

The first was that his body was really quite sore. The second was that he was not in his own bed, which was at least three steps comfier than this one. The third was that, for just a split second when he opened his eyes, the very air around him seemed to be sparkling. And then it was gone. The soreness was concentrated in his head, though, so he figured it was just some strange side effect of his headache and sat up, looking around.

This was when he realized he was unaware of whether it was actually morning, because this was definitely not any room he’d regularly slept in before. It wasn’t his room by any stretch of the imagination. A generally boring room, this was. Probably plenty more exactly like it, it had the appearance of being assigned. Like a dorm, or… He didn’t think this was a dorm, whatever it was. He climbed out of the bed, and took stock of himself. Aside from the soreness, he was perfectly capable of moving.

He had a few injuries, but they were bandaged up and mostly healed. His clothes were comfortable, but not exclusively pajamas, which was good because he didn’t see anything that he could change into. All in all, this was a confusing way to wake up, but he wasn’t going to let that overwhelm him. What good would that do? He wanted to figure out what was happening here, and he wouldn’t find that out by breaking down alone in the room where he woke up.

He took a deep breath, got his hair out of his face, and approached the door. It did cross his mind that he could be locked in here, of course… And at first when he tried to pull the door open, it seemed like he was. But a few moments later, it slid open, along with a little chime and a voice. “Good morning, Renji!”

“Holy shit!” Renji exclaimed, turning around to try and find the source of the voice. It was feminine and maternal, in a way. But he didn’t trust it.

“I’m not in the room with you. I died a few years ago, but my memories were uploaded to this ship,” The voice said, “So really, I am the room. I’m all around you. And it’s wonderful to see that you were able to wake up.”

“Did you wake me up? And, uh. Who are you?”

“I don’t have the power to wake you up, I was just hoping for the best. My name is _Speak_.” She laughed a bit, and Renji felt even more unsettled. “When I was alive, I was a therapist, so you can feel free to talk to me if you need any help at all.”

“Are you calling me crazy?” Renji asked, “Is this a ship for crazy people, is that what’s going on? Or, or is it…” His stomach lurched.

“Huh. You’re missing some memories, aren’t you? Don’t worry. I can’t explain why you’re here, but I can tell you that it’s nothing you’re thinking right now. I can guide you through remembering what you’ve forgotten…”

“No thank you,” Renji said, “You kind of creep me out. No offense.”

“I should take offense,” Speak said, “But actually, I get that a lot. I’ll leave you be, then. Don’t worry, you can have privacy from me. If you do want to call me, I have similar programming to Game AIs, all you have to do is say my name.”

“Whatever you say, Alexa,” Renji griped, then walked through the now-open door. The hallway looked much the same as the room he’d just come through, lined with doors up and down it that were identical to the one he’d just walked through. Each had a nameplate above it, but most of them were blank. The one on the room he just walked out of had his name, and space that another name could fit, though there was none there yet. The doors seemed spaced out strangely, for the size of the room he’d just left, but for all he knew this place had some bizarre floorplan where the spaces between were rooms acessed from another hallway.

All signs so far pointed to Renji being completely alone here, physically. Speak didn’t count as a person, she was the disembodied voice of this… ship…

He hadn’t quite processed what she’d said there until this moment. Ship? She said ship? That was weird. Renji knew one spaceship existed, sure, but he was pretty sure that the SS Akamatsu didn’t have an AI, from what he’d heard of it. And he was pretty sure that ship was no longer allowed to visit Earth. And he had certainly been on Earth before waking up here. He was processing this marginally better than he would have expected himself to, but the point still stood that he had in fact been told he was on a ship, and he couldn’t hear the ocean, so he had to assume that this was a spaceship. A spaceship that shouldn’t exist. That he mysteriously woke up on out of nowhere.

He turned to one of the doors at the end of the hall, and dashed towards it. It opened automatically when he approached, but he saw the sensor above it, so he didn’t think that Speak had gone back on her word to leave him alone right now.

On the other side of the door was what appeared to be a common area. There were couches arranged around a coffee table in the center, all of it looking a bit higher quality than Renji would have expected. There was a kitchenette set into an alcove. Most striking about the room, however, was the far wall. It was entirely made of glass, seemingly triple-layered but kept very clean, so it was nearly as clear as a single-layer could be. He approached, staring out. He pressed his palm to the glass.

Right out there, in front of him, was the inky expanse of space, dotted with stars. He could see what seemed to be a meteor floating off in some amount of distance, but there was nothing planetoid, lunar, or solar within his field of view. They were in the middle of nowhere, weren’t they? He and the ship. He was on a sentient spaceship in the middle of absolutely _nowhere_, and he was alone.

At least, he realized with a chill down his spine.

He actually _hoped_ he was alone here.


	121. Daily Life: Day Six (Time with Everett)

**Location: Neo World Island**   
**Date: 2128, September 5th**   
**Time: 1300 Hours**

Jun was sitting outside. He’d come out here with some other intention, he was sure, only to end up sitting down in the grass propped up against one of the buildings and fallen asleep. He hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep the previous night- In fact, technically, he hadn’t got _any_ actual sleep, so it wasn’t surprising that he’d end up going to take a nap in a fugue state. He only even woke up at all because his cheek was being poked by something. He looked up to see that the poker in question was Everett, using his crutch.

“Wh… Hey, Everett,” Jun mumbled, “What’s up?”

“Oh, good,” Everett said, “I apologize for waking you, then, since it seems that you are fine, and you could certainly use the rest. I was simply overcome with concern that you may have been dead, or passed out again.”

“Why would I be passed out again?” Jun asked, “It’s not like I woke up _still drunk_, I had the hangover to prove it.”

“That’s a bit rude, Barasu. I was only looking out for you. You never know when it comes to these things, after all.” He frowned. “Mother drinks quite heavily, so I am always careful.”

“You’re right, sorry. I did just wake up, can you blame me for being just a little bit cranky?”

“Hm, not especially. Well, do you mind if I join you for a chat, or should I leave you to napping?”

“Now that I’m awake, I’m awake,” Jun said, then tapped the grass next to himself. “So feel free. How are things going for you guys?”

“Well…” Everett took a minute to sit down next to him, causing his skirt to hike up a bit to show his leg was now in a proper cast. “I got this sorted out, as you can see. But unfortunately, the nicer crutches in the infirmary cannot be adjusted to match my height very well. These makeshift ones are perfectly functional, so that’s not a big deal, though.”

“Sure, that makes sense,” Jun said, “And as I understand it, you’re here now because your mother is on the VIP list. How are the others?”

“Yes, that is why I’m here. I am the one who has the proper composure to present to her, so as long as she can observe us, I’ll be front and center,” Everett explained, “The others… Both disapprove of this current arrangement, frankly, but the need to please her is one which we do share, so it’s not as if I can just swallow my pride and stand down. However, we’re all doing… Fine. It’s fine.”

“Huh. That sounds like a difficult thing to deal with,” Jun said, “I mean. Being multiple people. I can barely handle being one person.”

“The idea is that we’re multiple people _because_ we couldn’t handle being one person.” Everett tapped his own cheek. “It’s a different set of challenges, really. This is an odd situation. Usually, the division is really obvious. I am equipped to handle mother. Evie is equipped to handle Poppy and Demi. Snow is equipped to handle tactics. There’s a bit more nuance than that, of course, but that is how everyday life usually goes. The problem here is that I am actually the least equipped for all of it. But Mother is watching.”

“So I take it that means you’re actually _not_ doing too well.”

“I’m not. Really, Evie was handling this all remarkably better than I ever could. He’s the social one, after all! And just as he was starting to get along with all of you, it turns out that Mother’s been watching the whole time. Frankly, just the fact that I wasn’t here for so long, I will already have a reckoning waiting for me when this is all over…” Everett dipped his head. “But then, of course. I exist to handle those reckonings, too.”

“Just because you’re the ‘most equipped’ to handle something doesn’t mean that you have to be okay with it,” Jun said, “I mean. Even if somebody tries to make themselves the perfect model of something, they’re still a normal person, they still have feelings. And all three of you are people, so even if you’re supposed to handle ‘different emotions’ or whatever. You’ve got to be feeling more of them than that.”

“...I don’t want to be here,” Everett admitted, pulling his good knee up to press his face into it. “I don’t want to be talking to you. I don’t want to be on this island. I don’t want to go to a lab that _I_ can’t use. I don’t want to look in that hobby box of ‘mine’ and see the 3DS that’s there for those two. I’m the one who suffers if mother sees them. So if I don’t want to be here, why can’t I just… Ugh.”

“I’m sorry,” Jun said, “You don’t have to talk to me.”

“I don’t want to do anything. Talking to you isn’t particularly bad, it’s just. You’re Evie’s friends. He got to know you, he cares about you, and now I’m here. You all would prefer if he was back, and so would I. But I. Can’t. Mother is watching and I exist for her.” He bunched his shoulders to push his forehead even more against his knee. “And I look ridiculous, huh? Dressing the way she wants me to.”

“Honestly, it’s less ridiculous than the way that Evie usually dresses,” Jun said, “Not to say, I mean, if you’re uncomfortable in it. But objectively. It’s actually less strange to see a guy in a skirt than a guy in military formalwear as an everyday outfit.”

“Awe. Thanks,” Everett muttered, “I dunno. Usually I don’t even leave the house like this. Mother doesn’t like to go outside. She would prefer we never went outside either. So I suppose, technically speaking, I don’t go outside. It’s embarrassing to be… Me, here, in front of other human beings. I never existed for people to see. Just to make her happy.”

“Well,” Jun said, “I’m sorry that you have to deal with this, then. But I’m glad I got the chance to meet you, if that’s true. I’ve got a pretty unique honor, to know who you are, Everett.”

“I suppose that is a benefit,” Everett admitted, “Meeting people. I’m glad to do that, too. Just. Not used to it, not used to socializing. But at least I can say hello.”


	122. Daily Life: Day Six (All's Fair In Love and Vegetables)

** 2:00 PM / 1400 Hours **

After sitting with Everett a little while longer, Jun stood up, helped him up, then went his separate way. What that separate way was going to be this time he was, surprisingly enough given it was him, only briefly unsure. This was because he managed, through the cover of the overgrowth, to spot movement inside the greenhouse. Curious who was up to what in there, he went and opened the door.

“Hey?” He called out, “It’s Barasu.”

“Hello Barasu,” Shin called back from wherever he was among the plants. “What brings you here, may I ask?”

“Nothing brings me here,” Jun said, “I just saw people moving around and figured that I’d see what _you_ were up to. Uh, is there someone else here?”

“H’lo.” Tooru popped out of a row of plants to Jun’s right, and waved. “I am the sooomeone else, yeah. Tsubasa’s helpin’ me out with dinner stuff. Since I signed up tonight. Not sure whyyy I did that, but I did, and now I need assistance. I’ve never made food for more than two people before.”

“It can be a challenge,” Jun said, “You really just need to make a lot of food, though. I mean. Certain meals do lend themselves to feeding big groups more easily, like, the pasta that I made. What’s your plan?”

“Feeew different vegetable dishes,” Tooru said, “And some tofu. I can cook pretty well, kindaaa have to.”

“Not necessarily,” Shin said, “You could be the idiot type of vegetarian who susbsists exclusively on grilled cheese sandwiches.”

“Or you could have someone in your life who does the cooking for you,” Jun said.

“Oh pleeease.” Tooru clasped his hands together. “Adachi neeever woulda been caught dead cooking for me. He’s very masculine, as nerds go. Ahh, the perfect balance…”

“I thought you’d fallen out of love with him?” Jun questioned.

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder?” Tooru offered, then chuckled. “No, no, it’s more like. Infatuation and love, they’re two veeeery different things. I can never stop thinkin’ that he’s amazing. I always will. But he’s just nooot boyfriend material anymore. That’s the part that’s love.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Jun said, “I can’t say I can imagine being in that situation myself, but I’m glad that it sounds like you overcame your feelings to do what you needed to do?”

“I could love him again,” Tooru said, “And I reaaaally hope that sumbitch still loves me, honestly. I like the thought of him realizing only how good he had it once I left him. But I did do what I needed to do, there. I gave him every opportunity to improve, and he never took them. I haaad to put my money where my mouth was eventually, and that was really terrible to figure out. But I couldn’ just let things keep going how they were. I wanted him to stop taking advantage of my feelings being so strong, as an excuse to put nothing into the relationship. He didn’t. I had to act. Thaaat’s all there really is to it.”

“And that’s seriously your worst memory?” Jun asked, “No offense, that does sound like an unhealthy relationship to be in, but realizing you needed to break up with him couldn’t have really been that terrible, could it?”

“Reaaalizing I needed to end it, when I’m this kind of person? When I knew I’d never really be over him? Yeaaah, pretty awful.” Tooru crossed his arms.

“And in that moment,” Shin observed, “Isn’t it also likely that by realizing you no longer felt love as much as your infatuation, that you also determined just how unpleasant the relationship really was?”

“Well. That tooo,” Tooru said, then glanced away. “I know it doesn’t seem like that big a deal, but really. It’s just the way that I am. I guess you could say that I’m a truuuly hopeless romantic. I still haven’t even found anybody new to fixate on. It’s really a shame. I know I should move on, but my heart still says he’s my soulmate!”

“That does sound pretty hopeless,” Shin agreed, “My advice would be to just stay single for a while, honestly. Get that stuff sorted out first before you try to get anyone else involved in it.”

“Whaaat?” Tooru complained, stomping his feet a bit. “But I’m so horny for _romance_! And just _regular_ horny, come on.”

“Staying single doesn’t mean don’t sleep with anybody,” Shin said, rolling his eyes. “As for the ‘romance-horny’ aspect there, just watch some movies, they’re sweeter than any real relationship could ever be anyhow.”

“Nooo, that’s not true!” Tooru whined, “Fairytale whirlwind romances really exist, uu!”

“Name one,” Jun said, then took a beat. “Actually, you don’t really need to name one, your aunt had one, though you wouldn’t even know about that. Maybe that runs in your family. But, I also know she had a string of _really_ unhealthy relationships and hookups before stumbling into that one. So take Tsubasa’s advice in the meantime?”

“That’s a fitting compromise,” Shin said, “Figure your own shit out while you wait for your prince charming, so you don’t scare him off when he gets here.”

“What makes you think I’d scare him offff?”

“Because _I_ am gay, if I acted like that it would scare any good man off, and if I had ever been even a little bit interested in you in the first place, it would scare me off,” Shin said, “And anybody who isn’t being scared off by such utter obsession just, as Murimura did, wants to take advantage of your devotion.”

“I have to side with Tsubasa on this one,” Jun said, “Being lovey-dovey is fine, but you could stand to dial it back a notch. For your own sake.”

“Oh come onnn, everyone wants to be worshipped.” Tooru deflected.

“I mean, sure, there’s people who want to be worshipped and people who want to worship! But, you know. Not blindly.” Jun shrugged. “Love is blind is a faulty saying used to explain why people who are in love do stupid things, not that you should ignore somebody’s flaws just because you love them.”

“Maybeee you’re right,” Tooru admitted, “But, I wouldn’t even know where to start on fixing my attitude! So, for now. I’ll focus on veeegetables.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a plan,” Jun said.


	123. Daily Life: Day Six (Here I Go Eavesdropping Again)

** 3:00 PM / 1500 Hours **

Having left the greenhouse, Jun wandered back over to the labs building this time. He was on his way to his own lab to see if his floorplan needed any revisions, but he heard voices on the approach. He knew that he really shouldn’t… But that didn’t stop him at all from figuring out where they were coming from, the calligraphy lab. And going up to the wall next to the entryway for the calligraphy lab. And carefully sliding himself down the wall to listen in because _Saya and Emi were talking_ and if there was anyone he was worried would talk trash behind his back about him right now it was Emi.

Emi was also the person right now who would rain the most consequences down on him if he was to be caught in the act but somehow right now he just wasn’t that worried about it. Anxiety on holiday again, was it? Or anxiety about people saying bad things about him worse than the anxiety of somebody saying bad things to his face? Maybe a little bit of both. He’d go with both, because that just made him seem like he had more of a handle on himself but still had his poor excuse for wanting to eavesdrop in the first place. And it was a poor excuse, even though it wasn’t even a little bit of a lie. Most explanations were poor excuses for bad habits.

Nonetheless, he tuned into the conversation in the next room.

“So, Oowada,” Saya said, “That’s really all you have to do to get muscles like yours?”

“I mean. Yeah? Most people wouldn’t consider an hour of exercises first thing in the morning every day, plus additional workouts in free time, ‘all you have to do’. It’s kind of a lot for most people. But it is what _I_ do. It’s kind of my main hobby though, besides my talent itself, so. Sometimes it’s just a matter of having nothing I’d rather do, than exercise more.”

“Huh. I see, I see. I never have enough things to do to fill my time. Well, usually! Sometimes I am just kept so busy, but often I am just searching for things to do. Both in my usual life, and here now! I do not have a lab and there is only so much that I am able to do to help others. But this is a hobby which can technically be undertaken in all circumstances, yes?”

“Mhm. That’s why so many people get fit while they’re in prison, because their recreation options are limited, but working out can be done even from inside a cell,” Emi said, “Though I wouldn’t really recommend that you start while you’re in here. You’re not really going to improve that much in real life from exercising in a Neo World. I just keep it up so I don’t _lose_ my fitness level.”

“Well, even if I don’t improve very much, isn’t tiny amounts of progress being transferred to reality still worth it if I don’t have anything better to be doing?” Saya wondered, “After all. There are only so many movies in the gift shop, and we could be here a very long time if we are actually able to avoid anybody dying!”

“Huh. Put it that way, I guess it makes sense,” Emi said, “So you may as well, then?”

“I may as well!” Saya confirmed.

“I’ll make up a list of the exercises that I do, then, and pass that on to you,” Emi said, “Actually, do you think that Ueda would mind if I use a sheet of her paper? I could get that ready right now.”

“I’m not even sure that she would notice,” Saya said, “But here, use this sheet here. It’s of a lower quality than some of the other options, so I doubt that she would plan on using any of it to begin with.”

“Oh? How can you tell?”

“I’ve never worked with fancy paper before or anything, but I can still tell the difference between something that’s high-quality and something that’s cheap! What do you take me for, Oowada? I’m a refined young lady and therefore this is something that absolutely must come naturally to me.”

“Right, you are. You refined young ladies and your ‘knowing about lots of things’. You and Syoko both are always surprising me with the sorta stuff that you’re good at or knowledgeable about.”

“I could probably also surprise you with the sorta stuff that I am not knowledgeable about! There are many gaps in my lived experience. Why, just the other day, Shinku was caught completely off-guard by the fact that while I had played Umineko, I hadn’t ever heard about any of Ryukishi’s other works!”

“I don’t know what most of those words mean, but I’ll believe it. It sounds like you had a pretty weird childhood, after all.”

“Certainly, I would consider it weird. Bad in some ways, and not so bad in others, but undeniably weird throughout. But that is just how my life has been, so I just have to accept that is how it had to be, for me. There’s not much point in considering if my life could have been ‘normal’, cause it wasn’t.”

“That’s a very cavalier way of looking at it. I’m not sure I’d be able to feel that way if I was in your position, honestly. I mean. I wish all sorts of things were different in my life, and it _has_ been a lot more on the normal side than what you’re describing. I mean, except for a few things, and the fact I’m an Ultimate, I’ve had a _generally_ typical sort of life.”

“Speaking of normal things,” Saya said, “Our resident so-called normie-kun is currently doing something which is not normal…”

And, suddenly she was leaning out of the archway and looking down at him. “Isn’t he?”

Jun jumped, and immediately started to wave his hands defensively. “I was- I mean, I- It’s not like-”

“Eavesdropping again?” Emi asked, then clicked her tongue. “That’s really a bad little habit, you know. You should break it.”

“I was just, um. I was. Scared that you might be saying bad things about me, behind my back, so I-” Jun tried to defend himself, then just dipped his head and sighed. “I’m sorry.”


	124. Daily Life: Day Six (Punishment Game)

** 4:00 PM / 1600 Hours **

“You should be sorry!” Saya proclaimed, hands on her hips as she looked down on him. “You’re being a very naughty boy, Jun Barasu. How many times have you eavesdropped on people since you’ve been here??”

“Uh. A few,” Jun admitted, “At least three. But I’ve been caught twice so I’m not very good at it?”

“I was involved in catching you the other time, too,” Emi said, “But at least then you didn’t really try to actually hide what you were doing. You just stood nearby and listened in… Kind of disappointing that you’re this paranoid. I mean, seriously. If we did date, would you be able to trust me without pulling shit like this?”

“I wouldn’t be worried about you cheating on me, I’d just be worried about me not doing well enough to make you happy and then you complain to other people instead of telling me that I need to change something,” Jun said, “If we uh. Were to date. My biggest concern wouldn’t be that you’re looking for what you need with somebody else, but that I wouldn’t be giving you what you need, myself, and you’d complain about it without talking to me. I’d just want you to be happy. You know?”

“Uh huh.” Emi crossed her arms and smirked. “And eavesdropping to find out if I’m saying bad things about you serves that purpose, instead of just making me feel like you’re invading my privacy?”

“In some weird irrational part of brain, yes. In every logical part of my brain, no. But you see I have a condition called idiot brain fungus which makes the wrong parts of my brain dictate what my actual actions are,” Jun said, “And the spectre of anxiety grasps my limbs to force me into doing such obnoxious things as eavesdropping on your conversation as if the possibility of this confrontation was _less_ frightening than the possibility that you’re telling everyone I’m actually a terrible person and you only told me at breakfast that things were okay because you didn’t want to hurt my feelings.”

“It’s really funny that you think I’d go to that much trouble to avoid hurting your feelings,” Emi said, “I’m a pretty frank person, yanno. If I was gonna tell people bad things about you, I’d tell you those bad things first. I’m not so polite and I’m not so two-faced.”

“Again. Logically, I do know that. In practice, it isn’t as easy as just going ‘I know Oowada wouldn’t do this’, because the anxious parts of my brain then just keep yelling ‘but what if??’ and I’m not trying to make excuses, really. I shouldn’t have done this and I’m sorry. It’s not an excuse, just an explanation. I want to be better. I should be better,” Jun said, “And I am better than I used to be. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you, you don’t know how bad I used to be, but the fact I’ve only taken time to eavesdrop three times since we got here, in six days, with mostly strangers who have every reason to say bad things about me.”

“By that measure, okay, I guess that you’re not doing nearly as badly as you could be. Nonetheless, it is certainly a bad habit,” Saya said, “And the best way to break a bad habit is to punish it, you know.”

“I, uh, would prefer if _you_ didn’t,” Jun started.

“-Which is why!” Saya cut him off, “I think that you and Yume should get together and work on these bad habits, together. We will lock you in a room to reflect on your misdeeds and maybe then you can come to an understanding of how to behave more like good normal human people. After all, you both have relationships on hold until the point that you have fixed yourselves!”

“Uh, actually, my relationship with Jun is on hold until _I_ fix myself,” Emi said, “And I kinda believe what he’s saying about the eavesdropping thing, so I can work with… Huh, what’s that about Yume?”

“I find Yume a very lovely girl,” Saya said, “However, she has anger issues! I have always heard that you should not date a partner with anger issues. So I need some solid proof that she is working to improve on those issues before I can begin to consider that we might be girlfriends! I am trying to exercise, er… Self-determination! That’s what Syoko called it.”

“I see. So you’re going to put the two of us in time out?” Jun asked.

“Precisely, time out! You are exhibiting childish behaviors, so I will treat you like children,” Saya said, “I will steal Yume’s Monopad and lock you both in my room. That way you will not be able to leave until I allow you to, at dinnertime. Bad and naughty crushes get put in the empty room to atone for their sins.”

“Whatever you say?” Jun still did not much understand, but he wasn’t going to try and argue this. Spending two hours in a room with Yume wasn’t that bad an idea, anyway. Emi seemed a bit weirded out by the plan as well, but shrugged and went along with it. Some strategic eye contact from Jun got Yume to agree without too much of a fight, and soon they were locked in under Saya’s strange pretexts.

“So…” Yume said, “What are you in for?”

“I was eavesdropping on Yoshiro and Oowada, and Yoshiro got this idea that my eavesdropping was the reason that we aren’t, uh, dating yet? Even though it’s actually because Oowada wants to figure some stuff out, and. It’s a lot more complicated than that. But anyway, we’re here for two hours and Yoshiro didn’t think ahead, do you want to watch another one of those movies we picked up the other day?”

“Oh!” Yume perked up, “That’s right, they’re still here! So this isn’t much of a punishment at all. Though, I guess it is pretty cute of her, to think that she can solve everything just by sticking us in time out…”

“So she was telling the truth? She’s holding romance hostage from you until you get your temper under control?”

“Yeah. I mean, I fuckin’ doubt that’ll happen anytime soon, so it’s sort of a moot point, but. Good on her. I dunno if I’d be a good girlfriend anyway, with all the stuff I got going on. But I’ll give it a go if she ever decides I’ve gotten soft enough for her. So… It really is that simple, with the two of us anyway. Just two smoking hot girls sharing a room but setting healthy boundaries before taking the next logical step.”

“It’s good to set healthy boundaries,” Jun said, “I mean, especially with this kind of place and situation and… Everything. I donno what I’m trying to say.”

“What, that setting healthy boundaries would have kept my brother alive? I doubt that,” Yume said, “I mean, maybe. But, like, hey. Yoshiro’s a stable person, I’m kind of not. Both of them were kind of not and that’s what happened there. But. Yeah. I do think taking the time to make sure that anything happening between people here is actually a good idea? Pretty important stuff.”

With that, the two of them put a movie on to wait out their ‘time out’.


	125. Reality 3: 'Speak'

**Location: Somewhere in Space**   
**Date: September 5th 2128**   
**Time: 1700 Hours**

Last we left Renji, he was currently realizing that he was isolated on a spaceship which was operated by an AI, who was the only other person. He was alone here, or so he _really hoped_, because if there was somebody else there then he didn’t have any backup or method of escape or anything really to keep himself safe with. He really wasn’t fond of that idea. Plenty of times in his life, he’d been in positions that he was absolutely powerless to escape, and every single time had turned out to be just as terrible as he feared.

So he would be forgiven if he took about an hour to sit on the floor and panic! Which was exactly what he did. And this too, proved that if nothing else, the ship’s AI was behaving true to her word and had thoroughly fucked off unless he was to actually summon it. A therapist would be far too nosy if it was actually spying on him, to have left him in peace during a very lengthy panic attack. When he was finished panicking, he stood up, brushed himself off, and took a few deep breaths. Okay. That was out of his system. And an hour had gone by without anybody showing up to take advantage of his helplessness!

Always a good sign.

He took another look around the common area, and realized that he had very much just started making assumptions without taking a minute to think at all. So, annoyed as he was to do this, he called out into the empty air, “Speak?”

“Hello, Renji,” Speak said, “Have you decided you’d like to work with me yet?”

“Uh, no,” Renji said, “I mean. Maybe? I have a different question to ask you. Am I the only human person here?”

“You are the only human person who is currently awake in this portion of the ship.”

“That’s a really specific answer,” Renji said, “Please explain more?”

“Oh, certainly, my boy! There are other humans in this part of the ship who are not conscious. Nobody will become conscious until you regain your memories through working with me,” Speak explained, “In a completely different part of the ship there are two conscious humans. They will have no interaction with you and are simply biding their time. The bottom line is that you _are_ completely alone right here, right now, but for me.”

“Huh, okay. And you’re just a disembodied voice.”

“I can be a bodied voice.” Just a moment later, Renji felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see… Speak, he supposed. They were tall and thin, wearing a pair of baggy black jeans and an oversized white t-shirt which exposed their boney shoulders. They had lilac eyes and long, just a bit shaggy, black hair, and appeared to be neither a man nor a woman, of an indeterminate but clearly older than him age. “See? Of course I can manifest a body in the ship. It’s nice to meet with you face-to-face.”

“That actually… Yeah, that makes me feel kind of better about this. If you wanted to hurt me you would have already done it, right?”

“Not quite.”

“Oh.”

Speak tilted their head and held their hands out to their sides. “But of course, I don’t mean hurt like really. But the way I would like to ‘hurt’ you requires your permission. After all, upon waking up here, your mind was ‘repaired’ to the last point at which you were mentally stable. I can bring you up to speed, but we have to work hand-in-hand on that, because there’s a lot of rotten stuff in there and I’ll have to keep you with me and functional through the remembering process.”

“I see. So remembering this stuff will hurt, a lot. But you’re a therapist, so you can keep me from… Ending up however it is that I ended up before, to land myself in this situation?” Renji asked, “And once I do remember, other people will wake up and have to do the same thing?”

“No, I’ve tampered with the settings now. Everyone else who wakes up will not have their memories rolled back, thank goodness. Though I'm sure I'll have to work with them to sort out those memories nonetheless. But yes, once you remember, others will wake up. I just cannot allow that yet, because you wouldn’t recognize anybody, and that would just stress you out _even more_, don’t you think?”

“Uh, yes, it would,” Renji said, “So thanks for… Looking out for me.”

Speak reached out and put both of their hands on his shoulders. “Of course. It’s what I do, after all.”

“Anyway, why am I… And these others… What are we doing here?” Renji asked.

“You could call this.” Speak removed one hand to hold up a finger. “An Ark. Not to say that anyone expects reproduction or any such thing to occur here. But you _are_ here to avoid a certain disaster, I can tell you that much. You’re perfectly safe here, at least, for the time being. Even if an accident were to occur, I have the means to ensure that you won’t die. Your waking up was unexpected, but frankly does represent an improvement to our plans.”

“An… Improvement?” Renji asked, “What plans?”

“I can’t tell you that just yet. Well, really, it’s a net neutral. When you woke up, it triggered an event that we meant to save for later. But the fact that you are awake means that we’ll have additional hostages, later down the line,” Speak said, “But please, don’t think of yourself _as_ a hostage. Think of yourself as one of the sole survivors of a worldwide extinction event.”

“Neither of those things is actually reassuring, you know.” Renji took a step backwards and crossed his arms. “But, whatever. I don’t really care about that kind of stuff, it’s all over my head. The bottom line is that I’m safe here and now?”

“Yes,” Speak said, “You are, Renji. Nothing and nobody is going to bring you harm. Well. Unfortunately, if you do decide to remember, that won’t be easy. But in general. There is nobody in this portion of the ship infested with the type of rot you’ve grown accustomed to.”

“So you’ve saved me,” Renji said, “You saved my life from whatever is going on down there. And you saved me, personally, from the circumstances _of_ my life. Do I have that right?”

“It’s as close to right as you can get right now,” Speak said, “Yes. I wouldn’t say that was our intention, entirely, but it is what we did. Congratulations.”

“Even though you do plan to use me as a hostage, you've seriously given me a hand here... In that case,” Renji said, “I think I can trust you, enough. To walk me through getting back my memories. I dunno about anything else, but. They can’t be that much worse than what I already remember…”

“They won’t be… With me here with you. Experiencing those memories the first time, you very nearly lost yourself entirely. But I’ll be here to remind you who you are. And you’ll come out okay on the other side. I promise.”


	126. Daily Life: Day Six (Birds Of A Feather)

** 6:00 PM / 1800 Hours **

Just a bit before six, Saya had come to retrieve Yume and Jun. To maintain the illusion that they were doing penance, they had turned the movie off just a few minutes prior, knowing that Saya would have to come get them soon. She seemed enthusiastic that this punishment must have had some effect on them, and brought them both to the dining hall just in time for official dinner. Tooru’s preparation was running late, so everything was ready just about when they got there. This was fine, since Mono had already stated there would be no further motives.

There was a moment, Jun thought about the fact that he and Yume had just been locked in a room. It was incredibly unsafe that the doors only opened with a Monopad from both sides; This had been fine just now, and Yume’s Monopad was returned as soon as the door was open, but it did give rise to some concern, and not just because it was a serious fire code violation. But there was nothing to be done about that, so he simply moved on.

Jun was going to get his own nightmare tonight, but that would be it, so no dinnertime announcements came, and no Mono at all. It seemed that she preferred to give the participants space, and rarely popped up if she wasn’t called or didn’t have a required announcement to make. That made sense, Jun thought. She didn’t want to be here either, and the part of her that _was_ a Monokuma probably kept her from wanting to engage too often with human participants.

Or, maybe Mercury kept her too busy most of the time for her to go around fraternizing. That was also a possibility, and one that Jun wasn’t particularly fond of. Not because it wouldn’t explain things, but because it implied certain other _bad_ things. He didn’t trust Mercury Mars at all, and especially not when it came to Mono. Feeling sympathy for a Monokuma might have been strange, but he couldn’t imagine being in her situation. A dissonant version of a person, who’s expected to be another person, under the control of somebody who was ‘in love’ with her. Yeah. Sounded pretty awful.

Jun’s attention was brought back to dinner by his stomach rumbling, and the realization that he hadn’t actually eaten a bite of the food he’d taken yet. Sheepishly, he turned his attention to the meal and started to eat, an act which was made especially embarrassing by the fact that he was sharing a table with Hikari, and with the chef himself, Tooru.

“How dooo you like it?” Tooru asked, leaning his cheek in his palm and his elbow on the table. “I know vegetarian meals aren’t for everyone, but the garden veggies shooould help.”

“Barasu has poor taste in most things!” Hikari said, “So I wouldn’t be surprised if he was stupid and didn’t like your cooking, Hanazaki. Oh by the way, Hanazaki, Barasu and I are in a low-key fight and since you were my friend first you’re also obligated to be mean to him.”

“That sounds like a lot of work,” Tooru said, “I’ve never been meeeean for anyone’s sake. Only accidentally. Too much effort. Even for my boyfriend. I never got jealous cause that’s just tooo much energy for my vibes.”

“Oh. Well, if you wouldn’t even do it for a lover, I won’t continue asking you to do it for the sake of your friend,” Hikari said.

“Since when were we in a fight, low-key or otherwise?” Jun asked.

“Uhh, since this morning, when we talked about the fact that you totally don’t handle reality and all,” Hikari said, “But, whatever, it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t remember that either!”

“Er. Well, okay, I can’t see what the big idea with that is, I thought I gave you somewhat solid advice,” Jun said, “Even if it made you kind of anxious, it holds up. Hanazaki, she’s putting words in my mouth and this food is really good. Thank you for cooking, I know you were a bit unsure about pulling it off.”

“It diiid take a bit longer to make enough food, but at least people seem to be enjoying it,” Tooru said, then glanced up at the ceiling. “Were Nanjo still aliiive… I’d’ve needed to get a bit more creative. He didn’t like vegetables, did he?”

“Oh, he _didn’t_, right? He put that on the dietary restrictions list and everything, that he was averse to them,” Hikari said, “Well, every cloud, huh? At least the dead person gives you culinary freedom, and also a lab. It’s bad that there’s a dead person but there’s some benefits.”

“Hikari, that’s not a very nice thing to say, you know,” Jun said.

“I could say much more un-nice things than that,” Hikari said, “I am being _polite_.”

“Mmm… Yeah, seeeems to me this is as good as you get,” Tooru said, “You’re lucky that I literally don’t even care a liiittle bit about the concept of a moral compass. You wouldn’t have any friends if not for that.”

“Hey! You’re forgetting Aya!” Hikari protested.

“Riiight. Still haven’t actually made her your girlfriend, check.” Tooru waved a finger. “Seeee, that’s the difference between you and me. If I’m obsessed with somebody I give ‘em a head’s up.”

“Who says that I’m obsessed!” Hikari protested, “I’m not obsessed, I’m pining! There is a difference! A big difference!”

“Aren’t you worried that Ayano is going to hear you?” Jun wondered.

“Sheee’s across the whole dining hall. Sittin’ with Nageko and Sato.” Tooru waved it off. “She won’t hear any of this. Givin’ me freeee reign to tease Ruka all that I like. Which is plenty. As friends with these sorts of things in common are wont to do!”

“Ugh. See, I’d keep arguing with you and saying we don’t have that in common, but, since you’re willing to be friends with me it’s kind of hard for me to want to make the case that we’re all that different from each other,” Hikari complained, “So I’ll admit it, I might be just a tiny little bit obsessed, but it’s not something to be worried about or anything.”

“Nobody eeever said it was worrisome,” Tooru said, “We are but two birds of a feather.”

“Yeah, I can see it,” Jun said, “But then, I guess it must be pretty obvious. Since the two of you became such fast friends, and all… Will you still be able to relate if Hikari actually does get Ayano to date her?”

“Suuure. I can get along with anyone as long as they can get along with me. I ain’t pickyyyy when it comes to friends.” Tooru shrugged. “I’m just not the best to be around, for others. The onus is on them to tolerate me, and I can tolerate all.”

“Aw, that’s actually pretty nice,” Jun said, “I wish I could say that I’m the same way, but… No, there’s people I can’t get along with even _if_ they’re willing to put up with my bullshit. Like Itadai, I couldn’t get along with him, at least not the way he was before. Maybe his real self is more, er, sufferable.”

“People’s real selves uuuusually are, yes.” Tooru nodded sagely with this nugget of wisdom.


	127. Daily Life: Day Six (Vampire's Tropic)

** 8:00 PM / 2000 Hours **

After dinner was finished, Jun went about his evening. He finished making his floorplan, tucked that away in his room, and found himself once more in the gift shop. And, as he had before, found himself here in this room with Hiyoko. This time he knew her name, and hopefully this time there wouldn’t be a murder while he was here.

“Oh, Jun.” Hiyoko turned to greet him, hands clasped together at her waist. “You’re in here an awful lot, aren’t you?”

“I guess so,” Jun said, “Something about emulated consumerism just comforts me. Or… Something. I can’t actually explain why I like to hang out in here.”

“I can explain why I like to hang out in here.” She laughed a bit. “Most of the others just stop in to grab things, then leave. So if I want some time to myself, without seeming weird, then this is where I go.”

“Ah. Am I intruding on your alone time?” Jun asked.

“Ten minutes ago, you would have been. But I don’t mind some company now.”

“If you really wanted to be alone, couldn’t you just go in your room?”

“Yuji might intrude on my alone time there,” Hiyoko said, “I mean, I love him, like _so_ much if I tried to explain it would make you sick, but… I’m better off finding a corner that people will just pass through, than going to our room where he may actively try to join me. If I want some space, is all. You know. Brain stuff.”

“I understand,” Jun said, “The last girlfriend I had, we’d figured out this, I guess you’d call it a system. Where each of us could leave the room without judgment, explanation, or being followed, whenever we needed to. It wasn’t often we had to actually do that because of each other, but because of each other’s friends, or just circumstances, whatever. It kept either of us from getting overwhelmed.”

“Overwhelmed is a good way to put it,” Hiyoko said, chuckling a bit under her breath. “Yuji can be a lot, you know? Especially in this situation. He keeps going on these winding speeches about how much he wants to protect me and keep me safe… It’s sweet, but it’s also a little much!”

“I can see how it would be a little bit much to be loved by that guy.” Jun chuckled as well. “He’s pretty extra. But then, as long as you can get some space, is he a good boyfriend?”

“He’s… Always liked me for who I am, so, yeah.” Hiyoko nodded. “In our town in Okinawa, he was kind of, well. The most popular guy around. He could have dated anybody at all, but he picked me. We were sixteen then, it was valentine’s day, he made it _so_ stupid romantic and I still asked, why he’d want me? I didn’t think I was that cute yet, back then. Guys didn’t really see me as a girl, it’d be months till I passed regularly. He said he just liked me best. That he thought I was cute no matter what, that I was cute before and cute now and I’d be cute in the future.”

“Aw. That’s kind of adorable,” Jun said, “Actually, I’m curious. You obviously don’t have to tell me why you went back in the closet before, or anything, but. You kind of transformed overnight…?”

“Well, I started HRT back then. I lost some of my progress in the months that I was off of it, sure, but some stuff doesn’t change that easily. I’ve been wearing sports bras this whole time, to stay closeted. Wearing a real bra makes a world of difference in that category.” She lifted a hand to scratch behind her ear. “If I did get out of here. I’d probably have to go back to being ‘Ryota’ again. I don’t have many options. But I guess being drunk was enough to kick me in the ass to realize I was just hurting myself by staying quiet in this place.”

“I… Guess that makes sense,” Jun said, “But, wouldn’t it hurt you more when you do get out?”

“If I do get out, then I’d deal with it then. That’s a big if, though. I became ‘Ryota’ again because that was my mom’s criteria to live with her instead of my dad. It was better that way, even if I had to be somebody who I’m not. I don’t have a reason to pretend here, though. This whole time, I was caught in that weird space where I didn’t want to out myself, but I didn’t want to misgender myself either.”

“That sounds really difficult,” Jun said.

“You can relate, can’t you? Obviously not with gender stuff. But in general, you know. Not wanting to lie to people, but also wanting to keep a secret,” Hiyoko said, “I’m sure you’ve been in that position at least once in your life.”

“I… Yeah, I guess so,” Jun said.

“I don’t like it,” Hiyoko said, “I’m not sure that I like the way things are now either, though. It feels like, even though I’ve come out, people here still don’t really know me. Not even Yuji. Maybe it’s just the stress, or, maybe it’s because I had to go back in the closet for so long. I’m not sure.”

“I’m sure you’ll get it sorted out.”

“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll die,” Hiyoko said, then looked down with a smile that didn’t seem happy at all. “Yoshiro was saying this sort of thing when we first got here, wasn’t she? My regular life isn’t worth returning to, so it’s okay if I die here.”

“Don’t say that. I mean. Your situation sounds pretty harsh, but you could get out of it, right? What about Yuji? Wouldn’t you be able to live with him?”

“Has he fooled you that well? I’m not permanent enough to him, for that.” She lifted a hand to rub her arm. “We’re having fun, and he does love me. But I don’t think he’d want me moving in with him, or anything. We dated for just over a year, and I never even met his family. I guess he… Never really knew if I might need his support that way, but I still don’t think he’d do it.”

“How would you know if you don’t ask?”

“I guess.” She shrugged, then wandered toward a shelf. She picked up a bottle of white rum. Jun figured by the logo that there was coconut in it. “Hey, Jun. I didn’t really get the chance last night, but. This is my recommendation, if you ever think of drinking again. It’s my favorite.”

“Yeah?” Jun reached out and took the bottle to look at it more closely. Yep, coconut. “Why’re you telling me this?”

“I just figured you should know. You know, for if I die. You can pour one out for me, to make sure you remember that I’m the _cutest_ girl you ever met.” Hiyoko showed him one more bitter smile, then turned and walked out of the gift shop, her steps dainty and, to use her own word, cute. Mannerisms that seemed out of place on ‘Ryota’ were perfectly suited to Hiyoko.

Like with Everett, Jun was glad he got the chance to meet Hiyoko. Whoever Itadai had really been, Jun never met him. So any other secret people here, he hoped, he could at least make their acquaintance.


	128. Daily Life: Day Six (You Really Don't Remember, Do You)

** 10:00 PM / 2200 Hours **

Nighttime began with a conversation.

It was a conversation that was being had in four different rooms, at the same time, with a similar thread to them. And this conversation will be presented here in an indistinguished, scrambled manner. Eight people, and _who said what?_

“You really don’t remember, do you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, at all.”

“I wish I could remember, I’ve been worried about it for a while, honestly.”

“I don’t think it matters what I remember.”

“Of course I don’t remember. It’s your fault that I don’t.”

“I realized it today, what I was missing…”

“What he did.” “What you did.”

“It’s dangerous to keep this up, you know. Pretending like it never happened. You must remember, you’ve always been smarter than me.”

“If I remembered it, what if I just didn’t care?”

“You cared the first time, I don’t know why you wouldn’t care again now. Why you wouldn’t just hate me all over.”

“They’re dead.” “She’s dead.” “And it’s all your fault.”

“So do you really want to remember something like that?”

“I don’t care how awful it is, I want to know what happened. Of course I want to know. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you sure aren’t protecting me.”

“From anyone.” ‘“From the truth?”

“All you need to do is look in the trash can and you’ll understand what’s been going on this entire time.”

“You think you can just keep going like nothing is wrong, like we aren’t all telling you that you’ve got a problem? Blocking us out and anything we might tell you? Do you really want a repeat of what happened back then? Do you want everything to come to a head again?”

“Do you want to just sit by and watch, really?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want, he’s going to ignore it. He doesn’t want to face reality, and I can’t begrudge him that. Reality is really awful.”

“The last time he didn’t face reality-”

“He didn’t kill him.” “You killed her.”

“I killed her?” “I killed them?”

“I told you that you didn’t want to know.”

“It’s my job to keep you safe.”

“However much you want to keep me safe it doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t want to anymore if you remembered. The last time you knew the truth you didn’t want to anymore.”

“I don’t know… Please, can you just explain what you’re talking about?”

“If I tell you, then you’ll leave me. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want you to know, again. You’ll just blame me like everybody else always did. Like even you did, back then.”

“I can’t imagine that I’d do anything like that, d-”

“It doesn’t change the fact that you did it, after all.”

“Just because you want to pretend doesn’t change a thing.”

“I don’t… I wouldn’t say that I’m pretending, I honestly don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Of course you wouldn’t remember at this point, of course not, of course. After everything that’s happened. You’d block it all out.”

“I just want to keep being friends. I don’t care what you think happened…”

“I don’t want anything to change.”

“I thought for sure you’d kill me when I told you this.”

“I’m worried if I tell you what you’ve forgotten, you’ll kill me. You may as well kill me right now!”

“I don’t want to.”

“I was ready to die tonight. I’m already ready to die. Just go ahead and kill me, I know that you want to.”

“What if we all just stopped trying so hard?”

“What if we just hurled ourselves into the sea?”

“That’s ridiculous. We’ve fought so long to stay alive, why would you throw that all away now?”

“I think it’s ridiculous that you won’t just accept that maybe, what you think you know is just wrong. That you aren’t just this innocent who could never hurt somebody.”

“Maybe I do know that. Maybe I’m aware of it, deep down, but I’ve decided to be different this time, maybe I just want to live my life.”

“I’m trying to help you live a normal life! Without me, you’d have never lived this long at all!”

“It isn’t any different now than it was back then. You saw what happened at the party. I remember everything now and I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I can’t believe you think that I’d ever hurt you, no matter what you told me, is that what you really think of me?”

“It’s what I really think of everybody.”

“I’ve never been able to trust anyone, really, and especially not you.”

“Everyone I ever thought I could trust ended up hurting me and saying it was all my fault, how am I supposed to expect anything else from anybody? Even you?”

“You don’t want to know what happened when we were younger.”

“What happened to them, what happened to me, to all of us. But them most of all. If you knew it, then…”

“I don’t want to die but I can’t see how I’m still alive.”

“I’ve been ready to die and a part of me wants to.”

“Knowing the truth would make you wonder why you’re alive.”

“Why are we alive if not to forgive him?”

“I don’t think that’s true, really. I’m stronger than you think.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re alive but it’s not why I’m alive. I’d never live for that.”

“I thought for sure, you’re going to kill me. Tomorrow morning…"

“I’ll be dead.” “Someone will be dead.”

“I hope that you can understand why, now.”

“I’ve been scared of you since we got here.”

“I can’t understand that, I really… I can’t. I’d never want to hurt you. You need to know that.”

“I can understand that. Well, don’t worry, then.”

“I’ll leave you alone and get out of your hair right away.”

“That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Let’s just get some rest. In the morning, maybe we can talk about this with clearer minds and get this sorted out.”

“I just want you to know…”

“I love you.”

“I need a drink.”


	129. Daily Life: Day Seven (Welcome To The World)

** 5:00 AM / 0500 Hours **

Yosuke’s alarm went off first thing in the morning, before the announcement, as it usually did. He caught it quickly enough, and glanced over to see that his roommate hadn’t been woken this time. Good. That meant that he’d have this time to himself, and he would spend it deviating from his usual morning routine. It wasn’t that he disliked his roommate, or even thought that his plans would actually be easier without interference. Rather, it would grant him the confidence he needed to be sure of himself before he told anybody else.

And it also wasn’t that his roommate didn’t already, in a way, know. It was hard to deny such a thing when it came to this setting, after all, but there was a difference between the unspoken tension of knowing and the spoken tension of actually taking that step. It was an inevitable step, that much seemed obvious, but inevitability didn’t make it much easier. And he knew that any difficulties he felt were… He had no idea where they came from, honestly. He had no idea where a lot of things came from.

It wasn’t like he could point to solid gaps in his memory, he didn’t have amnesia. There was nothing conspicuously missing from his past, but he was filled with all of these unknown reactions to who knows what, including the literal concept of exploring his sense of self. Until now. He didn’t want to keep living in fear after it had been so evident that his roommate noticed (not that strange) and that somebody else had noticed (incredibly strange). Yosuke took a deep breath, then got out of bed. He stopped at the closet first and pushed some of the clothes to one side to get at the ones that he actually intended to wear now. A pair of knee-length shorts, a purple t-shirt, and a pretty cool lab coat.

These had been hanging here since Yosuke arrived. Somehow, Mercury didn’t just know to recreate outfits which matched the typical style of the participants, but also how their styles could evolve. This was exactly the sort of thing that he had considered wearing in the past, only to give up on that and stick with the same ultra-frilly, hyperfeminine attire. Why he wore that, he wasn’t even completely sure. His family would have completely understood. Instead, he found himself so frightened by the prospect of his own existence that he’d gone to great lengths to ensure that he would never even be ‘mistaken’ for himself.

He was even scared now. It wasn’t reasonable, he couldn’t say what he was scared of, but that didn’t stop him from feeling this way. He just needed to gather up his strength to overcome that nebulous fear, if he ever wanted to get a handle on his life. And get a handle on some other things, too-

He slapped his own cheeks, good grief. His mind was wandering from the task at hand in all of the most obnoxious ways, wasn’t it? Sure, by figuring this out he was going to actually become an eligible bachelor in exactly the way that he’d want to, but that wasn’t the _important_ part! He sighed and stepped into the shower. Part of what had kept him from necessarily coming to this conclusion sooner was that, in general, he was proud of his body. He worked hard for his physique, and it was a little bit disorienting to feel that way and simultaneously run up against physical self-hatred, such that he had been able to tip the scales into ignoring any negatives. These things were small imperfections, that’s all.

That was not all.

With his hair wet, now, he picked up the scissors that he usually kept in a pocket. They were useful things to have, and these ones were interestingly made. He’d picked them up at a garage sale once, the handles were shaped like a bow, and they’d made it into this world still in his pocket. With that, he got to work on his hair. There was a hell of a lot of it- And frankly, the Neo World Program granted him some options here. He might not actually want it short- There were ways to make long hair masculine, after all, but he felt like he might as well take the opportunity to go the more drastic route at a time when it would be impermanent. Huge chunks of hair ended up on the bathroom counter, and it took him long enough that by the time he finished getting dressed afterward, it had dried.

He looked at himself in the mirror, and burst out laughing.

It wasn’t that the cut looked bad on him, he actually figured himself quite handsome, but it did remind him about a facet of his youth. Until his hair had grown out into that ridiculous mop he usually hid behind, it expressed its messiness in a different way, including a large cowlick that stuck straight out from the top. It was much more conspicuous than the one that Jun had.

Thinking about Jun had his heart pound even more than it already was- He flushed and held both hands to his sternum, squeezing his eyes shut. He was smitten. Why was he so smitten? They’d only known each other for, it was a week now. A week! Well, he supposed it kind of made sense. He had been ‘shy’ as a teenager due to now-obvious factors, so his heart was taking the opportunity to be a teenager now. And what nearly happened last night, well. That played a part too. Some might say the incident should make him _less_ smitten, but he was just factoring it in and ready to tackle both of their issues together now as a team.

As a team! Jeeze! Well, he was going to have a boyfriend, so, he figured, he could think that way. It was fine, it was… Good! It was good. He was still scared, but again, for those implacable reasons that plagued him. Anything conscious of him was excited. And excited for this step, too. He turned and opened the door to leave the bathroom, to see that Syoko was awake and currently picking her outfit for the day. She turned to see why the door had just opened, and a grin made its way across her face. “Oh! Oh, you’ve accepted it, huh?”

Of course she knew. She had a spectacular trans-ceiver, sure, but then again. Their room was also equipped with one sewing kit and one screwdriver set. She had initially become annoyed with that fact, aware of its meaning but believing Mercury to be disrespecting her. After the first trial, she understood who those screwdrivers really referred to, but hadn’t made any effort to confront Yosuke on the matter- Though, even within that first trial, the minute she realized she had begun to change her language about him. She was a kind person, and he was glad to have her be the… second, to know for sure.

“Heh. I guess so.” He chuckled, and couldn’t help grinning right back at her. “Pleased to meetcha for real this time. The name’s Yosuke Oowada!”


	130. Daily Life: Day Seven (And What A Cruel World It Is)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

“Morning, everybody,” Mono’s voice basically interrupted. Yosuke said everything he wanted to say in that sentence, but she was still cutting Syoko off from responding straight away. “It’s six in the morning, which means you need to wake up and get on with your lives. Uh. There’s more I could say here, but I don’t think I will. Good luck.”

And so she shut up, allowing Syoko to speak, “Yosuke! Ah, that’s a great name! Oh, do you mind if I call you it? I mean, I’d figure that we’re on first name basis, given everything, but I can understand if-”

“No, no, please do,” Yosuke said, “I wanna get used to it being my name, and all! Er, you don’t think that it’s too out of left field or anything like that? It’s just, I’ve always liked this name, and I know it’s not similar much at all, but…”

“My name’s not similar to my deadname at all, either,” Syoko said, “It’s more unusual to do that, actually, as much as The Cis might think otherwise. What would the masculine equivalent to that even _be_?”

“Eiji, maybe,” Yosuke said, “But I just don’t like that for me, you know?”

“Of course. You get the opportunity to pick your own name, it had better be one that actually suits you!” Syoko laughed. “And I think this one does.”

“I think so too. I mean, I hope that my dads aren’t upset that I didn’t really consult them on it, but… I don’t have any way of doing that from here,” Yosuke said, “So. If they wanna change my name when I get outta here, they can feel free to do that, but I’m Yosuke for now!”

“Yosuke for now!” Syoko enthusiastically echoed, “With you, I bet that’s everyone cracked up, then. Was Hiyoko coming out part of what prompted you to figure this out?”

“In a roundabout way, probably? At the party, Jun asked me if I was actually a guy, ‘like how Hiyoko was obviously a girl this whole time’. I made fun of him for it at the time, but it got me thinking… Jun’s smarter in some ways when he’s drunk, isn’t he?”

“In some ways, yes. That took me by surprise when we were investigating Nanjo’s death,” Syoko said, “He downed a nip of whiskey in front of me, so I thought that he was going to be barely helpful, but he turned out to be better at it than I was…”

“...Yeah, he’s kinda got a problem, huh?” Yosuke noted, “He was drunk again when I saw him last night. Probably blackout again. But, you know, I’m willing to work with that! Obviously _I_ can’t fix him or whatever but I can be there for him. He’s cute enough, he had to have _some_ flaw.”

“I’m not sure he’s even aware of it himself,” Syoko said, “I didn’t take him for the type to lie through his teeth so much saying that he’s straight-edge when he clearly isn’t. There’s some heavy denial there, somehow or another. And the party… What’s done is done, but I wish that Yoshiro hadn’t encouraged him.”

“Hm, yeah. Well. If it helps, I can take his place on the next investigation! If it happens. I don’t want it to, _obviously_, but if it does, then I can be your assistant. I actually figured out Itadai before you did, but I didn’t say anything cause I figured I’d be brushed off for being his ‘enemy’,” Yosuke said, “I mean… Huh. Did Itadai and I hate each other because we were both in denial about the same thing?”

“I think he hated you because you pretended better than he did,” Syoko said, “After all, you never even tried to come out in the past, right? Nothing had even come close enough to the surface to bury in a shallow grave the way he did.”

“Yeah. Until now I never put much thought into it because every time that I tried to be introspective at all I was overwhelmed with fear. I’m still really fucking scared right now, honestly. I can’t say why, I don’t know why, but I am.”

“Well, there doesn’t need to be a reason. Realizing that you haven’t been yourself, for years on end, that’s pretty frightening all on its own.” Syoko reached out and flicked the cowlick at the top of Yosuke’s head. “You’ve spent all this time being ‘someone’ fake. And now you need to figure out how to be _yourself_. It’s a big thing to try and manage.”

“Mm. I do need to do that,” Yosuke said, “But, I mean. Well. I just want to be me, you know? I don’t want to go from one fabrication to another. I’m still. Syoko. Syoko, is it okay?”

“Is what okay?” Syoko asked.

“Is it okay, that I’m, the Ultimate Dollmaker?” Yosuke started rubbing between his fingers the small figure on a string that resembled a dogtag necklace. “Is that alright? I’m a boy who likes dolls. That’s okay. That’s… Is it okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Syoko asked, then put both hands on his shoulders. “Nobody here is going to say that liking dolls doesn’t make you a boy, and nobody is going to say that you shouldn’t like dolls anymore because you’re a boy. They’re precious things to you, aren’t you? And who you are doesn’t change what you care about.”

“Thank you. Thanks, Syoko,” Yosuke said, “Uh, I’m sorry. Jeeze. I’m kind of a mess. Your roommate’s a mess and now you are obligated to deal with me! You’re not obligated. You can walk away any time you like. Feel free. Don’t feel obligated.”

“I want to deal with you,” Syoko said, “We’re friends and I want to be here for you in this complicated time! Um. I know that you were saying that you want to date Jun, and I know that fact helped you figure this out, but. _Maybe_ give it a little bit more time, just to be a little more confident as an individual first?”

“We might not have a little more time,” Yosuke said, “I mean, we’re in a Killing Game. I’d rather have spent _some_ time dating Jun than _no_ time dating Jun, if either of us was to die. You know?”

“I guess so,” Syoko said, “But look out for yourself first, okay? Promise me that.”

“Yeah. I’ll look out for myself,” Yosuke said, with a nod. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to get ready and stuff. I’ll go out to face the day and, uh. Reintroduce myself to people… Everything went well when Hiyoko did that, so I’m not too worried.”

“See you at breakfast, then,” Syoko said, then disappeared into her bathroom.

Yosuke took a deep breath and steeled himself in front of his door. Time to face the day. He opened it, and there, in the _dorm_...

**lobby**.

_This can’t be happening._

_ **THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING.** _

The man who he was-

_No._

So looking forward to seeing-

_Stop stop stop stop make it stop can everything just stop right here right now can I WAKE UP please-_

Was dead right there on the floor.

_Who would even want to kill-_

**Jun?**


	131. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Waking Nightmare)

Yosuke stood there in complete silence. It was a matter of complete silence, because it seemed he was the first person to leave his room. No body discovery announcement was sounding. He could shout for other people to come out here right now, prompt the announcement, but that wouldn’t work. Even if the rooms weren’t soundproofed, if somebody’s was kept open a crack and could hear him, he couldn’t bring the words up from the pit in his stomach.

Jun’s body was right there in front of him and he didn’t know how to process that at all. How to process what he was seeing. He didn’t even look, at a first glance, to be a corpse. He had no obvious injuries or anything, but there was blood dripping from his mouth and he had a pallid color. He was either dead or very sick, and Yosuke found himself sure that it was the former. He’d seen somebody dead already, earlier this game. It was evident what the truth of the matter was, and that truth was that Jun Barasu was dead mere hours after he had asked Yosuke to be his boyfriend.

Asked him while drunk off his ass, sure, but asked him nonetheless, and even if he hadn’t. Nothing had in any way changed the fact that Yosuke liked _him_ and here he was and he was dead. He was dead.

Another door opened to Yosuke’s left. He turned, and saw first Tooru, then Shin, and as soon as Shin could see past Tooru, the announcement sounded out, “A body has been discovered. Please report to the dormitory lobby area.”

“Oh. Disgusting.” Shin noted, “First my lab, and now I’m one of the first to see the body mere feet from where we need to sleep. My luck is shot, it seems.”

“Not as shot as Barasu’s luck,” Tooru said, immediately approaching the body. “Wow, yeaaaah, he reeks. I’m not even sure this guy was murdered.”

“Oh, certainly not as shot as his, but that’s a given,” Shin said, “He hardly looks dead at all. I’m not sure I would have realized it, if not for the announcement. Oowada?”

Yosuke snapped out of it when he heard his name, and turned to look at those two. He just blinked.

“Did you know he was dead, before we walked out here to prompt the announcement?” Shin asked.

“I… Could tell the second I saw him,” Yosuke said, “But that doesn’t mean that I. Believe it. What the… What the fuck.” He dropped to his knees. “That can’t be… Jun can’t really be…”

“What’s this about Jun?” Hikari’s voice sounded like sandpaper to his ears. “Is Shinku dead, and it’s obvious his- Ohhh. Huh.” Upon actually seeing the body, she stopped and put her hands on her hips. “I cannot say I expected him to be a _victim_, no sir. Huh. This is the only body? He really didn’t kill anyone?”

“Oh, shut up,” Yosuke snipped at her.

“Awh, that’s right, Oowada. You had some weird pining thing going on with him, didn’t you? The type of person who just wants to settle down with a boring nice guy, maybe one with a secret rotten streak?” Hikari giggled. “Oh, but don’t mind me. You cut your hair! It looks… Kind of dumb, but I bet you’ve got a good reason for it, don’t you?”

“I…” Yosuke couldn’t bring himself to actually explain, even when prompted, right now. Telling anybody about himself would just make him feel callous. It wasn’t important that he was him. It was important that Jun was dead.

“Leave him alone, Hikari,” Syoko came to his rescue, and he felt her hand on the top of his head again, grounding him in reality. “Yosuke doesn’t need this from you, especially not right now. We need to figure out what hap-”

“Oh.” Ayano’s voice interrupted. It was a simple phrase, she didn’t say it particularly loud or with much emphasis, but the very fact that it was her voice commanded silence from everybody else. “That’s Jun.”

Rather than say anything else, Ayano joined Yosuke on the floor. It seemed like a much more intentional move than his, as she crossed her legs to sit next to him, but it was just as involuntary. She tipped to one side and Yosuke felt her weight against him, and silence remained in the room, but for everyone’s breathing. Loud, panicked gasps nearly all around, as others began to file into the lobby. Tooru and Shin seemed calmer, but not nearly as much as Hikari or Saya, who both seemed thoroughly unbothered. Yosuke had observed with the last trial that those were, respectively, because Hikari thought death was amusing and Saya believed burying her emotions was the best way to guard herself.

When Homura walked out and saw the body, he immediately turned to go back into the room, only for Yume to grab him by the scruff, newly exiting her own room. Holding Homura in place, she looked at Jun and scoffed. “Of course. Had to still be somebody here who I fucking _give_ a shit about, didn’t it?”

“Let go of me,” Homura complained, “Let go. I have to go back to bed, cause this obviously isn’t real.”

“What makes you say that?” Yume asked, tightening her grip instead. Despite her general weakness, it seemed that Homura’s small size was his undoing here.

“If Jun is dead then I’m dreaming. He dies in my dreams all the time. So I have to go back to bed so I can wake up,” Homura said.

“I kind of thought the same thing,” Yosuke said, “But. It’s not… This is definitely reality. I wouldn’t feel this… _fucking_ awful even in a nightmare.”

“He can’t be… Dead. Not yet,” Homura muttered, “He can’t be. Getting out of it _this_ easily!”

“You think dying is getting out easy?” Yume asked, glaring down at her effective prisoner.

“Right now? Yeah,” Homura said, “And he didn’t even die by killing me first. Come on. That’s not how this is supposed to go.”

“How this is supposed to go?” Hiyoko asked, then took a step forward. “What?”

“I thought he’d kill me,” Homura said, “I didn’t think he’d get killed. I was. Totally ready for him to kill me, last night. I thought he was going to. While I was asleep. And instead he’s here, and he’s dead, and I don’t get it. That’s not how this was supposed to _go_.”

“...I can’t say I get that,” Hiyoko said, “But I kind of understand. Last night, I… I asked Jun if he’d remember me if _I_ died. I thought… I mean. Did anyone here expect to outlive Jun Barasu, really?”

“I just can’t imagine,” Ayano said, “Who would have wanted to kill him. It does not make sense. It does not.”

“Me neither,” Yosuke said, “But he’s. Right here. He’s dead, some way or another, he’s dead.”


	132. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Break for Breakfast)

** 8:00 AM / 0800 Hours **

“Yoshiro,” Mono said, “I know that this is a weird favor to ask of you, but do you think that you could prepare some breakfast? The investigation will be postponed until everybody’s at least had something light to eat. I know that it might be difficult and you might not want to, but you’ll think better if you’ve eaten.”

“I can do that,” Saya said, “I am perfectly capable of making breakfast in the wake of tragedy, yes, I can do that. Please excuse me everyone. Or follow me to the dining hall. It won’t be long at all. I’ll make food quickly so that we can begin the investigation. So that we can find out how this happened, yes, see you soon.”

And she was gone, walking off towards the dining hall with the distinctive clicking of her short pumps.

“To encourage you to comply,” Mono said, “I will not be delivering the Monokuma Files until you’ve eaten. Each, individually. You will receive the file once you’ve eaten at _least_ one slice of dry toast worth of breakfast, understand?”

“Right.” Yosuke found himself nodding in agreement. Mono was… right, after all. They would think better if they had eaten something, had something in their stomachs. If she was so insistent on this, then Yosuke could only imagine that she considered this would be a difficult case to work out. While he’d nodded along, he didn’t even realize Ayano had stood up, but did see the hand that she extended to him.

He took the offer and let her pull him to his feet. Once he was standing, the roles reversed and he found himself holding her up. It was a natural movement, to support her. After all, they had both just lost somebody very dear to them. It made him feel somehow satisfied, that Ayano was looking to him for solidarity in this, over Hikari. Then again, from what he’d seen. Jun considered the three of them a unit, but from the outside looking in, Yosuke wasn’t really sure that Hikari felt the same way.

Not to say that Hikari seemed glad that Jun was dead- She was shocked in her own way, sure. But this action from Ayano did imply that she considered Yosuke a more important person in Jun’s recently ended life than Hikari was, which meant that, Jun had, confided in her that- He cared about-

_Fuck!_

Yosuke grit his teeth and dropped into a seat in the dining hall, basically dropping Ayano into a seat of her own as he did, and in one movement brought his hands up to press the prints of his thumbs against his forehead. Take a minute and breathe, Yosuke, take a minute and breathe. You knew this could happen. This is a Killing Game. You knew that this could happen but-

Jun was the tipping point to let you look past your fears to understand yourself and now he’s gone and how are you supposed to how do you how does Yosuke Oowada exist without-

“Yosuke…” Ayano spoke softly, “That’s your name, right? My Monopad’s updated your profile already. So you’re Yosuke. And Jun had a huge crush on _you_.”

“Um. Yes,” Yosuke said, “That’s… I think that’s right, anyway.”

“Which part do you think is right?”

“All of it,” He admitted, “I think I’m Yosuke. And I think that Jun liked me. But now that he’s gone I don’t… Know. About either of those things.”

“You don’t need to be Yosuke and Jun to be Yosuke,” Ayano said, “You can be Yosuke by yourself. Even if he helped you figure it out. I think that you’re Yosuke, for real. And I think that he really liked you, too.”

“How can you tell?”

“I am basically his sister,” Ayano said, “I always know what he’s thinking. Knew, I guess.”

“Right. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing? I know that you didn’t kill him. Others might suspect you. But I do not and I do not think that I will.”

“Thank you. Er. If you knew what he was thinking. Did you know about…”

“Of course I did. The entire time. But I never tried to talk to him about it. I just did what I could to keep him from feeling too terrible. I encouraged him to drink water and to take hangover pills. He would listen to that. He would not listen if you told him to his face that he had a problem. It was as if he immediately blocked out the act each and every time he would have a drink,” Ayano said, “I am sorry if that doesn’t make sense, though… It really seemed as if he thought every drink he had would be his very first.”

“It’s okay,” Yosuke said, “You don’t need to make sense. You said it yourself, you’re distraught. I am too. But. I’m also good at these kinds of things. I didn’t… Really involve myself last time. But now. I have to step up. I have to investigate.”

“I want to, too.”

“You do?”

“I do not know how useful I will be,” Ayano said, “But I do want to be a part of the investigation with you and. With Syoko, because she will be in it, right?”

“As far as I know.”

“Right. I want to find out what happened and I want to be a part of it. Jun was my very best friend in the whole world. So I need to know how he died. I can’t wait for somebody else to figure it out. I need to have all of the evidence myself.”

“I understand,” Yosuke said, “I mean, you mentioned it yourself. You knew him best. So if we start to think about what he might have been doing when he died, and you don’t think he would have done that, you can keep us on the right track.”

“I certainly can. And as for you, Yosuke. Even if you weren’t good at this, you must have some important information. You _were_ the last innocent person to see him alive, weren’t you?”


	133. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Investigation Proper)

“How would you- I mean. Reasonably thinking, probably, but-” Yosuke sputtered, “What makes you _say_ it?”

“I grabbed Jun’s Monopad,” Ayano said, “And I ate my toast quick enough. Anyway. The Monokuma File says that he was killed at 0127. Monopad photos don’t timestamp naturally, but they do say which date they were taken. There’s a picture of your foot which was taken yesterday, and another of your hand that was taken today. I can only assume these were taken accidentally during the same conversation.”

“Uh, yeah. He tried to use his Monopad on my door before he knocked, so it was in his hand most of the time we were talking,” Yosuke said, “Damn. You’re already proving to be a pretty decent sleuth. Syoko’ll be glad to have your help with the investigation.”

Ayano smiled, then stood up. Yosuke finished his own meal, and his Monopad chimed to indicate that he had also just received the file, at which point he stood up as well. The two of them walked over to where Syoko was sitting just in time to hear her own Monopad chime. “Hey, Syoko. Ueda wants to join in on the investigation, is that okay?”

“Yes,” Syoko said, “Certainly.”

“She already swiped Jun’s Monopad, and figured out a way to prove that I was talking to him over midnight. I wouldn’t necessarily say that gives me an alibi or anything, but it helps to establish a timeline. On the assumption that I’m innocent, it proves that I was probably the last person to see him alive.”

Syoko checked the file, then nodded. “Given the time of death, yes, that seems likely. Although, we probably won’t know until the trial if anybody else saw him later in the night than you did, before his death. The cause of death information on here is kind of strange, so we should go back to the lobby and…”

“I will compare the information in the file to the way that Jun’s body actually appears, yes,” Ayano said, “Are you squeamish, Syoko?”

“A little bit,” She admitted, “Please don’t tell Ruka. She’d jump on the opportunity to gross me out whenever she could, you know she would.”

“I will absolutely not tell Hikari. You have my word.” Ayano held a hand to her own chest and offered a small smile. “Thank you for allowing me to work with you on this case. I love Jun so much. He is my irresponsible little brother, more or less. Or I suppose he was. Well. We’ll see. In any case. I want whoever killed him to pay for what they did.”

“Do you not trust us to find out who it was without your help?” Syoko asked, then clapped her hands over her mouth. “Oh! That came out wrong. I didn’t mean to be harsh, and we really will appreciate your help, of course-”

“I do trust you,” Ayano cut her off, “But I want to be involved anyway. I don’t know if I will even be helpful. But I cannot just sit and wait for other people to gather evidence.”

“That makes sense. Speaking of other people, we should ask Shinku to do a rooms check again,” Syoko said, “Oh, but somebody should go with him, just to be sure. Since he could be the culprit and all. It’s a bit more likely this time around that it could be him, isn’t it?”

“Yes. He and Jun have always had a strange relationship to each other.” Ayano started to walk away. “I will ask him and have somebody supervise him.”

When Ayano returned, she cited that Shin volunteered to go with Homura for the room checks, so that was sorted out. Having that done, the three of them went back to the dorm lobby to compare the file to the body. Unlike the previous murder, the file didn’t list out the injuries that Jun may have sustained, even those from ‘previous event’. Even the cause of death itself was completely vague.

‘Suffocation’. Well, the fact that it only said that, without explaining much else at all, did imply something on its own. It meant that going into more detail would be considered making things ‘too easy’ for the participants. Even Yosuke knew that much; He might not be a Killing Game expert, but he did know the principle of balance in mysteries. Information would be withheld just to the point that they’d have to work harder to figure out what had actually happened.

At first glance back at the body, though, it didn’t seem to be an inaccurately reported cause of death. That would explain the general cleanliness of the crime scene itself, mostly lacking in blood and such. So it was accurate, just vague. Yosuke also noticed upon returning to the lobby something which had escaped him in his initial shock, but that Tooru had noticed right away.

Saying that the body ‘reeks’ was not just a description of the smell of a dead person, because that was a given. Rather, upon arriving back to the scene, Yosuke’s nose was assaulted with something entirely different- A medical scent, actually. It didn’t smell the way that Jun had smelled last night, soaked through with booze as he was. He’d smelled like coconuts and whiskey then- This was different. Isopropyl alcohol, which Yosuke certainly _hoped_ Jun hadn’t been drinking.

“Don’t worry,” Ayano seemed to read his mind with her next words, “What you’re smelling now, that’s… Not something that he would have been drinking.”

“I didn’t think it would be,” Yosuke said, “Well, I hoped that it wouldn’t be, really. It smells like rubbing alcohol.”

“The stuff that doctors use to sterilize things?” Syoko clarified.

“Yep, that,” Yosuke confirmed, “It’s a really overpowering scent. When I saw him last night, he definitely didn’t smell this way. He smelled like the other stuff he was drinking.”

“He was drunk last night too?” Ayano asked, frowning. “Oh dear. I didn’t quite expect that.”

“Probably blackout again,” Yosuke clarified, “Just like at the party. More than the party, honestly. I’m not sure what prompted him to do it, though. I mean. Getting blackout, has to have some sort of trigger, right?”

“For Jun, yes. He only seems to get so drunk that he behaves particularly foolishly if he is being encouraged…”

“Oh. I’m sorry…” Hiyoko spoke up from behind them, her voice shaking. “If that’s true, then. I’m afraid that it could have been. Uh. My fault.”


	134. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Hiyoko's Recommendation)

“What do you mean, Hiyoko?” Syoko asked.

“If he only gets _that_ drunk when he’s encouraged, then I encouraged him!” Hiyoko wrapped her arms around herself, trembling as she explained. “I told you I told you I said last night that I asked him to remember me and I did it by telling him what my favorite alcohol is I told him that malibu is my favorite and that if I died, and he decided to drink again someday, he should drink it and think of me and-”

“Hold up, hold up.” Yosuke took a step forward and held his hands by her shoulders, but not on them, hovering at the sides. “Slow down, please. Hiyoko. One thing at a time, alright?”

“O-Okay.” She gave one nod.

“First off. Why were you asking Jun to do that to begin with? Did you think that you were in danger, somehow?” Yosuke asked.

“Um. A little bit but it seems… It seems like a silly thing to be worried about now, so I’d rather not go into it,” Hiyoko said, “But I know what you’re getting at here. My fears were completely unfounded, really, I was just. I was being stupid. And what I was worried about had nothing to do with this, I’m certain.”

“That’s a little bit too cryptic for me,” Yosuke said, “Could you tell me more without making yourself too uncomfortable?”

“I um. I have trouble trusting people sometimes,” Hiyoko said, “And so. Even though in the light of day it was an utterly meaningless concern, I was, uh. Convinced that my amazing and loving boyfriend might suddenly decide to murder me. Obviously this has no grounding in reality.”

“...Oh. I see. Yes, that does sound like a you problem.” Yosuke lowered his hands. “I won’t pry any further about that. Sorry that your brain is that weird. Mine is weird too in different ways. Moving on, what exactly did you say to Jun? Did you tell him that he should drink last night?”

“No. I said, if you ever drink again, I recommend this. And I gave him a bottle of malibu. Then I said that it’s my favorite, so if I die, he should pour one out for me. I know, it’s stupid. I say stupid stuff like that when my brain goes bad places. I. I didn’t realize, I didn’t think, and now he’s…” Hiyoko started to shake again.

“I don’t think that he died because he was drunk,” Ayano said, “If that was going to be the case I doubt he would have ever made it into this game in the first place.”

“Was it. Was it seriously _that_ bad?” Hiyoko asked.

“Mm. Worse, even, but we don’t need to speak ill of the dead, do we?” Ayano adjusted her glasses. “His past misbehavior doesn’t matter here. All that matters is that, last night, he was very drunk. Even still, I think that he was murdered.”

“Was it ever an option that he wasn’t murdered?” Syoko asked.

“Yes,” Hiyoko said, “Shinku was telling me about that before, actually. I expressed some concerns. Any suspicious deaths that could possibly have been a murder, even accidents, are investigated. And that’s. Selfishly, part of why I’m so freaked out right now!”

“How so?” Yosuke asked.

“If this _weren’t_ a murder, then I would be the blackened!” Hiyoko explained, running a hand back through her hair in her nerves. “I gave him the alcohol. If he was just plain too drunk and he choked to death on his own vomit then that’s on _my_ head. I’d be executed because if fault can be traced back to anybody, then that’s on them, it’s on me, it’s on me either _way_ really because whoever killed him might have had a harder time of it if he was sober, and-”

“Hiyoko,” Syoko chided her again, reining her in from her obvious spiral. “You fear death pretty badly, don’t you?”

“Sometimes,” Hiyoko said, “Here, yes, I do. Um. There have definitely been times that I have _wanted_ to die. But not that much in this, er, situation. So I’m afraid instead. I am what you’d call a human metronome when it comes to my desire to continue existing?”

“That is a concerning statement that we will address at some future point,” Ayano said, “But the point here is that. Maybe you would be considered the blackened, if Jun had died because of the alcohol itself. But I do _not_ think that happened. I think that he was actually attacked and killed by somebody. To further this theory, Hiyoko? Could you do us a favor?”

“Yes, anything.”

“That is intense,” Ayano said, “It did not need to be so intense. But thank you for the enthusiasm nonetheless. I would appreciate if you could run a… Toxic report on Jun’s blood?”

“You mean a toxicology report? Yes, I can certainly do that, but the results probably won’t be ready in time for the trial…”

Yosuke had an idea. “Monokuma?”

Mono appeared.

“Hey, sorry about this, but I actually do have a question for you,” He said, “Hiyoko says her toxicology report wouldn’t be ready in time for the trial…”

“There is a precedent for that, yes. I can deliver the results mid-trial at the time that they’re ready, but the trial must be progressing normally up to that point. If you stall for time, you forfeit the right to know the results at all,” Mono answered, “So you just need to be having meaningful discussion without the results to help you. Given what happened last trial, you guys are so bad at getting your thoughts in order that you probably don’t need to worry about it.”

“Thank you for telling us. In that case, I’ll collect some samples.” Hiyoko pulled a needle and a vial out of seemingly nowhere and crouched down next to the body. “Jun… I’m really sorry about this. But if I can help find out what really happened to you… Even if it _is_ my fault, then you’d forgive me, right?”

“He certainly would,” Ayano said, “Really, he could never hold a grudge.”

Yosuke felt that pit in his stomach again, the condensed and swallowed thoughts of what could have been. Of course Jun would forgive anybody who wronged him. It wasn’t just that he was afraid of confrontation, he _would_ make it clear he’d been wronged in serious cases. But he was a compassionate person who would have forgiven anybody as long as they genuinely wanted him to. It was that sort of thing that made Yosuke like him in the first place.

Syoko placed a hand against his back. She was selfless that way, being here for him even though she was just as much mourning a friend as Yosuke was mourning an almost-boyfriend.


	135. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Details Of The Corpse)

Having calmed down Hiyoko, and with her blood samples retrieved, that left the remaining investigative team to actually inspect the details of the body and see if there _were_ injuries unlisted from the monokuma file. Syoko not included due to her admitted squeamishness, of course. She actually went to stand on the opposite side of the pillar that Jun’s body was propped against while Ayano and Yosuke took up the burden of further attempts to narrow down the cause of death.

It took a minute for Yosuke to actually get up the nerve to undertake this task, though. He sort of had to stand there and allow a few things to process first. He was smart, he was good at this type of thing, but he wasn’t a robot, emotionally or otherwise. There was no internal switch that he could flip to find himself in the realm of business, able to focus on the task at hand and not on the reason for the task. The fact that Jun Barasu had been murdered was something that Yosuke still needed to find a way to reconcile with, just enough to push through and inspect the body.

Ayano had that moment as well, but it was shorter than his own. By the time that Yosuke found himself ready to start investigating himself, she had already found something. He took a step forward and she spoke, “Ah, you’re back. I have found something of interest.”

“Oh?” Yosuke asked, turning to look at her. She was crouched down, holding one of Jun’s hands in both of hers.

“These are ligature marks,” Ayano said, moving one hand to press her finger against some reddish-purple markings that went around his wrist. “They’re on both of his wrists, actually. Do you know what that means?”

“Uh, yeah. Ligature marks, that’s the type of injury you get if you struggle against restraints, or if you’re tied up too tight. Right?”

“Mm.” Ayano nodded. “And you two didn’t do anything that would cause this sort of thing last night. I am assuming.”

Yosuke felt his face getting warmer. “No. Nothing like that at all.”

“My assumption was correct. I should note that had Jun survived, that would have been a possibility, but the timeline simply did not line up to me based on the photos in his Monopad,” Ayano said, “In that case, I think it is safe to say that these marks offer us some proof that there was violence done against Jun last night. This isn’t an unfortunate accident we’re investigating. It is a murder. In fact, it seems, a cold-blooded one.”

“Cold-blooded?” Jun asked.

“Itadai killed Nanjo in a somewhat accidental and not outright malevolent manner,” Ayano said, “This is already shaping up to be different from that. I do not think that I will be writing the culprit’s name. That is not a memory worth keeping.”

“I mean…” Yosuke said, “That sounds kind of harsh, when we don’t even know yet. The file is so vague, we have no way of knowing if the ligature marks are actually from last night, or from after I saw Jun. I don’t think they’re so obvious that I would have necessarily noticed.”

“I cannot imagine any other circumstance than that Jun was tied up for some intention relating to his murder,” Ayano said, “But I suppose you do need to think in terms of ‘maybe’ during this time, so that you are open to whatever comes to light in the trial itself. I will hold myself to no such standard and I am already thoroughly judging the culprit for these actions.”

“Alright,” Yosuke said, then started to make his own investigation of the body. He spent a brief moment looking over the marks that Ayano had found for himself, but her assessment seemed correct as far as he could tell. That really did just look like struggling against rope, there wasn’t much else that sort of injury could be. Moving on, there wasn’t much else that could be done in the way of investigation without getting sort of up close and personal with the corpse.

When _Jun_ himself had needed to get up close and personal with a corpse, he had apparently been drunk then too. Yosuke imagined that helped to get over the uncomfortable nature of the situation, but then again, he couldn’t imagine having a drink at a time like this. That was the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships to alcohol, he guessed. Yosuke looked to it to elevate already pleasant situations, but Jun looked to it to cope with unpleasant ones.

Yosuke unbuttoned Jun’s shirt, and there were no injuries to be found there. Nothing out of the ordinary, except, were those a couple more freckles than had been on his chest during the party? That was a weird detail. Yosuke wasn’t counting his freckles or anything, so he wasn’t sure why he had that thought. Maybe it was just something to fixate on. There was nothing legitimately unusual here, so he lifted his eyes to Jun’s face instead.

He raised a thumb to the spot of blood that had dripped from Jun’s mouth, then slid it between his lips. Opening his mouth released a single but distinct ‘puff’ of the same scent that Yosuke had noticed on him last night, overcoming the isopropyl for a split second. There was more blood visible inside his mouth, proving that he’d coughed some up at some point. Yosuke retracted his thumb, rubbed it on the hem of his lab coat, and went to stand up- But suddenly thought better of it.

Instead, some part of his brain reminded him that the source of the rubbing alcohol had just been proven not to be that Jun had consumed it, but it did seem to smell most strongly by his face. So Yosuke brought his hand up again to reach towards his eyes and pushed up one of the lids, then frowned. He knew that eyes were one of the things which looked most strange on the dead, but this seemed different, somehow. His eyes seemed cloudy in a different way, damaged somehow.

“Ayano,” Yosuke got her attention, “I think… I think that the rubbing alcohol we’re smelling was _poured in his eyes_.”


	136. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Garbage Can And So Can You)

“Oh dear,” Ayano said, “That sounds painful. Are you sure?”

“Take a look at his eyes, they look weirder than usual dead eyes.” Yosuke pointed, and Ayano looked for herself. “I mean, maybe it wasn’t the rubbing alcohol, but _something_ happened there. It’s… Urgh.” He turned away, holding a hand over his mouth. “It s-seems like… Somebody didn’t just want to kill him, they wanted to hurt him?”

“It does seem that way,” Ayano said, “But I really cannot imagine why. As you’ve witnessed, it isn’t as though Barasu actually had a habit of causing problems even when drunk. I do not know who here would have a grudge against him.”

“I mean… I can think of a few possibilities. Not of, I mean, a reason for a grudge. But people who might want to hurt him,” Yosuke said, “Because they don’t like him for, unknown reasons. You know?”

“I guess so. But we should focus on evidence right now.” Ayano stood back up and turned to look in the direction of the gift shop. “He would have needed to go back for more alcohol, probably. If nothing else, so he was definitely in the gift shop at some point last night. We should take a look in there next. Syoko?”

“Yes?” Syoko called back from behind the wall.

“Are you ready to move on?”

“Yes please, if you’ve got everything you need from here,” Syoko said, then offered a nervous chuckle. “Ah. I really should get better with this, but I just can’t bring myself to look. And both of you were closer to him than I was, but I put that responsibility on you because of my own discomfort…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Yosuke came around the wall to put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re already doing more than enough by investigating at all. And we don’t have to play the suffering olympics game here. He mentioned to me once that you were the first person to become friends with him here, so. That’s something important too. You’re not making people who ‘knew him better’ deal with it, you knew him well and you’ve got a tough time with bodies.”

“I shouldn’t have a tough time with them, though. I should be better so you don’t have to.”

“Who says?” Ayano asked, then started to walk out of the lobby. “I am not being expected to do anything that I am markedly uncomfortable with. I have been among the first to find two bodies in my life so far, so I am a bit desensitized and I am fine with this. You are not and you should not expect yourself to do things which you aren’t fine with.”

“But that’s the thing. I should be fine with it,” Syoko said, “In this situation, even though I’m trying, I am… Basically useless.”

“Did you not pin down that the culprit was Itadai last time?” Ayano questioned, narrowing her eyes over her glasses as she turned to look at Syoko who was, at least, following behind her along with Yosuke. “Are you trying to tell me that was a fluke, and I should not have faith in you? Just because you are not perfect at the process doesn’t change the fact that you still saved our lives with your intellect during our first class trial.”

Syoko opened her mouth to protest again, but then shut her mouth instead. Yosuke could understand how she felt, admittedly. He’d felt a similar thing before, after all. As Ultimates, there was a certain level of expectation for them. He’d failed to reach that level before, and Syoko seemed to place that level much higher for herself. It was impossible to articulate in a meaningful way, though. Complaining that your excessive talents above most people were still not enough? It sounded ridiculous.

Upon arriving to the gift shop, Syoko strode ahead of Ayano to get the first look inside. Immediately, she made a beeline for the trash can. Yosuke and Ayano started to comb through the shelves in more of a grid pattern, with just a couple words exchanged that they were looking to see what sort of things were missing.

Syoko reported her findings first, “This trash can is pretty full. Uh, we don’t know how far back it goes though, do we?”

“Right. The trash emptying schedule is _for Monokuma’s eyes only_,” Ayano quoted.

“Hello,” Mono was there because her name had been said. “Did you need something?”

“I know that the trash emptying schedule is supposed to be kept secret from us,” Syoko said, “But could you at least tell us the last time that it _was_ emptied? Like. This can’t all be garbage from last night. Probably. Hopefully!”

“Right! Yep, okay,” Mono said, “Now, the schedule is erratic, so this shouldn’t tell you anything. At one AM the night after Itadai was killed, I emptied the trash can because it was getting full. It contained primarily detritus from the fact that most people opted for microwave meals from the gift shop that evening. There were at the time three emptied nips of Jameson whiskey and two emptied cans of Strong Zero, along with several non-alcoholic beverages as well. Whatever is in there now was added after I removed those.”

“Mm.” Ayano crossed her arms. “I thought as much.”

“What?” Syoko asked.

“That’s what Jun likes to drink. One of those would be the one you saw him drink, but he had already downed one. That was why he spaced out for twenty minutes,” Ayano said, “And I can only assume the third was immediately following the trial. I’m a bit surprised that Mono didn’t find _more_ that night, given none of us were having a good time.”

“Well,” Yosuke said, “This can only has what people actually put in it. Litter around the island gets cleaned automatically. Right?”

“Yes,” Mono said, “I can imagine that Barasu was exercising just enough foresight to avoid drinking in his room.”

“Yeah, Shinku was really overwhelmed that night, so Jun would have thought ahead to avoid making that worse,” Yosuke confirmed, “Well, moving on, what’s in there now, Syoko?”

“A little bit of food garbage, but mostly bottles, yeah. Five more of those nips… They really are pocket-sized alcohol, aren’t they? A completely emptied thing of malibu, and a half-emptied Loopy?” Syoko noted.

“After what Hiyoko said to him, I imagine it stuck in his head to pour one out for Itadai,” Ayano said, “Then drank as much of it himself as he could stomach. It seems kind of awful. Anyway. He had one of those nips yesterday morning and two the morning before. I observed as much at the time. I’ll assume the rest of this is last night.”

“That’s still _really_ concerning, but I guess it uh. Lines up. It was really this bad, huh...” Syoko set the trash can back down and turned around. “Did you guys find what you were looking for?”

“There were no bottles of isopropyl alcohol missing from the shelf,” Ayano said, “But this one in the front has been re-filled with tap water.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said, “This bottle of whiskey, too. It’s a different brand from the one you said Jun likes. It’s uh… Pretty obvious. I think that the culprit tried to cover it up by pouring some in from another bottle, but it’s still a lot lighter than the others right around it.”

“You think that the culprit did that?” Syoko wondered.

“Yeah. I can’t think of why they would have needed to, really, but. Jun didn’t think to avoid dropping bottles in the trash before, so this would be a hard left turn. I think we should take this with us just in case. It’s evidence… Somehow or another.”


	137. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Fucking Weird)

“I agree,” Syoko said, “Anyway. There’s probably more in this room, too. We should keep looking. You two were just searching the shelves for that sort of stuff, right?”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said, “There’s definitely more to find here, I was just focused on what was _on_ the shelves here. We should all just look around the room and see what else we can find. I dunno if it’ll all be related to the case, but, well. There’s gotta be unusual things.”

With that mutual agreement between the three of them, they split up to continue investigating this room. Yosuke’s own theory was supported by the first thing that he noticed upon broadening the scope of investigation, a set of scuff marks against the tile of the floor. He crouched down to investigate, then sat on the side of one leg to remove a shoe. He compared it to the marks already there, then picked a clean spot on the floor and scraped the heel against it, producing an almost-identical mark.

His theory, supported by this discovery, was that this room was the actual crime scene at play here. The body in the lobby was placed there for the shock value, but that wasn’t where Jun was killed, he thought. These scuff marks reflected a body with shoes on being dragged across the floor, in the direction of the door back to the main building. Late at night, most areas were safe from intrusion, but the Gift Shop was much _moreso_. Yosuke’s own knowledge of the timing was that he had returned to his room just after midnight. There was a little over an hour between when he saw Jun and when he was actually dead, and all signs were pointing to a relatively slow death.

The culprit, having themselves left their room, would want some level of privacy in that process, not to be walked in on by somebody else being compelled to go for a walk as well. Either that, or the culprit ran into Jun when he was already in the gift shop; Either way, this was the likely crime scene. “There’s scuff marks from the heels of shoes down here. Somebody was dragged out of the room, probably the body.”

“I agree,” Ayano said, “There’s a few specks of blood on the floor here…”

Syoko approached to see the blood Ayano was pointing out, then turned her head to trace it back, finding that there was a shelf. She nodded slowly. “You noticed that he coughed up some blood, right?”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said.

“If he was coughing, it could have spattered here from there.” After hearing that from Syoko, Ayano approached the shelf herself and gave it a skeptical once-over.

“Yes,” Ayano said, pointing to a spot on the shelf. “If you look at the vertical post on this corner here. Yeah, see? The finish on the wood’s been worn away on the inside bit.”

“Yeah, I’m seeing it,” Yosuke said, “But what exactly does that mean?”

“Probably that this is what Jun was tied to.” Ayano raised her hands in a shrug. “I could be wrong, but that’s what I’d assume. And that way… He was tied here, to this shelf. And ended up coughing up blood, which led to the spatter there. Okay. We are reconstructing the scene. This is what we are doing.”

“You can say that it’s fucking weird, you know,” Yosuke said.

“It is fucking weird.” Ayano covered her face with both hands. “It is bad enough to be investigating the death of my best friend. Every discovery makes it worse. Why must it be this violent?”

“I have no idea,” Yosuke said, then glanced up. “And I’m sorry to say but it doesn’t look like it’s about to get any better. There’s a shelf broken in half over in that corner.”

“Oh good grief.” Ayano shook her head.

Syoko approached the shelf that Yosuke had just pointed out, and stood in front of it with her hands on her hips. “There wasn’t anything _on_ this shelf, it looks like. But yes. This is a shelf that’s been broken in half. If I had to guess, a person fell on it. So, not necessarily violence. I mean. That person could have been pushed onto it, but could also have just been a fall. So, don’t worry, Ayano.”

“Whether he was pushed or not, Jun still fell over hard enough to break a shelf…” Ayano muttered, “So that doesn’t really keep me from worrying.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry,” Syoko said, “But what if the culprit fell on this one? Jun didn’t have any visible bruises, right?”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said, “Now that you mention it. It didn’t look like he was really _banged up_ at all. Just the ligature marks, the mouh blood, and the probably rubbing alcohol in his eyes. Frankly, it’s a little bizarre how few injuries he had. I usually have at least three random bruises on my arms, at least.”

“I see. Well, he has always been a very careful person, so I’m not so surprised,” Ayano said, “And it is nice to hear that whoever the culprit is fell through a shelf, instead of Jun falling through a shelf. At least it was not a one-sided incident throughout.”

“At least in part, yes. It seems that he was at least able to fight back in some manner,” Syoko said, “Though it doesn’t make much difference, knowing or not knowing that…”

“It makes a difference to me,” Ayano said, “It makes me feel proud of him. That he at least tried to fight to stay alive. That he didn’t just allow himself to be destroyed.”

“Did you think that he’d just give in?” Yosuke wondered, “Because, I wouldn’t have thought that.”

“I did not know. I haven’t known Jun to ever want to die, but you can’t disagree with me, he and I are of a kind, that kind being metaphorically spineless. I was unsure if the trouble of fighting back would outweigh the trouble of being killed, for him.” She fixed her glasses again. “If I were in his position, I doubt I’d be able to make the same decision.”


	138. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Infirmary Check)

With the gift shop thoroughly scoured for any and all possible evidence, it was time to move on. With everything that had already been in this building, and the time of death in mind, it seemed obvious that there would only be one place left to check; The infirmary. When Ayano had asked Shin to go with Homura, she’d also sent Irarako and Tooru to investigate the ‘extra hallways’ of this building, so all of their bases were covered, but this one.

The moment that Ayano opened the door to the infirmary, she let out a short, caught-out squeak. Without actually saying anything, she stepped to the side of the door so that the others could see past her to what had actually prompted that reaction, and frankly… Yeah, Yosuke would have released an unflattering squeak himself if he had been the one to open that door himself. The entirety of the infirmary’s floor was scattered about with a variety of pills and capsules.

It was as if the infirmary’s entire store of medicine had been toppled onto the floor in a single, violent action that left a veritable carpet of pharmaceuticals across the tiles. Yosuke carefully stepped into the room, shuffling his feet to avoid crushing any of the pills in case it was relevant which ones were there. “This is… Huh. They’re really all over the place.”

“Yes. It is a mess,” Ayano said, “And after I put all of that effort into properly labeling all of the drawers. Hm. This took a while.”

“You think so?” Yosuke asked, “I was kind of assuming that the cabinet just got knocked over…”

“No, Ayano’s right,” Syoko said, “The cabinet does have sliding drawers, which wouldn’t really spill this dramatically if it fell over, you know?”

“Oh, yeah. Thinking about physics, that makes sense,” Yosuke said, “So did the person who did this… Pull all of the individual drawers out and spill them one by one? Why would they do that?”

“Specifically to obscure the truth,” Syoko said, “Evidently. Some sort of medicine from in here was used, and by spilling all of it over the floor, we can’t find out which ones have been used up more than the others. Now then. Ayano, I need you to be completely honest with me. Would this have been Jun?”

“Definitely not,” Ayano said, “I am sure of that. He wouldn’t go to this much trouble to cover up, for one thing, even if you don’t believe me when I say that he would never abuse pharmaceuticals. Alcohol is one thing, but he wouldn’t go anywhere near the addiction that almost killed his mum.”

“His mum?” Yosuke wondered.

“One mother is mom and the other is mum. That’s how he always referred to them, anyhow,” Ayano said, “In any case. No, he would never have purposefully taken anything. When he got his wisdom teeth out, he made it through recovery on ibuprofen alone. He wasn't even drinking yet, then...”

“Yikes. That’s kind of paranoid,” Syoko said, “But it does answer my question. This infirmary wasn’t in this state last night. I came looking for a muscle relaxant for Ira, she pulled something while exercising. It was fine then, and it was already almost nighttime, so I think we can assume that the culprit did this. Uh, let’s try and get these into a pile. I don’t think any of us have the expertise to identify them on sight, so the culprit’s ploy worked, but it would be nice to be able to move around the room.”

Ayano and Yosuke agreed, so the investigators took a few moments to sweep the pills from all over the floor into just one part of the floor. It was a rather large pile, but it was enough to make the infirmary navigable without crushing anything again. Even though nobody could really identify the pills, it was still reasonable to want to walk around without stepping on them. With that sorted out, they began the process of investigating the infirmary. Ayano went straight for the cabinet which had been emptied, and narrowed her eyes at it immediately.

“This isn’t actually empty,” Ayano noted, pulling out a drawer. “This one has something stuffed into it. The others are empty. But this drawer does have a thing. It’s a length of rope. Probably the rope that Jun was tied with.”

She pulled it out, snaking it from the drawer that she herself had relabeled ‘hangover pills’. It was a relatively thin rope, kind of long, and absolutely stuffed into the drawer. Yosuke was a bit amazed at how it even fit in the first place, but there it was. It could only be assumed that this was used to tie Jun’s hands, though there wasn’t any smell to back up that theory. It would have smelled like alcohol, rubbing or otherwise, if it had been placed in a different drawer.

As it was, it just smelled like eucalyptus and wintergreen mint. The scent of those pills was really, obnoxiously strong, and it had lingered mostly in the drawer from whence they’d come. Even still, there was no other explanation for the rope being stuffed into this drawer, so it could only be assumed that this was the rope which was relevant in the case at hand. Having wordlessly agreed on that point, the three continued to look around the rest of the infirmary. Aside from that, however, nothing really seemed to be out of place. Pills everywhere, rope in the drawer, and nothing else.

So that was it, wasn’t it? “I think we’ve found everything we’re going to find,” Yosuke voiced his observation here, “So I guess if the investigation isn’t over yet, that means one of the other groups isn’t finished with their areas, yeah?”

“I imagine so,” Ayano said, “We do not seem to be missing anything, and we can’t be expected to identify and count this pile of medicine. So we should just wait a few minutes to give the others time to finish their own looking.”

“Right,” Syoko said, but she didn’t quite sound convinced. Even so, the three of them decided to sit in silence for ten minutes and hopefully wait it out.


	139. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Unfinished Investigation)

And there was nothing.

No announcement came after ten minutes, or another ten after that. It couldn’t have just been, then, that the rooms check was incomplete and the excess halls upstairs hadn’t been thoroughly scoped out, because all three of the investigators here had faith in those teams to track down anything relevant. Thus led Syoko to voice what all of them were thinking, “Is it possible that there’s actually evidence outside of this building somewhere?”

“I cannot see how,” Ayano stated, “As Yosuke saw Jun here in this building at midnight, which is already nighttime. I completely assumed that all relevant factors of this case would be right here, and not elsewhere, as the hazards do prevent travel between buildings at those hours.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Yosuke said, “But what if somebody was able to make it past the hazards? I’ve eyeballed those things, and they’re pretty intimidating, but I think I could make it through them if I had a reason to really try. I wouldn’t come away uninjured, sure, but I could do it. I could at least make it to the greenhouse, if not the lab building.”

“Well, you’re fit and fast,” Syoko said, “But you do raise a good point. It’s _possible_ somebody could make the distance. Hiding evidence somewhere over there would throw us off, especially if the culprit is someone we wouldn’t _expect_ to be able to get over there, too. I mean, maybe those things have a weakness that can be exploited, that the culprit has been keeping secret from us?”

“What, like… Snow?” Yosuke wondered, “If anybody could figure that out and use it as a way to throw us off the trail, I guess it would be that guy. Er, Snow as in, the individual who has that name. Now I see why Evie wanted us to call him by his first name from the start. It’s kinda confusing otherwise.”

“Now, now. Save these theories for the trial. For now, we should just go take a look over there to see if we can track down whatever evidence is missing for the trial to begin,” Ayano said, “If we sat here waiting around much longer after figuring it out, Mono may accuse of us stalling for the toxicology results, yes?”

“Right,” Syoko agreed, and stood back up from where she’d been sitting on one of the infirmary cots. She went straight to the infirmary’s exterior door. “Those results might turn out important, given what we found _all_ over the floor? So I’d hate to forfeit it by spending time thinking too hard before we’re supposed to. Let’s start with the greenhouse, since Yosuke, you’re right that it seems a more plausible place to reach.”

“I thought so. It’s closer, especially to this door,” Yosuke said, then brushed past Syoko to open it up and step outside. From here to the greenhouse, it was about ten steps- seven for somebody with long legs or long strides, but either way, it was very close. From this door, if the hazards weren’t right up against it, it might be possible to run to the greenhouse quick enough that they wouldn’t even reach the person in question. “Yeah, see, this is…”

Yosuke trailed off in his statement, because he spotted the rustling of leaves over in the greenhouse. He frowned. “Did somebody else have the same idea as us?”

“It’s possible one of the other investigative teams finished and got as confused as us,” Ayano said, “We should still go into the greenhouse and check with them, in that case.”

“Right,” Yosuke said, “And it’s so overgrown that more sets of eyes would be a good idea anyhow. If there is any evidence there, it’ll take some work to find it.”

“Agreed,” Syoko said, and the three of them walked into the greenhouse. As soon as they were in, she called out, “Hey, who’s in here already?”

And there was no answer. That was weird. Yosuke knew that he’d seen movement of the leaves from outside, and it wasn’t like there was wind inside the greenhouse. But there was no response when Syoko called out, and she was definitely loud enough. He and Ayano certainly wouldn’t be any louder. He had never been a particularly loud person himself, and she was a tiny bunny girl on all levels but physical.

The bottom line there being that whoever was in the greenhouse would have heard what Syoko said, without a doubt. And had, for some reason, decided not to response. Yosuke took a few steps forward, running his gaze over the plants as best he could, though he didn’t see any more movement right now. “I… I know I saw it. I’m _sure_ I’m not prone to seeing things, even when I’m stressed out.”

“I spotted it too,” Ayano said, “I didn’t mention it at the time because I didn’t imagine something like that required backup, but I did see the movement. So somebody is here and for some reason does not want to tell us that they are here? That doesn’t make sense. I am going to start searching. Maybe they had a stroke.”

“That’s uh… Unlikely, but yeah,” Syoko said, “It is weird, so I’m also going to have a look around. Yosuke, you stay here and watch the door.”

“Nobody’s getting past me,” He confirmed, and then he was alone, with his friends gone searching through the leaves. He stepped back so that his shoulderblades touched the door itself, and took a deep breath. Suddenly being alone with his thoughts was already becoming unpleasant mere seconds after entering that scenario. At least with the others, he could focus on investigating, but without anyone else around there was nothing to keep him from thinking about-

The fact that-

Hey. What was that, there? There were three. Three movements, three different spots the plants rustled at. There were two people looking around and, he was sure of it now, a third person who was for some reason or another reluctant to make themselves known. He stayed where he was- There was no way out other than through this door, or through breaking the glass, and the latter would be incredibly conspicuous. Keeping his eyes open and trying to track the different movements in the forest of the greenhouse was a good distraction, and further.

Being alert allowed him to see the flash of red, and be prepared. When that flash tried to push past him to get through the door, he was ready for them, and he lifted by the scruff…

Who the hell was this??


	140. Deadly Life: Day Seven (Space Invader)

Staring back at Yosuke was a child, held a few inches off the ground by the back of their shirt, caught at his fingertips along with a fistfull of red wool from their scarf. They had short, shaggy black hair, and bright yellow eyes. Yosuke didn’t remember meeting this kid before, ever, but he immediately knew what their last name was. It was a ridiculous resemblance.

“You… Uh. Hi. Kaguya, right?” Yosuke stammered out, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I am thirteen years old,” The kid said, “Please watch your dirty fucking mouth!”

“Right. Whatever. You’re the youngest child, right?” Yosuke asked, “I knew about you, even though we didn’t really meet before. My point still stands. What are you doing here?”

“Put me down, I’ll tell you.” He gave them a curious look, but complied, and they didn’t try to make a run for it. “I am, yes, the youngest child of Nami and Sayaka Kaguya. My name’s Rei. I’m the _adorable_ imoutoto -” What? “- of one of this game’s participants.”

“What? Who?” Yosuke asked, “I recognized you immediately, I would have thought I could tell with your sibling too-”

“I’m not telling! If they’re going to all this trouble to not mention it to you and to give a fake last name, then damn, I ain’t about to ruin it for them,” Rei said, “Be-sides. I just happen to be the spitting image of Mommy, and she’s a very distinct woman! Genetics aren’t always as obvious, and the participant who is of my kin looks more like Mama anyway.”

“Wow, you’re a nerd,” Yosuke said, “So somebody here is your sibling. Okay. That barely explains anything. Syoko? Ayano? Get over here, I’ve found our mystery person.”

“Hewwoo~” Rei waved both hands as the girls emerged from the plants. “Rei Kaguya here. I’m good with computers, and-”

“Hello everybody!” Mono’s voice interrupted, “Please report back to the dorm lobby. I’ve moved the body so that you can access the elevator for the trial to begin. All thirteen participants _as well_ as the recently tracked-down invader are required to attend this trial.”

“That would be me, kek.” Rei poked their own cheeks. “Sorry I held you up! I was _hoping_ this would just be a quick little in-n-out job and I’d be gone, but I had to talk to Monokuma! And as you can _see_ by the current lack of Monokuma. Only participants and moderators have the ability to summon her!”

“Well, why don’t we just summon her for you? Monokuma?” Yosuke tried. Red words appeared directly in front of his face.

[PLEASE REPORT TO THE COURTROOM]

Ah. So, since the investigation ended the minute that Rei had been located, that meant Rei would indeed need to participate in the trial, huh?

“So you just came here to do… A thing? And meant to leave without us ever knowing you were here? When did you arrive?” Syoko wondered.

“Um, not last night, the night before. Just in time to be subjected to a stupid creepy nightmare, wa-ho!” They shrugged. “I did come here to do a thing! And it’s probably easiest for all of us if I just wait to explain why and how I ended up here, just one time, in front of everyone? Caaaause, I can just tell you how it’s gonna go. I’m gonna go along with you to the trial and everyone is gonna say ‘that small child looks terrible, I bet they’re the culprit’ and then I need to explain everything I can to clear my name.”

“That does sound likely,” Ayano said, “So I suppose that we should get going to the trial. I am very curious about you. I would not say that you are the culprit but I do want to know what is up with you.”

With that sorted, then, the investigative team and their suddenly-acquired plus one made their way together to the dorm lobby which, true to Mono’s word, had been cleaned up completely so that the elevator which slotted into the very pillar Jun had been propped against was now visible. Upon arriving back there, while Yosuke took only a moment to note that change to the room before he was distracted by a shout.

“You’re… real??” Shin’s voice cracked with the departure from his usual tone.

“Are you talking to Kaguya?” Syoko asked.

“Uh, if that’s their name?” Shin said, “I saw you in the greenhouse yesterday. I thought I was hallucinating, because nobody who looks like you is here, and it was just for a split second…”

“Yep, yep. Rei Kaguya, one hundred percent I exist,” Rei said, “Been hanging out in that greenhouse eating vegetables and fruits for sustenance because I didn’t wanna be seen. I just hoped to accomplish my mission and get the heck outta dodge. Cause I can leave anytime I want, just gotta say the code word. But my mission ain’t done. So I’m here.”

“Er. Well, okay,” Shin said, “Is that… Is it easy enough to get in here that a kid could do it?”

Rei stuck out their tongue. “Oh, come _on_ now. I’m good with computers, and I have an accomplice who’s ready to pull me outta here too. It’s super not that easy, I had to put in a ton of effort to do this!”

“Okaaaay, jeeze,” Tooru said, “You don’t have to get so up in arms about it. You do look like a really little kid.”

“I am thirteen years old. And besides, in Dome City, Ultimate Titles can be assigned as young as eight for the sake of specialized education!” Rei raised a finger. “I am up in arms about it because I have done something very impressive which you should appreciate, since my mission is something which will really help out a bunch of you, nyah! Dang, especially you. You seem fragile.”

Tooru blinked. “I’m suuuuper chill, kid. Not fragile at all.”

“Tell me you didn’t cry your way through eight pints of ice cream the last time you broke up with somebody!” Rei pointed directly at him with their glasses glinting. “Repeat it in red!”

“What’s with this sassy… Lost child?” Homura asked as he walked into the room. “Umineko references? Aren’t you a little young for that?”

“Thir_teen_.” Rei reiterated, sticking out their tongue. “I’m here to help your butts out.”

“I’d really prefer if you didn’t,” Hikari said, “But if you’re here to help us out in general, I’ll take you up on that! But my butt definitely doesn’t need your help. It’s fine all on its own.”

“Figure ah speech.” Rei narrowed their eyes. “Don’t make jokes like that about a _kid_, Ruka!”

“Aw, it knows who I am,” Hikari said.

“I know who a few of you are.” Rei put their hands on their hips. “I guess I’ve been invisible to you guys, but I’ve been around. I’ve been watching. And trust me, nyall from Dome City? If I didn’t have a relative here, I really wouldn’t bother being here at all. You can _rot_ for all I care.”


	141. Trial 2: Something Useful

Yosuke, along with everyone else from Dome City, found themselves shocked into silence by the accusation from Rei Kaguya. He personally had no idea why they would be so upset with him, or any of the others. After all, the Kaguyas’ children were out of the age range. Either decades older due to strange adoption processes, or substantially younger… Right? Two sons adopted with minimal age gaps near adulthood, Rei who was thirteen, and one other kid who was. Yosuke guessed that other kid _had_ to be in this age range, to be older than Rei, but.

Those kids kept to themselves. Right? He knew of them, he knew they existed, but he never knew their names or faces because they were fairly antisocial. So he couldn’t imagine what would lead Rei to hold such a grudge; Maybe it was no wrongdoing, nothing that was done, but maybe what wasn’t done? Nobody reached out to those two, and that was why Rei had decided not to give a shit. It was a harsh measure, but Yosuke supposed, they were young. Maybe they only knew how to be _that_ harsh. He wouldn’t hold it against them, and instead, stayed quiet until everybody arrived and got down to the courtroom. Rei wandered over and sat on the steps of Mono’s throne rather than move a dead person’s sign.

**[Second Trial: START]**

“Thirteen participants and one invader are here today to find the culprit who murdered Jun Barasu,” Mono explained from up on her throne. “Toxicology results will be prepared and delivered at some point during this trial as long as you are making meaningful progress without it. You may begin.”

“Thank you, Mono,” Syoko said, then pulled out her Monopad. “The time of death is 0127. The cause of death is suffocation. The body was found in the dorm lobby area, but the crime scene appears to be the gift shop.”

“On the body,” Ayano picked up to deliver some of the evidence, “We found ligature marks on his wrists, as well as strange marks on his eyes. The body smelled of isopropyl alcohol. There was blood in his mouth, and his breath still smelled like booze. Specifically, it seemed to be Malibu rum and Jameson whiskey.”

“Ohh, typical,” Rei butted in, then raised their hands. “Carry on.”

“We determined these specifics based on the trash in the gift shop,” Yosuke said, “Also in the gift shop we found shoe scuff marks by the door, implying the body was dragged from there. A shelf had markings in it implying that would be where Jun was tied, as there was blood spatter appearing coughed up in a reasonable arc from that location. A bottle of isopropyl alcohol and a bottle of a different brand of whiskey were found diluted with water on the shelves, and one shelf was knocked in half. Since Jun had no compliant injuries, we assume the culprit fell through it.”

“So,” Homura said, “What you’re saying here is that, once again, we could find the culprit by asking everyone to strip? But, of course. Mono says that’s not permitted.”

“Uh. Yes, I guess so,” Yosuke said.

“Moving on,” Syoko said, “The infirmary floor was covered in pills. Each individual drawer had been dumped onto the floor and allowed to scatter. The drawer for ‘hangover pills’ had a thin rope stuffed into it. That’s it for physical evidence that we found.”

“The rooms check yielded no results,” Shin said.

“Same’s to that with the extra halls!” Irarako proclaimed, “Looks like you did all the work this timin’ round?”

“I see. After we had waited a few minutes in curiosity if we had missed anything, we decided to check outside of this building, starting with the greenhouse first. It seemed possible that somebody could make it past the hazards,” Ayano said, “To go a distance that small. Rather than any evidence, we found Rei Kaguya there.”

“That would be moi.” Rei raised both hands above their head. “I’m thirteen. My big sibling is someone among you and I am not saying who. I say sibling to help obscure their identity and all. I’m an invader. Good with computers. I could leave now because I just gave Monokuma what I wanted to give her directly, but now I’m curious how this trial turns out cause I didn’t know it was _Barasu_ who died, kek. My mission was to deliver to you guys more of something that’s been a huge help so far, which I accomplished by arriving here at all. Secondary mission to give Mono something important, which I just did.”

“More of something that’s been… Huh! Thanks, kid,” Homura said, “I really appreciate it.”

“Pft, oh, you figured out what it is, huh?” Rei sputtered, laughing between their words. “Nice, nice. But let’s keep it a secret too, right? It’s a pretty fun prank to play on all these _plebs_, nyahah!”

“This is…” Yume was audibly grinding her teeth as she spoke, “This is a serious fucking situation and you’re in that corner laughing up a storm? Maybe you’re just a little kid who doesn’t understand this shit, but you could at least be courteous to those of us who are mourning! Unless this is all a nonsense cover story and you’re the one who killed Jun, in your obvious disdain for the guy.”

“Did I say that I feel disdain for him? I said that it’s typical he smelled like booze. Cause that was _real_ typical of the guy. Though he did a whole lot better job at pretending like he didn’t, after his surname got changed and all,” Rei said, “Bet you two know all about that, right? Ueda? Ruka?”

“Tch. Yeah,” Hikari said, “I didn’t quite remember it all at first, though. Meanwhile, Aya here…”

“I knew about it all from the start. As soon as we woke up here, I was aware that Jun was somebody who struggles with alcoholism. I was also aware that ‘Jun Barasu’ wasn’t quite correct, and that I’d had memories associated exclusively with the ‘previous Jun’ suppressed enough to make it easier to interact with this version of him.” Ayano adjusted her glasses. “This is how I can claim that I knew him best. That he was my best friend. And I can also say with certainty that this child did not kill him. He fought back against the culprit, evidenced by the broken shelf. Barasu was not the type to hurt a child, even one attacking him. So the culprit is a participant, and the invader is telling the truth. Shall we now discuss the incident in good faith?”


	142. Trial 2: Several of Jun's Secrets

“Ayano’s right!” Yosuke hit his palm against the podium in front of himself. “I don’t know if I trust Kaguya, but I don’t think that they could be the culprit in this case. If nothing else, we can’t suspect them just because we didn’t know they were here. We have to follow the evidence.”

“If we’re going to be looking at participants,” Saya said, “Then I think it is important to consider! I witnessed what seemed to be an unpleasant conversation between Barasu and Shinku during the party.”

“There were plenty of unpleasant conversations at that party,” Shin said, “None of _those_ led to a murder, unless you’re implying something worse than ‘unpleasant’. I can never tell with you.”

“I’d like to keep it that way!” Saya enthused.

“Yoshiro has a point,” Syoko said, “I heard from Jun himself, that things were a little bit odd between him and Shinku. Mono also noted that Jun had the ‘good sense’ not to drink in his own room, where Shinku also was. The fact that they were roommates also means they could have had some other altercation that none of us would be aware of… What have you got to say for yourself?”

“Frankly, there’s not much that I can say for myself. Jun and I weren’t on the greatest of terms at the moment, and I think you can probably imagine why.” Homura put his hands on his hips.

“Not all of us got that kind imagination!” Irarako protested, “Really, a whole bunch’this just goin’ over my head and I ain’t so sure what to think or even know what’s happenin’ anywhere.”

“Well if you put it like that, I have no choice but to explain,” Homura said, “I figured that guy out. The reason I called him ‘roomie’ and ‘Jun’ but never Barasu is cause I could tell that was a bullshit last name. That’s not his real last name, like Ueda mentioned. Further, I mean. I caught on pretty easily that he was kinda alcohol dependent. He did okay at first. Even when I offered him the chance, he didn’t have a drink at all, until I guess he saw the Loopy missing from that shelf…”

“But,” Homura continued, “I guess I didn’t realize just what the deal was with that whole thing. I kept trying to get him to talk to me about it, but he just kept deflecting like he didn’t know what I was talking about. Kind of _frustrating_, so we got into a pretty big argument last night. I’ll even admit to that. I did figure out what the deal was then. Until I kinda broke through, he was in total denial that he even drank at all except for his ‘first drink’ at the party. After we argued, like I said, I broke through. He said he needed a drink and he left. That’s all I got for ya!”

“Huh. That’s more info than a expectation,” Irarako said, “But I’m thinkin’ I got it now. Jun not-Barasu, alcoholic, denial ain’t no Egyptian river.”

“That is… about the gist of it,” Hiyoko said, “As far as I understand myself… I didn’t figure it out ahead of time at all, though. I was completely oblivious to the issue. I’m so stupid… I believed him a hundred percent when he said the party was his first time drinking.”

“Dear, that’s not even the faintest bit stupid,” Yuji said, “Barasu… Or, whatever his last name really was. He seemed to be a trustworthy person, so it was reasonable to believe him when he said something entirely in keeping with the self he had thusfar presented to us.”

“But I… I…” Hiyoko looked down at her podium.

“Babe.” Yuji clicked his tongue. “I didn’t know until Shinku and Ueda both laid it out for us just now. You think I’m stupid or something?”

“Oh. No, I don’t think you’re stupid!” Hiyoko giggled, cracking through her small spiral with that pointer. “You are very wonderful and smart…”

“Moving on!” Yume interrupted the lovebirds. “It doesn’t really matter, all this other bullshit. So Barasu had some other last name, some past he wanted to cover up, a few too many drinks on the regular… What the fuck does that all matter and why are we wasting time on it? You wanna slander the name of a dead man? That what you wanna do? We need to figure out _who_ fucking murdered him first and foremost!”

“Okay, okay, yeah,” Homura said, “Bottom line is that we were on iffy terms, and we did have an argument that night. I’ll take it a step further. I have _no alibi_... But I betcha nobody else does either!”

“Nuh-buh!” Irarako raised a hand again.

“What Ebizakaya meeeeans to say is,” Tooru said, “She and I do have alibis. We were both in different parts of the lab building at nightfall. Sheee was practicing kendo moves outdoors and lost track of time, so she could only make it in there to sleep. And I, as a giiiven, was enthralled by my own lab.”

“I can’t imagine how that would be a given,” Hiyoko said, and appeared to go into a deep contemplation.

“So two alibis. Out of thirteen people. So all that’s leading me to be suspected is the fact that I wasn’t on great terms with Jun, huh? But you know, that’s not much to go on, so far. Especially if we consider the fact that he did _leave_ the room after our argument.” Homura tapped the arms of his glasses.

“Hm, fucked up if true,” Rei said.

“Nobody asked you,” Hikari snipped, “Just shut up and sit quietly if you really need to stick around. Can’t you leave at any time??”

“I can but I wanna see who the culprit was,” Rei said, “Maybe it was you. Cause you seem awful mad that I’m here. And you seem awful, period, nyah.”

“They’re right, though,” Homura said, “It is fucked up if true, and it is true. The unfortunate fucked up truth is that he left after our argument and then, from that point on, I was not the last person to see him at alive. Well, whoever was the culprit is the _true_ last person to see him alive, but the last person we have evidence for seeing him alive is, and I’m sorry to have overheard… Yosuke Oowada.”


	143. Trial 2: Don't Do A Sex Murder

“Well, that’s true,” Yosuke said, “I was probably the last innocent person to see Jun alive, I’ll be upfront with that much. It wouldn’t make sense for me to deny it anyway, since there’s kind of proof that I was talking to him right over midnight.”

“Oh-oh? What’s that?” Rei wondered, leaning forward with their chin in their hands.

“Isn’t there something to be done about the child?” Yuji pondered, “They are a bit distracting, for one, and for another. I highly doubt that any of this discussion is appropriate for their small ears.”

“That reminds me, I did mean to ask,” Everett said, “Kaguya. I want to make sure that we’re gendering you correctly…”

“I donno what you’re on about.” Rei blinked. “I’ve never once had a ‘gender’ in my life. So as far as I can tell you guys have been on the right track! As for being a distraction, kek. I’m no more a distraction than any of you who don’t have meaningful input, then whammo, I’m gonna come up with something super clever. Lastly. My small ears? I’ve already been watching the bits of the game that got broadcast so far. I was hangin’ out with Sara from the list. Anything that’s inappropriate for my ears has already well and truly passed them!”

“The kid has a point,” Mono said, “Plus. Neither of us are actually permitted to tell you what they brought me, but trust me. This is the least that you can give them in exchange.”

“I can’t imagine what that could be,” Hikari said, “But moving on, they kind of had one other point. What’s the proof?”

“Here.” Ayano held up Jun’s Monopad. “The photos don’t have timestamps, but they do divide themselves by the date they were taken. One picture includes Yosuke’s foot and is dated for yesterday, and another includes his hand and is dated for today. It looks like the same room and lighting level. So we can assume they were speaking over midnight. Here. I’ll pass it around so everyone can see.”

“Yeah. I don’t mind this evidence being passed around at all,” Yosuke said, “Cause, well. Even though it implicates me for now, it does help to set up a timeline, and all that. Just like last time, it’s okay if I’m suspected for a while. I’m innocent, so the truth will make its way out eventually.”

“Hah, sure,” Hikari said, “You would claim you’re innocent while you’re the primary suspect. Really, isn’t this damning enough? I can imagine it now. Jun comes to you, drunk off his ass, to confess that he’s realized the _real_ you is _Yosuke_, and oh, that’s just what you were waiting for and look at _that_. He’s so fucking intoxicated that there goes all the charming awkwardness he would have had otherwise…”

“So,” She carried on, “Without that charming awkwardness he admits to you exactly the sort of shit that he’s into, which I think we can all pretty much tell is that he is, a huge sub! And you, in all of your wisdom, just so blinded by the fact that the crush you had to _restrain_ yourself from acting on in the throes of your self-exploration, decide, oh what the Hell! What have I got to lose? And with that in mind, you take your pile of inexperience and manage to choke him to _death_, which he never would’ve expected cause his last dom actually knew what he was doing. Ta-da. You may now clap.”

Nobody clapped.

“Wow-ee!” Rei broke the silence, “Gee, I wonder what all _those_ words mean. Consider the room before you go off on your theory about how a murder was a BDSM accident?”

“Sorr-” Hikari started, then smirked. “I never said the phrase BDSM, you little _rat_. My theory still stands!”

“Well, that’s a _lot_,” Yosuke said, and took a beat. “But. There’s two big holes in that theory, Ruka. Sorry to say, because that does sound like a hell of a night, sans the death at the end!”

“The first hole in that theory,” Ayano said, “Is that there were no marks on Jun’s neck. He would turn up with marks all the time when he was with the man you refer to as ‘knowing what he was doing’, so. Wouldn’t a fatal choking leave an even more prominent mark?”

“...Cut me some slack, I only just remembered that person _had anything to do with Jun_ yesterday.”

“I do not want to cut you slack. You did not think before making wild assumptions.”

“W-Well, whatever, what’s the other reason that I’m wrong?” Hikari questioned, looking around.

“You failed to consider the sheer amount of alcohol that Jun had consumed,” Hiyoko was the one to answer this, “I can tell you for _sure_ that a boy of Jun’s size and countenance would not be able to get it up after all of that.”

“Pft.” Hikari threw up her hands. “There’s no way that Sato, even if he didn’t lift a year ago or whatever, was ever the same size and countenance as Jun!”

“Heh.” Yuji chuckled. “You’re running wild with the assumptions today, Ruka. Hiyoko and I never claimed to be monogamous, and when it comes to those occasions, we're evenly matched. She does have the necessary expertise to say as much about a man's dysfunction.”

“Oh, damn! Get it, girl?” Hikari shrugged. “Okay. So it wasn’t a sex accident that killed Jun, probably. Doesn’t mean Oowada’s innocent. Or, you know. What if nobody’s guilty and it was just the alcohol itself? Like he threw up and choked on it?”

“We did consider that as a possibility,” Ayano said, “But too many factors pointed towards foul play.”

“And, congratulations,” Mono said, “You’ve made… pseudo-productive? Meaningful, anyway, discussion for long enough. And with good timing for what you’re discussing at this particular moment, the toxicology results are in, so here we go! With the sample that Hiyoko collected from the corpse… Well, the real technical stuff won’t mean anything to a lot of you guys, so I’ll put it into layman’s terms…”

“... Jun Barasu’s blood alcohol level, adjusted for the amount of time that passed, does indicate that at the time of his death he would have been completely black-out drunk. This corroborates the theory that he would have, er. Had alcohol-related ED. The levels are _higher_ than would line up with consumption of one jameson nip, one bottle of malibu, and a portion of a bottle of Loopy.”

“Furthermore, the toxicology report finds these additional issues. There were, uh… Opiates, antihistamines, and anticoagulants in his system? That’s a strange mix. Finally, and this one flagged big… His ‘blood’ came back with high levels of P Particles, as are consistent with Replicants. So I guess you know who that was now.”


	144. Trial 2: Tampered Mind

“...May I receive the detailed paper version of the toxicology report?” Hiyoko asked, the first person to manage words after what Mono had just said. And even then, her words were slightly off-topic, which was the only reason she was able to make her request so soon.

“Yes, of course,” Mono said, and handed a piece of paper over to Hiyoko, who started to examine it. It was another full minute of quiet around the room before anybody else said anything.

“We really… Are findin’ a whole lot outbout Jun today,” Irarako said, “So’s, what rumpus? Jun not-Barasu, alcoholic, in denial, _replicant_?”

“Actually, that explains a lot,” Homura said, “I was wondering how somebody could actually be in _that_ much denial, but I totally understand now! As a replicant, he had his program tweaked to _try_ and get him through recovery, instead of rehab or anything. But since that didn’t actually address the underlying problem, it just tried to erase ‘alcoholic’ from his traits, it just resulted in him doing the same stuff but without even knowing it anymore?”

“Being good with computers,” Rei said, “That checks out. Also, I’m a replicant too. So it checks out from that perspective also, nyah. Don’t mess with people’s brains like that! You couldn’t reprogram a human to stop being an addict with a line of code that says ‘If going to abuse substances: Don’t’. What makes people think they can do that with us? Jeeze.”

“Trying to reprogram a person…” Syoko said, “That sounds… Do you really think somebody did that to Jun? I mean, it sounds like a really cruel thing to do. Especially if it was just to save money on treating him a traditional way…”

“It wasn’t simply to save money,” Ayano said, “And frankly, his own parents were against it too. The reason why… It was something specific, but it seems like the tampering with my own memories is preventing me from citing what the reason could have been. I think it was something serious, since they did mess with our brains to forget it too. Human memory can be erased even without personality reprogramming.”

“You think… I would have known what happened? And they did that to me too?” Syoko questioned, digging her fingernails into her palms. “Who would have… Why would anyone have made a decision like that? Our parents went to Dome City to get away from that kind of cruelty!”

“Ms. Hashi would have been responsible for something like that… At least when it came to Jun.Right?” Yosuke asked.

“Mm, she wouldn’t have even thought for a second that it was cruel,” Rei said, “If something went bad enough for her to wanna do that, then all she’d think was the fact it was for the greater good. Who knows. Maybe he got someone _killed_.”

“The trouble with a place that’s ‘free from despair’,” Yuji said, “Is that anything bad which does occur is covered up instead of addressed. That’s something I heard from Doctor Kirisame, once. She overheard me complaining to Gavin about something that happened and she said that. I can’t help but feel like it must apply here. Rather than work with Jun to address whatever happened, it was simply easier to erase it from his _and_ your memories?”

“Yes,” Ayano said, “That is about accurate to what occurred. The rest of us forgot whatever the inciting incident was, and it was attempted to remove Jun’s alcoholism, as well as any other traits which led to that incident, from him. But again, Yume is correct. We do not need to be focusing on this at the moment. We need to determine who killed him.”

“If he is a Replicant,” Saya said, “Do we even really need to, though?”

“What?” Yume questioned, “Of course we do…”

“But can’t he just come back?” Saya asked, tapping a finger against her cheek.

“Unfortunately,” Mono said, “This is a really irrelevant tangent here. Yes, Jun was the replicant previously mentioned, but that doesn’t have any bearing on anything. He’s actually dead. It’s possible that if his real life body could be brought back to a proper technician, he could be recovered, yes. Though I have reason to believe that’s become highly unlikely. As of right now, he is dead, and you need to find the culprit.”

“Do you swear that it has no bearing on anything?” Homura asked.

“I swear. The **fact that Jun is a replicant may have been revealed by the toxicology report, but does not relate to this case**,” Mono said, “Just so that you guys don’t go off wondering too hard about that stuff, it isn’t related. It’s like you guys were saying back when I first mentioned that one person here was a replicant- It’s just another way of being a person. I’m not saying that this has no bearing on anything, but it has no bearing on _this case_.”

“Huh. That’s weirdly cryptic, but we’ll take it,” Shin said, “Getting back on track. He had some pretty strange medicines in his system, huh?”

“This is true. He never would have abused pharmaceuticals himself,” Ayano said, “Even though he had a different dependency… I think he was drawn specifically to alcohol because he was avoiding that, really. It is a bit depressing but the bottom line is that those medicines were fed to him by the culprit.”

“Why are thooose the pills that the culprit gave him?” Tooru asked, “I can get the opiates, but. Antihistamines? Anticoagulants?”

“I’m not sure that there was really a point to it,” Syoko said, “The culprit might have just taken a wild guess at which medicines might interact badly, since there’s hardly that sort of information provided in the infirmary.”

“What sort of medicines interact badly…” Homura muttered, “But, you know, that’s not what killed him. It was ‘suffocation’. Enough of any one of those things would have killed him eventually, but it didn’t. So. What was the culprit trying to _do_?”

“I mean. We kind of thought this while investigating, and it’s… Pretty tough to think about,” Yosuke said, “But it’s almost like the culprit wanted Jun to suffer.”

“Aaaalmost?” Tooru questioned, “From what I’m hearing, it sounds pretty certain that’s what’s goin’ on. And I mean. Monooo may say it’s irrelevant that Jun is a replicant, but I think that could be part of the culprit’s motive. Somebody who said he doesn’t _trust_ that person?”

“Oh,” Homura said.

“Yeah!” Hikari laughed. “No matter what else we end up talking about, it just keeps circling back around to making Shinku look like _the_ biggest fucking suspect here! So? Why don’t we just accept it’s gotta be him, and figure out exactly how he pulled this shit?”


	145. Trial 2: Words at Midnight, Barely

“You really think that I’d do something like that?” Homura asked, then laughed. “Come on! I’m not a culprit. I’m surprised I haven’t been a victim yet, really. I kinda thought Jun was gonna kill me, but I mean, anybody could. And if I really _wanted_ to die, over just expecting to die, I wouldn’t take someone down with me. I’d just fucking kill myself, not go to all this trouble to get executed!”

“You could just be saying that, in order to get away with it,” Saya said, “I mean, if we think about it… It seems like a pipe dream to get away with murder, but if nobody expected you to pull it off, then you’d be able to. Right? Isn’t that how your talent or whatever works?”

“Hey now, you still don’t know what my talent is,” Homura said, “But you do have the gist of it. I can do things out of spite, that’s my skill. Even so. If I wanted to get away with killing Jun, I’d have better ways to go about it than this.”

“Better ways, huh? Like what?” Hikari asked, “You would’ve hurt him more, right? Way more? I bet you would’ve. I bet you’ve hated him this whole time for all the shit that your kid genius brain figured out about him before any of the rest of us could! But really, he went through hell anyhow, so it still lines up. You hated your fucking roommate for being an alcoholic replicant and you were just waiting for the opportunity to pin it over on Oowada!”

“I’m pretty sure that he would be working harder to actually point the finger at me if that was the case?” Yosuke said, “I mean, really. All he did was state the fact that I was one of the last people to see Jun alive, and that I confirmably saw him alive after the time that Homura would have seen him.”

“Well,” Shin said, “It does seem pretty clear to me that both Shinku and Oowada… Are equally suspicious, frankly. Both have admitted to having a late-night conversation with Jun, and both have potential reason to have committed the murder. Shinku because of the repeated arguments… Oowada because, honestly, as far as I have seen, there had been similar tension. We’ve been considering this from the angle that the conversation those two had at midnight went _well_. But nothing says that’s the case.”

“Hm… Yeah,” Saya said, “If you put it that way. Isn’t it a little bit suspicious? They’ve been flipping between good and bad terms with each other the last few days, far as I could tell. And the same morning that Jun turns up dead, suddenly we’re introduced to Yosuke? I mean, ‘Emi Oowada’ wasn’t even a real person. We don’t know Yosuke at all yet!”

“That’s… Uh. Yeah, that’s a good point,” Yosuke admitted, “I mean, thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt that the conversation did go well, but, _I_ never even claimed that it did. I mean. I’d say that it, relatively, did. I was really looking forward to seeing Jun this morning, and then he was dead. Which was, to be frank. A real _bummer_, and don’t ask me to process those emotions any more than that right now or I’m going to become useless in this trial.”

“Yes. In the event that Yosuke is innocent, as I personally believe he is,” Ayano said, “It is important that he not become useless in the trial. I am in a similar position myself.”

“Well then,” Yuji said, “I’m quite sorry to say this, sweetheart, but I’m afraid speaking in vague terms is not going to help anyone. We cannot come to any conclusion about sincerity without a degree of detail as to what actually occurred at midnight.”

“That’s…” Yosuke muttered, and looked down at his podium. Right. Just saying ‘the conversation didn’t end badly’ wasn’t doing him any favors. The actual conversation that they had…

\---

** 11:00 PM / 1100 Hours [September 5th] **

Yosuke was nearly asleep when he heard the knock on his door. He glanced over at Syoko, who was fast asleep, then climbed out of bed. He approached the door, on which the knocking hadn’t ceased at all. Groggily, he pulled it open, and Jun was standing there. He had his Monopad in one hand, and an opaque white bottle by the neck in his other. Yosuke glanced down at it. Malibu, huh? Then, back to Jun. “What’s… going on?”

“H-Hey,” Jun stammered, avoiding eye contact as he lifted his Monopad. “Shorry. I thought this was my room and the door wash… Wash not working.”

“Huh. Yeah, no, this is my room,” Yosuke said, pushing his hair back from his face to get a better look at Jun. He could immediately tell that this wasn’t _good_, but he’d be lying if he didn’t say that Jun looked really cute with his shirt buttoned wrong and his hair tufting up. Why’d his shirt even get unbuttoned for him to button it wrong in the first place? Whatever, not important. “What’s going on? Are you okay? Why are you drunk again?”

“Pffft. I’m _fine_.” Jun threw his hands up. “Jusht you _know_. My roommate told me that he thinksh I’m gonna _kill_ him, for sherioush- For real. Not being a weirdo like normal for him, but for real. Shcared of me. I guesssh he thinksh I killed my ex? Uhh. Do I look like I’d do that? Sho now I’m drunk to avoid panicking about all that.”

“Oh. That’s a lot.” Yosuke stepped out of his room and shut the door behind himself. “Why don’t we just, you and I, go sit down in one of those extra hallways and figure this out?”

“Mhm. Yeaah. Thanksh, Oowada.” Jun stepped towards him and wrapped an arm around his, leaning… most of his body weight. That was fine, Yosuke was definitely strong enough to hold him up, but what wasn’t quite as fine was what he said next, “You know, you’re a real… A real great guy.”

“Heh… What?” Yosuke asked, bringing Jun along towards the excess hallways just as he said they should. “Nah, I dunno what you’re… What do you mean? You said the same kind of thing last night at the party…”

“I mean that you’re a _great guy_ jeeesh. What would I mean?” Jun questioned, gesturing with his Monopad still in his hand. “Look when I’m. I don’t gotta be nervoush right now? Gotta tell you what I think about you. While I can.”

“Ah, well, okay.” Yosuke chuckled. “So instead I’ve gotta be the one who’s nervous right now? If the way you’ve talked to me before was anxiety-powered, then I’m kinda scared of what you actually think of me.”

“What I ack-chewally think of you… Heh. I think that you’re kinda mean but I like that in a partner and you’re a weirdo who’sh a crybaby but alsho confident? That. That weird.”

“Hey, I’m sensitive!” Yosuke protested, “Just because things make me cry easily doesn’t mean that they’re actually making me all that sad or scared or whatever. I kinda wanna cry right now, and this is pretty _chill_ by most people’s measures? Also. You. You like your partners to be kind of mean? What?”

“Bad boysh and bad girlsh. Whatcha gonna do when I wanna date you…” Jun suddenly let go of Yosuke’s arm and turned directly to the wall. Yosuke raised a hand to stop him from crashing into the wall, only for him to instead stumble through one of the hidden doors that Yosuke had completely forgotten about, but Jun in this state had somehow recalled.

Yosuke followed him into the hidden room, where he had already dropped to sit on the floor. He took a deep breath, then sat down next to him. “I wouldn’t really call myself… Bad. I’m sorry that I compared you to an incel earlier. I was just saying. You’re the opposite of a chad and yet I find you really cute, so that sort of spits in their theories, is all… Like. You’re physically attractive even without that mythical Chad bone structure.”

“Oh I washn’t… Not offended.” Jun shook his head, and Yosuke translated that to mean he wasn’t offended, rather than the double negative he’d actually stated. “I mean. I dated Koyuki. I don… I probably didn’t kill her? Homura doeshn’t know what he’sh talkin about. Nuh-uh. Sho I can get girlsh. Could before anyway. Looked a lil lesssh normie-kun back then but got the same face. Maybe I’ll start lookin’ more that way now I’m remembering bits how I ackshully am… You’ll still think I’m cute, right? And ash for now. With you. I mean. Don’t they conshider it ‘giving up’ to get with a guy?”

“Yeah, they kinda do, but I mean… What makes you say that?” Yosuke asked, pushing his hair back from his face again.

“Haven’t you ever thought about it?” Jun wondered.

“I think about it from time to time, but then I get scared,” Yosuke said, “Like if I was a guy, something bad would happen. If I didn’t... look like a girl, something bad would happen.”

“Well I can tell you shomethin’ good if you didn’t look like a girl.” Jun dropped his head onto Yosuke’s shoulder. “You’d be a whole lot more my type.”

“I would?”

“Yeah. A whooooole lot. I’d have a forreal crush on you then… Not whatever thish is. And nothin’ bad gonna happen. I won’t let it.”

“Oh, yeah.” Yosuke laughed. “Drunk off your ass with those twiggy arms of yours, what are you gonna do to protect me?”

“...Right. Well. Nothin’ bad will happen cauzz. You can protect yourshelf, now. Sheems to me nobody can hurt you anyway,” Jun said, then stood back up again, wobbling. “Lemme know when… Lemme know when I’m shober, if you wanna be my boyfriend, kay? With Koyuki. We were both drunk mozztly… Maybe that’sh why it didn’ work out. Sho. Wanna be more careful now.”

“Sure thing,” Yosuke said, “Do you want me to walk you back to your room? Your actual room, where your Monopad will work?”

“Nah, nah. Wanna go back myshelf. Uh. Maybe not goin’ back to my room yet after all. Shober up ju… A little bit before Homura. Plush, if I end up asleep for-real at two? Then I get a nightmare. Maybe nice to avoid that.”

“I’m sure that he’ll appreciate that, but. Don’t you want some company, then?”

“I’ll shee you… Tomorrow. Oowada. And then we can have each other. Company. If you wanna.”

And before Yosuke could try and protest this, Jun walked off much more quickly than he would have expected him to be able to. And that would turn out to be the last time that he was seen alive by anybody but the culprit.


	146. Trial 2: Sense of Suspicion

Yosuke told this story, more or less, in the courtroom. He left out certain details, but retained enough of them that he’d have to be a seriously good liar to be making it up. He left in the embarrassing sappy stuff, but decided that it would just be too much for him to bring up the topic of Homura’s argument with Jun, as Jun had cited it. Yosuke hadn’t been too worried at the time, he was sure it was some kind of misunderstanding.

And there was already _so much_ coming out about Jun. The group didn’t need to come to grips with alcoholic-in-denial Jun not-barasu the replicant who had been accused of killing his ex-girlfriend. And... Wait, going off what Ayano and Hikari said, did that mean Jun had two significant exes? Moving on. All but that last bit was enough to try and process, and anyway. If it was something that needed to come out, he figured that Homura would have mentioned it during his own statement. That particular aspect of the drunken rambling didn’t seem to hold much salt, even if it was the incident which led him to get drunk in the first place.

“Hm. Well, I can see no obvious holes in that story,” Yuji said, “Thank you for sharing more of the details of what actually occurred between the two of you. It’s somewhere between pathetic and just darling.”

“Thanks,” Yosuke said, “I mean. I feel like that could also describe me as an individual pretty well. so it only suits that the relationship I almost had matches up with that.”

“One thing does seem like a hole in that story to me,” Hiyoko said, “I’m sorry. But Jun was teasing you for being a crybaby… And yet, you haven’t cried once today?”

“Trust me!” Yosuke’s voice cracked a bit in this protest. “It has been a concerted effort not to! If I let myself break down even a _little_ bit then I will, again, become useless!”

“That checks out,” Shin said, “I still think it’s possible that though you have told no lies, there are omissions. For example, you may not have wished Jun on his way and instead had a poor reaction to his calling you out on your gender…”

“What, like Itadai all over again?” Homura questioned, “That’s pretty lame of you to say, Tsubasa. I mean. Do you think all trans guys are the same or something?”

“That’s misandric,” Rei chimed in.

“Yes, very,” Homura concurred.

“I… No, nothing like that,” Shin said, “But. We have to consider every possibility, don’t we? A second person isn’t excluded from having a violent reaction to this sort of thing.”

“Certainly not,” Syoko said, “The fact that a bad reaction is possible is the very reason that I haven’t spoken directly to anybody about my own suspicions on their identities. Even still… I share a room with Yosuke. I can tell you that he has had plenty of inexplicable panic attacks behind closed doors. Which became explicable midway through the first trial when I began to realize the true significance of the screwdriver kit there.”

“We doooo need to keep the human aspect in mind here,” Tooru said, “I mean. If everyone’s sayin’ that it doesn’t make sense for somebody to do somethin’, then it doesn’t make sense to keep harpin’ on the same suspect. Or same two suspects, really. Only two people have alibiiiis, and I’m one of ‘em. We need to broaden the scope.”

“I’d say so,” Homura said, “I mean, come on. Sure, we’re known to have seen him, and known to have possible motive, but… Do you really think that me _or_ Yosuke would actually do something this fucking brutal? Think about it. Jun was already drunk, but the culprit tied him to a shelf, force-fed him random pills, and pouring rubbing alcohol in his eyes before somehow, that we haven’t even determined yet, suffocating him.”

Yosuke grimaced to have it all laid out that way. If he had insisted on going back to the dorm area with Jun… Well, who knows. Maybe he’d just also be dead, if the culprit was so willing to cause suffering like that, he doubted that one other person being there would have readily stopped them from following through.

“That doesn’t seem like something that anybody here would do?” Saya said, “I don’t think so, anybody… I mean, Mercury would totally do that! But, like, not _this_ way at all. Not even a little bit at the beginning.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Hikari said, “But… Well, thinking about this. Last time, there were two people we didn’t even consider at all because they weren’t ‘strong’ enough for the murder method. But, like. If Jun was really that drunk off his ass, then it doesn’t matter if the culprit was strong at all! So. Let’s give a lil bit of scrutiny to… Everett.”

“What? Me?” Everett asked, pointing at himself.

“Not you directly,” Hikari said, “I don’t actually think that it was _you_ personally, but, come on now. We’ve been saying that we need to consider the fact we don’t know Yosuke well, but there’s somebody here that we hardly know at all. We only met briefly. And don’t you think that of anybody to do this kind of thing, a strategist is exactly the person who’d resort to torture? Perhaps trying to get some sort of information out of dear departed Jun.”

“Oh, Snow’s who what you’re talkin’ bout,” Irarako said, “I see what you’re playin’, but I really don’t think so. I mean! He can hardly unnerstan’ a word I say, what you think he’d think for drunk-talk? Interrogation means nothin’ if the answers couldn’ never be understood.”

“Ughhh, fine. So it wasn’t an interrogation! It was something else. Who knows, maybe he just wanted to do it. Wanted to make somebody hurt. Or, who knows. Maybe he thought that killing Jun was the right _strategic move_ in general. Like having a guy like that among us was just weakening us all. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, that’s something you military people like to say, right?”

“H-He’s not…” Everett began to protest.

“So tell him to come here!” Hikari snapped, cutting him off. “He can defend himself, right? Because you wouldn’t even _know_ if he was the culprit, would you? That’s how he planned to get away with it, I bet. By going hiding and not letting you even know what he did, and then you can say that you’ve been out this whole time because you thought you went to sleep earlier in the night, but he woke up and went to do this!”

Everett frowned, then reached up and…

Snow undid the pigtails. “Tch. Are you [fucking] serious?”


	147. Trial 2: Real Shitty

“Yes, I’m deadly serious!” Hikari said, “What have you got to say for yourself??”

“First of all,” Snow said, “I want to say that [suspecting] me on these grounds doesn’t look very good on you. It’s honestly [real shitty] to point the finger at somebody because of a disorder that they happen to have.”

“I’m _not_ pointing at you because of your split personality, or whatever,” Hikari said, “And I know, I know. Calling it that is real shitty too, do I look like I give a shit? I’m pointing at you because I know that _you’re_ responsible for handling the talent. The strategy talent. Which is a talent that doesn’t, the least bit, make me think you’re innocent.”

“Pft. Well, we already got rid of the main excuse that my leg is broken,” Snow admitted, “Because [apparently] Jun was so drunk that even I would have been able to physically overpower him. But what about the shelf that the culprit [supposedly] fell through?”

“That’s a good point,” Yume said, “But then again. If you’re actually cruel enough to fuck Jun up that badly, then you’ve also got the willpower to pretend like you haven’t been injured more!”

“Sure, I’ll grant that,” Snow said, “But Ruka’s theory is that I thought I could get away with this because Everett would be [unaware] I was ever fronting to begin with. Tch… Don’t you think he’d notice if he [suddenly] had more broken bones?”

“...Good point,” Shin said, “It appears that Ruka was jumping the gun _again_. I can understand that you want to know what happened to your friend, but are you really just running all the way to the finish line with every passing suspicion?”

“C-Can you blame me? I want to know who fucking did this!” Hikari hit her podium, then turned her glare towards Yume. “What about _you_, huh? We all saw what you tried to do to Itadai at the end of his trial! That was pretty goddamn cruel of you, you wanted to hurt him and you _did_. I sure wouldn’t put it past you to do the same to Jun.”

“Oh come on, you’re just shifting right over to me now!?” Yume questioned, “Wow, that’s real classy! Tsubasa might be able to understand why you’re being such a bitch, but I can’t! God, I was probably a better friend to Jun in the week that I knew him than you ever were in your whole bullshit cadaver of a life!”

“How dare you!” Hikari spat back, “Really? Really, you’re going to say that he wasn’t even my friend now? I’ve known him his whole life, me and Aya both have, we knew him best! And from what I knew about him? He wasn’t really your friend, he didn’t give a shit about you. He just put up with you because he put up with everybody! He just went along with whatever other people expected of him, all the time, and since you expected him to tolerate you, he did! If we were in any scenario where he could _avoid_ you, he would’ve been too spooked by your violent creep-o ways to ever even give you the time of day!”

“Hikari!” Ayano raised her voice more than just about anybody in the courtroom had yet heard from her, “That’s just not true!”

“Why? Because Jun was _so_ fucking perfect? Aya. You gotta drop the rose-colored glasses if we’re going to find out who’d want to kill him,” Hikari said, “Obviously, he wronged somebody here for them to want to hurt him so badly, or else, somebody here is just a sick murderous fuck. I think it’s most likely a mix of those options, so. I’m just telling the truth. Jun wouldn’t really care about Yume, and from that… If he mentioned such a thing to her, wouldn’t this time bomb of a person snap again?”

“You… Look, I told him flat-out that we were friends now when I decided that he was worth it,” Yume said, “I never assumed that he gave a crap about me, that doesn’t change the fact I considered him my friend. _And_ do you really consider me such a heinous dumb bitch that I’d just assume that somebody so drunk he’s slurring every single ‘S’ sound is actually being sincere by any stretch?”

“Hey, it’s just a theory to explain it. My bottom line doesn’t change. You’ve already shown us that you’re a violent person,” Hikari said, “So I wouldn’t be even a little bit surprised if it was you.”

“Who _would_ you be surprised if they were the culprit?” Yosuke asked, “Cause from where I stand, it seems like you’ve got an explanation ready for _everybody_ to have done it.”

“No, not everyone!” Hikari crossed her arms. “I’m resigned to the fact that it wasn’t the kid over there, so. That leaves the rest of you lot, and it’s plausible for everybody! Look, look, I’ll run through all my theories for everybody, why don’t I? For everyone that’s left.”

“I really don’t think you should do that,” Yume said, “I mean, sure, leave me as somebody you’ve suspected, but you’re pretty cruel yourself! I don’t think we need to hear that shit.”

“Awww. I wanna hear the crackpot talk some more,” Rei said, “This is top-quality entertainment.”

“Yes, I am so very glad,” Ayano said, “That the process of looking for the killer of my best friend is _entertaining_ to a year-one teen.”

“Would it be better if I was sitting here miserable, becoming traumatized by the violence around me?” Rei asked.

“That probably wouldn’t be better,” Yosuke admitted, “But the best option would still be for you to use that codeword of yours and get your accomplice to pull you out of-”

“Awe, I already tried that,” Rei said.

“What?” Homura asked.

“My codeword was ‘replicant’. I expected to just vanish after admitting that I was one, too! But then I was still here and I had to come up with a way to end the sentence so it didn’t seem weird. Yeah, I got tired of being here and wanted to go but it didn’t work,” Rei said, “So. Sorry! Looks like I’m probably stuck here till the trial’s done.”

“Hm. Yes, that makes sense. The trial is mandatory attendance for all non-moderators, yes?” Ayano observed, “We are not allowed to leave midway through, so you aren’t either.”

“Ugh. The point is,” Hikari said, “Kaguya wants to hear more of my ‘crackpot’ theories. Which I think are all very plausible. So, I will proceed to tell you how I think anybody else could have done it, and then you can continue judging for yourselves which one _you_ think actually happened!”


	148. Trial 2: Throw Theories At The Wall And See What Sticks

“Do we… Do we really have to do this?” Yosuke asked.

“Yes. One hundo,” Hikari said.

“Get it over with, then.” Yosuke groaned to himself. He was formulating his own theory, he was honestly getting fairly confident in who the culprit was, but. Admittedly, he still needed to figure out a way to prove his theory, so, who knows. Maybe Hikari would actually do the work for him and her wild accusations would jog his brain onto the right track? He doubted it, but. There could always be a bright side.

“So let’s see. Uh, who’d I already get through accusing wildly?” Hikari asked, “Refresh my memory?”

“Yosuke, Shinku, Snow, and Yume,” Ayano said, “And you’ve relented to exclude the baby. Plus, Ebizakaya and Hanazaki have alibis.”

“I’ll go ahead and leave those two out, then,” Hikari said, “Even though, it’s gotta be _possible_ to get between the buildings at night. Hanazaki is my kindred spirit, so I can’t think of much I’d say about him. And Ebizakaya is just too stupid to put together a mind-boggling case like this one!”

“She’s not stupid and it’s not that mind-boggling,” Syoko said.

“Nobody asked _you_, you’re stupid _too_,” Hikari scoffed, “So, I’m gonna start with you. You could be the culprit because you’ve been letting us all see you as just so fucking perfect! Like there’s nothing wrong with you at all. So there’s gotta be something wrong, and I posit that wrong is that you actually are a really spiteful person. You hated the fact that somebody other than you pushed Yosuke into cracking his egg, it should have been you, and in your anger you went and killed Jun to get back at him for stepping into your ever-flawless spotlight.”

“...I guess that as far as outlandish accusations go,” Syoko said, “That’s actually not the worst it could be. Sure, fine, I’ll admit. If I have some secret vindictive side, that’s plausible. But my counter to that is I had no idea Yosuke had cracked until he woke me up this morning. He said himself that I was asleep when Jun came to the door, and the majority of their conversation was had in a completely different area of the building.”

“Yeah, whatever you say, it’s the rapid-fire round so next up. Tsubasa! You were also excluded from suspicion during the last trial because of your physical weakness. No physical strength is actually required here, again. And unlike Snow, you don’t have absurdly brittle bones that would be broken by falling through a shelf. I can’t say I know enough about you to think about why you’d target Jun, but you’re a creepy and mysterious person who doesn’t hardcore react to dead bodies so I can see you doing it just for the lulz.”

“For the… Lulz?” Shin asked.

“Okay, maybe not for the lulz, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you _laugh_, but for the sake of doing a murder. You get? Anyway, anyway. Yoshiro!” Hikari pointed at her.

“Ah, is it my turn already to have my character utterly slandered by you?” Saya questioned, and pressed her hands together. “Lovely. Hit me with your best shot.”

“You’re a total weirdo who is literally _working with Mercury Mars_-”

“Not working with her, raised by her, but carry on.”

“Mercury’s effective daughter, then. She can’t have raised you with anything like good morals, and didn’t you have to taxidermy human bodies before you were even a teenager? You mentioned that before? That’s gotta mess a person up big time. And you’re just in here smiling and acting sweet like always, because you’re broken. Your mind is super broken and you’re just like a happy little robot who only feels true pleasure in morbid situations. Like stuffing a dead human, or making that human dead in the first place!”

“My mind is super broken, yes,” Saya said, “But I would not have killed Jun Barasu! My reason may sound silly and unbelievable. But Mercury would not have wanted him dead. Mono? How did she react when she found out that Jun was dead?”

“Since this technically doesn’t help you at all, given that you could have done the opposite and killed him specifically to piss her off, I can answer that. She was very pissed off. She yelled a lot. She considered him a ‘useful tool that would have helped us later’, and now he is dead so he can’t be that for her.”

“See?” Saya said, “If I am mind-broken enough to want to torture him, then I am mind-broken enough to never do anything to spite Mercury. It’s correlated!”

“Huh. Okay, that’s weird,” Hikari said, “Next is Sato. And Nageko, actually, the two of you are kind of a unit, aren’t you? One way or the other. Um, here’s what I think you might have done! So, Nageko found out that Jun was soooo drunk and started panicking. If he choked on his vomit, or got alcohol poisoning and died, or anything? Then she might be held responsible since she encouraged him to drink in the first place.”

“How did you know I was freaking out about that this morning…?” Hiyoko asked.

“Oh, I wandered through in the middle of your breakdown is all. Anyway. She’s panicking, and her ever-devoted boyfriend Sato, he wants to protect her no matter what. So he decides he’ll kill Jun himself to avoid even the possibility of blame falling onto Nageko,” Hikari said, “This describes motive to target Jun, anyway. But not why he’d be tortured if it was those two… Maybe they’re just into that. Maybe they used to take guys home from the club for threesomes and then kill ‘em. I dunno! Always possible?”

“Dollie,” Yuji said, “That’s quite the shoddy theory there. Yes, I would die for Hiyoko, but I can’t imagine that she would have been considered the blackened for that sort of thing. Additionally, why would we have known that Jun was drunk?”

“He could have gone to your room!” Hikari said.

“But you have no way of knowing if he went to any other rooms besides Yosuke’s,” Hiyoko said, “So all of this… Everything you’ve said is just conjecture. And you’re obscuring the point by coming up with all of these possible scenarios. None of them are actually using the evidence to point in any direction, not really…”

“No way of knowing?” Rei spoke up, “I mean. Have I not told you plenty of times that I’m good with computers? Gimme a Monopad. I’ll get you some extra evidence. Not that you really need it. _I_ can tell who did it, it’s purr-etty obvious. But lemme go ahead and grab you a smoking gun, nyah!”


	149. Trial 2: The Opened Door

“Huh? You could do that the entire time?” Yosuke asked, “Why didn’t you tell us? _Why did you try to leave without doing it_?”

“Uhhh, cause, I figured you’d be able to find out who did it without me,” Rei said, “But then the crackpot went off. And also I encouraged her, so that’s a little bit on me, too. If you’d stayed focused without her input, you’d have your answer by now. Anyway. Gimme Monopaaaad~”

“I can’t say that I feel [comfortable] giving you mine,” Snow, who seemed to have decided to stick around since he was more suited to the act of a class trial, said, “And I doubt anybody else does either.”

“Ira’s got the solution!” Irarako called out, holding up a Monopad. “Been holdin’ onto the Monopad what belong to Itadai.”

“How did you get that?” Syoko asked.

“Huhhh? Was back in our room.” She shrugged, then stepped away from her podium to hand it over to Rei. “This belong to a guy what’s now dead, plus _was_ weirdo. Wouldn’ rec you peep the photos roll, jus’ in case. I ain’t peeped it self or nothin’ so I can’t say for sure but. You get.”

“Yeah, I get. I’m gonna see if I can’t get something out of the network…” Rei muttered, and then turned their attention completely to the Monopad. “Go on and keep talking while I work so Mono doesn’t get up your asses.”

“I would be legally obligated to get up your asses about it if you just sat around waiting for Deus Ex Invader to hack the system, yes,” Mono said, “So go on and keep discussing.”

“We should try and focus back, away from all of the shit that Ruka said.” Yosuke smacked a fist into his palm. “The actual evidence of the case. I last saw Jun at about twenty past midnight, and approximately an hour later was his time of death. He got ambushed in the gift shop, tied up, force-fed medicine, had rubbing alcohol poured in his eyes… Huh.”

“What’s up?” Syoko asked.

“I think I figured out what the actual cause of death was,” Yosuke said, “We were missing that aspect for a little while there. How he suffocated. But I think that I figured it out. Here.” He reached into the bag he’d grabbed for the investigation and produced the bottle of whiskey that had been badly refilled with tap water. “This is one of the things we found in the gift shop. I think that… I think this was the murder weapon.”

“Oh? How so?” Shin wondered, leaning against his podium with his visible eyebrow raised.

“Well, I was thinking. Why try to cover this up? It was obviously done by the culprit, not by Jun himself, given that the attempted cover-up was done in the same way as the rubbing alcohol. By refilling the bottle and returning it to the shelf. So the culprit has to have used it. If they just force-fed it to Jun like they did with the medicines, there was a better way to dispose of it. But the culprit didn’t want us to actually know about this bottle, I bet.”

“Because,” Yosuke continued, “One, this isn’t the usual brand that Jun was drinking. As far as I can tell, this one’s actually a lot different? It might even be something that Jun _disliked_. If the culprit was trying to make him suffer, then that would be an explanation why. It’s also pretty large. Such that, if it was being forcibly poured down somebody’s throat, I doubt that they would be able to breathe through it. And somebody as far gone as Jun would have been at that point… Wouldn’t have the lucidity needed to try and maintain their breath through that situation.”

“So are you saying that Jun… Choked to death on that bottle and the liquid inside?” Hiyoko asked, bringing a hand up to her own throat. “Oh my.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Yosuke said, “The culprit intended to keep him in suffering longer, but he just ended up giving out during this process. So the culprit made an effort to hide the fact that there was a murder weapon at all, but didn’t take the necessary time to actually obscure the usage of this bottle… So it’s somebody who was willing to spend time torturing somebody, but not willing to spend time to cover it up well. Somebody who doesn’t care enough to spend a lot of time on any one task.”

“Huuuh. Yeah, sounds like it. If I didn’t have this alibiiii on my side, I’d suspect me. I’d be that lazy if I killed somebody.” Tooru actually yawned after this. “Soooorry. Not to seem like I’m bored with an actual murder trial. But I’m better off if I don’t put in the effort to _care_.”

“We all cope in different ways Hanazaki, I completely understand!” Saya said.

“So you’re saying that the culprit we’re looking for is somebody who wanted Jun to suffer. And was also somebody who didn’t just know about his “mum’s” substance abuse, but also what type of whiskey he specifically didn’t like,” Yume said, “Daaaaamn. If you put it like that, then why’d we even take this long running around lookin’ at _everybody_?”

“That’s what I was saying,” Rei spoke up, “A-ny-way. I told you that I’d get you a smoking gun, didn’t I? I was able to get into the network and, really this is the best I could do! It’s obvious that Doctor Kirisame’s security system was used as a base here… Not her personal one, that’s got totally different code to crack, but the one that security firms buy and modify. Either way. All I could get was the number of times that each door’s Monopad scanner was touched between ten and four, and the number of times it was activated. Not really that much.”

“Well,” Homura said, “We probably don’t need it, but why don’t you tell us what you found anyway?”

“Absolutely.” Rei held up the Monopad above their head. “Looks like every single Monopad Scanner was touched at least once, but only a few of them got activated! The Monopad scanner which responds to ‘Syoko Saihara and Yosuke Oowada’ was activated twice. But… So was the scanner which responds to ‘Ayano Ueda and Hikari Ruka’.”


	150. Trial 2: Culprit?

“Twice, huh?” Syoko noted, “Well, from our room, that’s already been explained. Yosuke left and came back, but it seems that one of those girls did the same thing, huh?”

“Yea that’s what the data shows,” Rei said, “As for the touching, uh. I bet that drunk-o tried to use his Monopad on _all_ the doors. Except, somehow, his own.”

“Hooow do we know that you aren’t lying about this?” Tooru asked, “I mean. You don’t have a reason to tell us the truth, and isn’t it a little toooo convenient?”

“I don’t know about that,” Syoko said, “I mean, I could pretty well figure who the culprit was before Kaguya even gave us this bit of information. I don’t think they have a reason to lie. Besides, if they were lying, I think they would have made up something a bit more than this. It doesn’t exactly make them look like a hero to pull up six hours of incomplete data.”

“Yeaaah. It’s not that cool,” Rei said, “Like. This much stuff? I didn’t even need to be here, somebody here could’ve figured it out if they spent a few hours sitting down with their Monopad! There’s a lotta cracks when you jank somebody else’s code without their assistance. All that’s impressive about me is how _quickly_ I got the easily accessible forbidden information.”

“That’s still pretty impressive!” Homura assured them, “It’s probably me who could have figured it out with a few hours. But now that you know it’s possible, of course, I won’t be able to. You know. Cause I can only do the unexpected.”

“Of course. You can’t just do things if they won’t be shocking, awe-inspiring, or proving somebody wrong,” Rei said.

“They get me.” Homura crossed his arms and nodded. “Though I do think it’s pretty silly you guys keep looking at me like a possible culprit just because that’s how I operate? Like. If you’re that eager to jump on me for it, then you _are_ expecting me to commit a murder, so of course I won’t!”

“Well, you can’t argue with that logic.” Yume chuckled. “Though don’t think that’s going to keep us from suspecting you in the future! You’re a strange little man and I’m sure you’ve got some sort of secret bloodlust.”

“I doubt it. I have ‘bloodlust’ on lock,” Hiyoko said, “However, yes, I could see you going feral and killing something or somebody sometime in your life.”

“Great! That means I never will. Just to prove you wrong. You have saved me from the criminal path that would have been in my nature,” Homura said.

“Should we really be joking around like this?” Saya asked, “We are still in a trial, after all!”

“Oh, all the tension’s gone,” Syoko said, “We’ve lapsed into a temporary gleeful confidence at the fact we know who the culprit is. It won’t last very long at all.”

“Ah, I see! So you really have figured out who the culprit is?” Saya tilted her head to one side and pressed her fingers together, bouncing them against each other a bit. “Because I am afraid that I, as of yet, haven’t come to any conclusions. Are you sure?”

“Mhm,” Irarako said, “Even I’m sure this one time round. Not _smart_, but am clever. An’ the culprit really made it easy on us this time.”

“Let’s not be too hasty,” Ayano said, “Assuming that you know the truth is a sure way to encounter a false answer, after all. We do still need to sort out exactly what makes this person the culprit… And I’m afraid you’re missing a crucial piece of the puzzle, aren’t you?”

“The ‘why’ of the case,” Homura said, “We’re still missing that piece, that’s what you’re saying, huh? But I dunno if we need a ‘why’. There’s a million different ‘whys’ we’ve heard floated, and not a single one of those was actually useful. That’s because…”

Yosuke blinked a few times. Suddenly, things in the courtroom seemed somehow foggy to him. It was as if he was starting to get a headache and starting to fall asleep at the same time. He felt this once before… Last trial. When Syoko was about to accept the possibility that the culprit was either Homura or Saya, wasn’t it?

He realized that despite their mutual confidence, it seemed that there wasn’t actually a consensus on who the culprit was. The room was split. Some people here were thinking one thing, and other people were thinking another, and… One of those things was wrong. He took a deep breath and brought his hands up to his face. He couldn’t, not yet, he couldn’t let his emotions and his concerns get the better of him and start crying here, in front of everybody-

“The person who was giving us all those potential whydunnits,” Hiyoko said, “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“She was trying to…” Yuji continued for his girlfriend.

“Hide her wrongdoing,” Hiyoko said. --- “Cover for the culprit,” Yuji said.

Yosuke’s headache was getting worse.

“Ohhh, of course,” Tooru said, “Hikari would want to cover it up! She would dooo _anythin’_ for her beloved. How romantic, stepping in to try and take the faaaaall like that…”

“It is romantic. It’s exactly what I would do, after all,” Yuji said.

“I’m not sure about that,” Hiyoko said, “I’ve gotten to know Ayano pretty well, I’ve been training her in the ways of vampires. I cannot convert her or anything, but she has the potential to be a human lorekeeper. She has expressed no such inclinations to violence. Ruka’s covering for herself.”

“Love makes people up’n do stupid things!” Irarako said, “Ruka always sayin’ she wish a girl would wanna kill for her. It’s a big ol’ romantic gesture from Ueda, by that standard!”

Stop disagreeing, stop, stop, he’d been sure and he wasn’t so sure anymore and he didn’t want to believe one of the options but it had to be one and the other one was wrong, and if he was wrong, if nobody could agree on who the culprit really was then they were all going to die-

“Awh, guys,” Hikari said, “I’m glad you can see how cute we are! I sorta thought it might be my sweet Aya, but I didn’t wanna say anything. If I could pin it on somebody else and she got away with it, after all, then she would have brought me outside with her!!”


	151. Trial 2: Bad End Option Redux

“It’s unfortunate that it’s come down to the truth like this,” Hikari said, “But you win some, you lose some! Now that you’ve figured out what’s going on. That I thought it was Aya, so I was trying to cover her tracks so that we could run off into the sunset together… But I guess that you’ve figured it out.”

“So this entire time, when you were accusing all of us of being capable of such awful things for such awful reasons…” Homura said, “You were _actually_ pretty sure you knew who the real culprit was? Wow, that’s a really shitty thing to do, Ruka! Almost as shitty as throwing your best friend under the bus.”

“Wait. So you’re saying that I’d be really shitty no matter what I did?” Hikari asked, “That’s no fair.”

“Huh. I guess I am! Looks like you’re just a really shitty person. Of course, you’d be even _shittier_ if you were taking this opportunity to just deflect even further,” Homura said, “What exactly makes us believe that it’s Ueda, specifically, huh? You both knew Jun pretty well. Right?”

“Oh, I mean, she knew him a whole lot better than I did. For one, she remembered all those unsavory things about him since the beginning, but I only remembered yesteday! How am I supposed to have got my thoughts sorted out to know all that about him for the murder so quickly?” Hikari said, “Aya knew the whole time, all this stuff about Jun that we’re all just figuring out now. Every little rotten bit. That’s plenty of opportunity to bide her time until it was right to kill him, get away with it, and get out of here with me!”

“That’s an interesting theory,” Ayano said, “But I am afraid that there’s a bit of that which doesn’t quite line up, Hikari. You aren’t the only person here who I consider to be a precious friend. Were I the culprit… There are only two things that I would do. The first would be to confess outright, because I do not want to let anyone I care about die. The other would be that I’d allow the falsehood to carry through, get away with it, and select my escapees as you and Hiyoko. Running away with you? I would never think of such a thing.”

“W-Wait, never?” Hikari questioned, pulling an arm back towards herself. “Are you… I mean, you’re just talking about this situation! You wouldn’t run away with me if it means sacrificing other people’s lives, huh? Oh thats _so_ noble, but I don’t think that you actually care. I bet it’s always been there, under the surface. This whole time. You’ve just been waiting for the chance to get away with murder and let all these other useless peasants die!”

“That just isn’t very nice to say, Hikari. Peasants? Several of our peers here are certainly nobility. Syoko, for example, is an advanced queen. And Hiyoko is a vampire princess,” Ayano said, “And for that matter, Snow gives me the impression of a prince, or at the very least, a lord. So why would you call them peasants like that?”

“You’re dodging the point,” Hikari said, “You’d have been a serial killer given the opportunity! As we went about our normal lives, you would have started with Jun, of course. And anybody who ever wronged us, you’d kill them, all in my name! We’d be happy together, until the law caught up with us, and we’d both go down together in a blaze of fire instead of letting ourselves be sent to prison! For centuries, people would still theorize and wonder. How many people did we really kill? We never confessed, so. How many dead and missing were we responsible for? I bet. I bet that’s how it would have gone.”

“You weave a compelling story, Hikari. Have you ever considered writing?” Ayano asked, “Because that’s all it is. Fiction. There is so much conjecture there, I cannot even imagine where you came up with all of that. Have I ever given you any indication in the past that I wished to do violence upon anything or anyone?”

“Well. Uh. No, you didn’t. But!” Hikari stammered, “You never needed to give me indication, Aya, I know you the best in the entire world. I know you _so_ well, I’ve just been waiting this entire time for you to show your true colors, and I’d support you through all of it! I’d never judge you, I’d appreciate everything that you did for me, because I just love you so much and I know that what _you’re_ doing is out of love for me, too! But you needed to get Jun out of the way first of all, cause he was always third-wheeling, keeping you from acting on your feelings for me…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ayano said, “I certainly don’t believe that Jun was a third wheel. If that were the case, then wouldn’t we have gotten together when he was spending all of his time with Doromo?”

“Wait,” Yosuke said, “I thought that… Jun didn’t ever know about Doromo’s death? What?”

“_Barasu_ didn’t know about Doromo’s death,” Hikari said, “It had a ‘substantial negative effect’ on him, so it was one of the things wiped out from Jun’s memory. So when he was Barasu, he never even _knew_ Doromo.”

“That isn’t the point,” Ayano said, “The point is that, if he was really in the way of us getting together, then we would have gotten together when he wasn’t nearly as involved in our lives. But we didn’t. And frankly, I’m not sure where you got all of these ideas from. There are so many things that you’re just making up, Hikari. Do you seriously believe any of it?”

“I mean- I-” Hikari started to protest.

“No.” Ayano cut her off. “I think that you do, actually. I think you sincerely do believe that I love you and would kill for you. But you’re wrong. You’re projecting the way that you feel onto me, because you don’t really feel that way about _me_. You feel a certain way and you wish somebody would feel that way about you, and I am a convenient target. And if you convince people that I am the culprit, you get to drag me out of here with you. As if I’d want to. Given that you killed my best friend.”


	152. Trial 2: Confession Under No Way Out

“What are you- I mean, that’s ridiculous! Come on, what are you saying, Aya? What are you… I mean… Don’t you. Don’t you love me??” Hikari questioned.

Ayano didn’t answer, and everyone was staring at Hikari. Yosuke’s headache had gone away, and he had managed to suppress his tears enough to uncover his face and join in that staring. Hikari stood uncomfortably under everybody’s gaze, fidgeting in place.

“Look…” Hikari started, “Is it. Does everybody think that I did this?”

The silence spoke for itself.

“Fine,” Hikari said, “I guess that I can’t really keep denying it at this point. I mean. I’ve already tried pointing to everybody else in the room, and that didn’t get me anywhere, huh? It did confuse you guys a bit, so. I postponed it. But fine, if you wanna know the truth, sure. I did kill Jun. But it’s not for any of _those_ petty reasons! Hah, obviously, I’m not that awful of a person to do something like that!”

“If that’s really true,” Hiyoko asked, “Then why did you really kill him? I think I speak for everyone when I say I’d love to hear, after all of that, what you have to say for yourself.”

“Pfft. I mean! Look at everything that’s come out about Jun during this trial? I remembered a whole lot of it yesterday, and you know what? I can see why people wanted us to forget about that,” Hikari said, “Cause if I had never forgotten that stuff, then I would have wanted to be far, far away from him forever and a day! Seriously, we’re talking about this like it was some _tragedy_ that he turned up dead, but even off of what _you’ve_ heard so far, you should be glad that he’s out of the picture!”

“He had some issues,” Yosuke said, “That doesn’t mean that any of us are going to be glad that he’s gone. We’ve got our own shit to deal with, and it isn’t like… He wasn’t lying. He actually had it blocked out from his mind, so it’s not like he was actively hiding any of the truth from us. We could have worked through his problems now. I mean. Shinku got through to him. He was self-aware when he was talking to me. He told me that he didn’t want me to answer if I wanted to be his boyfriend right then, but in the morning. Because his last relationship, they were both drunk most of the time, and he didn’t want to make the same mistakes again.”

“Yeah. His last relationship,” Hikari said, “You guys didn’t see it, cause of the way his brain’s been fucked up. But if he was really remembering that stuff, then it was just a matter of time before he went back to the way that he used to be before. You know. It wasn’t the incident which got totally erased for us, that’s not even back. I know that wasn’t actually the tipping point, but it definitely happened. His last relationship ended because _he killed them._”

“No,” Ayano said, “Stop that, Hikari. We don’t know what happened. The police decided it was an accident. Do you think you are smarter than the police?”

“Pft. Yeah! Honestly!” Hikari raised her arms up at her sides. “So many abusive men are specifically violent when they’re drunk, you know? And both of them were definitely drunk, at the time. I dunno what Jun was on about saying he remembered having a _girlfriend_, but wow, can you imagine being such a stupid alcoholic that you vaguely remember your partner as a totally different gender than they were? Shouldn’t that be proof enough, that he killed him?”

“No, we don’t know the entire story,” Ayano said, “And I do not believe that. It doesn’t make sense to me. Jun _was_ a gentle person. Even when he was drunk. You said yourself, he is a boring drunk. Comparatively.”

“Barasu’s a boring drunk!” Hikari snapped, “But Jun Shirogane? How are we supposed to know that? If he was becoming himself again, then what was the point of him changing in the first place? Letting him carry on like he was suddenly a totally different, milder person, who would _never, ever_ end up killing somebody when he was impaired? Please. I saw him… I stepped out of our room because I wanted to get a snack, and I saw him. Relapsing this badly. What was I supposed to do? Let him keep going till he fucking killed someone again?”

“I don’t buy that, Hikari,” Ayano said, “If you just wanted to keep people safe from the so-scary drunk normie-kun, then you would not have been trying to get away with the murder. You would have confessed to your supposed heroism right off the bat and taken your death like a woman. Who knows. Maybe some part of this is because you resent him something that I don’t even believe he did. But that’s not all of it, like you’re trying to spin. You did not do this for the good of anybody.”

“I…” Hikari protested, “I did! I swear, I just wanted… I thought, after I killed him. May as well give it a shot to get out of here. And if I get caught, then people are safer, if I don’t, we’re on the outside again, it’s a win-win, right?”

“I can see no victory here,” Syoko said, “Even if you’re telling the truth about your motivation, you went about it entirely the wrong way. If you had asked us if we were threatened by Jun, for example, you would have realized that we would rather work with him to get through these issues than have him killed. It’s a loss all around.”

“Even _if_ he had previously killed somebody,” Ayano said, “These people were willing to help Itadai, if he’d lived. Part of this tragedy was the matter that he never could become his real self, that he couldn’t be saved. If we were willing to practice forgiveness with somebody who killed someone so recently, then of course we would do the same for Jun.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” Hikari asked, looking down at her feet with a pout as if she was just being called out for not cleaning her room, and not for taking a human life.

“It wouldn’t have mattered to you if you did. Because you’re lying,” Ayano said, “You had no good reason to do this. You killed Jun because you wanted to. And I do know you best, of anybody here. So I can expose you completely.”


	153. Trial 2: Cruel Conclusion

**[Ayano Ueda’s First Class Trial Closing Argument]**

The truth of this case starts at half past midnight last night. Jun had returned to the gift shop after speaking with Yosuke Oowada, to wait out some time before going back to his room, for two reasons. One was because he had been in an argument with his roommate and was dreading returning to the room where he was, and the other was because if he did go to sleep properly before two, he would experience his nightmare. Given that he had just been reminded of a version of himself that had been suppressed, he likely feared deeply what a nightmare motive would further reveal about that self. So he was in the gift shop.

The culprit, having had their own argument with me earlier in the evening, found themself unable to fall asleep with their unresolved feelings. Unfortunately, I had found myself under the impression that this issue _had_ been resolved, and was sleeping soundly and completely unaware when the culprit got up and left the room. They approached the gift shop with the intention of retrieving a snack, only to then run into the very intoxicated victim, Jun. Given that the culprit’s earlier argument was about exactly this topic, that tension was already running high.

The culprit probably started off trying to talk to Jun, though talk might be too civil a term. It’s more likely that they were insulting him, and started to get into a physical altercation. Jun was able to defend himself just enough to knock the culprit into an empty shelf, breaking it, but he was eventually not merely defeated, but subdued and restrained. He was tied to a heavier-duty shelf right there in the gift shop by the culprit, who likely continued to accuse him wildly before deciding that it was useless to try and get any answers out of him.

After determining that talking was pointless, the culprit realized that there was another way to get out their frustrations against Jun. I’m not even certain if the culprit actually intended to end this process with killing him, but I do know that they absolutely intended to cause him as much physical and emotional pain as they were able, with emphasis on the latter. First, they brought into action something that they’d been telling Jun ever since ‘Barasu’ became his surname; That he would one day go blind.

The culprit poured isopropyl alcohol into his eyes, at the very least injuring and temporarily blinding him. I do not know enough about medical things to say if this would have caused permanent blindness, but that isn’t pertinent. After causing this damage, the culprit proceeded to fill the rubbing alcohol bottle with water from the sink in the infirmary. While filling that bottle, the culprit hatched the next bit of their plan. They walked over to the drawers of medication and grabbed a few handfuls of assorted medicines. They also dumped the medications all over the floor to obscure their theft. At this point, the culprit’s intention is to hurt Jun then send him on his way without enough memory or enough proof to actually point to them as his tormentor.

They returned to the gift shop, dropped the rubbing alcohol back on its shelf haphazardly, and approached Jun again. The culprit forced all of the pills that they had grabbed down his throat, and this caused him to cough up blood. Likely the fault of the anticoagulants specifically. Seeing this, the culprit should have realized that it was time to stop, but their frustration was not yet resolved, so instead of accepting that it might be time to give up and hope for the best… As the pills themselves may have ended up killing Jun within the next few hours anyhow, but the culprit took it one step further and cemented themselves as the blackened for sure.

The culprit picked a bottle of whiskey of a type very dissimilar to the one that Jun usually drinks himself, different enough that he actually dislikes it. The culprit shoved the bottle down his throat as well, as much as they were able to, with the cap removed. Due to Jun’s already impaired state, and the amount of time that the culprit held the bottle there, he lost the ability to breathe and his cause of death became ‘suffocation’, as anything more detailed would reveal the murder weapon that the culprit went on to try hiding.

The culprit accomplished this attempt by taking another bottle of the same whiskey, partially filling the used bottle, then topping both off with water. Unfortunately for the culprit, it would have taken a bit more effort balancing out with several bottles to actually hide the usage of the initial bottle, due to the dark coloring of the alcohol itself that immediately tipped off the investigative team to the fact that this bottle had been tampered with. 

The culprit’s other attempts to cover up their murder were to stuff the rope they used into one of the infirmary’s medicine drawers, possibly on the hope that the pills all over the floor would warrant enough of a distraction that the drawers themselves wouldn’t be investigated. They also moved the body from the gift shop to the dorm lobby, putting their work on display… And perhaps attempting to obscure the actual crime scene? Cleaning up the broken shelf in some manner, or the blood on the floor, would have helped that more. This is because the culprit is a sloppy person who had no plan other than to cause as much harm as possible, and _maybe_ get away with it.

This is because the culprit is somebody who’s always had a desire for cruelty, though they’ve never attributed this desire to their own sense of self. A wish for somebody to be cruel on their behalf, but faced with a scenario in which they could attack somebody who they disliked, who they were already angry at, and have all the time in the world with which to cause that person suffering, their true colors showed through. Then, they took the part of their brain which fantasized about the cruelty of others and let it run wild, accusing _everybody_ else in the group in an attempt to obscure their own actions by pinning plausible, if exaggerated motivations onto anyone they could.

The girl who wished that she could have her very own yandere… Hikari Ruka is the culprit.


	154. Trial 2: Righteous Fury

“You… You really think that I’d be that needlessly cruel, Aya?” Hikari questioned, holding both arms in close to herself.

“As far as I can tell, you’ve been that needlessly cruel for a while now,” Syoko said, “You just never made it physical before now. I mean, do you think I’d forget the fact that you berated Jun for being friends with me, just because you arbitrarily disliked me yourself?”

“_Wow_, that’s your example for me being a mean person?” Hikari asked, “Okay, okay. I’ll bite, I’m way worse than that. But, you said it yourself, I never made it physical before! So really, would I have killed him just because I was mad at him? Maybe the way I killed him was because I was mad, but-”

“Nobody ever even _said_ you killed him cause you were mad at him!” Yume exclaimed, “You attacked him cause you were mad at him. Didn’t mean for him to die, you’re just too stupid to stop somewhere that makes any goddamn sense. Just had to keep going and fucking kill him! Even I know _where_ to stop. If I don’t, it’s cause I’m so mad I want the person dead. You didn’t. You’re just an idiot!”

“I’m not an _idiot!_” Hikari protested, reaching out to grab her podium, “I’m just… I just wasn’t satisfied! Is that what you want to hear, what you want me to say? I was enjoying myself and I just wanted to keep torturing him? Please, that’s ridiculous.”

“It’s the truth, though,” Ayano said, “You cannot say that you thought I’d know you well enough to love you, then turn around and say I don’t know you well enough to know exactly what you were thinking when you killed Jun.”

“Aya…” Hikari whined, “Why couldn’t you just accept what I said? Just confess that it was you, why’d you have to turn it back around? Why would you _do this to me_?”

“Why would I do this to you?” Ayano asked, “That’s rich. Come on, Hikari. Why would you do this to _me_?”

“I did this _for_ you!” Hikari shouted.

“You killed her best friend, Ruka,” Homura said, “I just don’t think you’re gonna win here!”

“I thought you agreed with me!” Hikari whirled on Homura. “Before I even talked to Ayano about it, I told you first! I told you what happened with Doromo, see? I did care! I was warning Jun’s roommate that he was a dangerous person, that’s what I was doing!”

“Sure, he mighta been dangerous.” Homura put his hands behind his head. “But I said it before, looks like I gotta say it again! I was totally prepared to get killed by Jun. The fact that he was dangerous didn’t change anything, I already thought he was gonna kill me. I mean, for all I know. If you didn’t kill him, he was gonna kill me _last night_. Doesn’t mean I’m glad he’s dead, though. I’m not. And doesn’t change the fact you did this for yourself, not for anybody else, especially not Ueda.”

“What do you know about why I did it!?” Hikari questioned, “I did it for _her_ I did it for _us_! I wanted us to both get out of here to both escape and it would have been fine we’d be happy. We would!”

“It’s tempting to think that way, ain’t it?” Yuji said, closing his eyes. “Very easy to let yourself think, all I need to do is get away with it, and then I can live a happy life with the person I love. Then it can be alright. But that’s a flaw in your thinking there, hon. If I killed someone just ‘to get us both out’, I swear Hiyoko would never forgive me. We wouldn’t be happy in the end.”

“Well sucks to be you, sorry your relationship is that fucking fragile,” Hikari said, “But I’m different! Me and Aya, we’re one and the same, we’ve already been together our entire lives and we could have spent the rest of them with each other too! Isn’t that right, Aya? You’d forgive me, eventually?”

“...I do not think so,” Ayano said, “Forgiveness is a virtue. But I believe you have sinned beyond that point. Even now, it is no simple forgiveness that you seek. You’re looking for validation, to be vindicated for what you did. You don’t want to change. You just want me to tell you it’s okay. And it isn’t.”

“Oh yeah? Is that so?” Hikari questioned, her voice suddenly much colder. “Fine, whatever. Why should I care, if I’m about to die anyway? Because I am. I’m going to _die_, very soon. If I’m going to Hell, that doesn’t bother me. I’ll see Jun there. Maybe I’ll be given the good fortune to finish what I fucking _started_!”

“Hikari!” Ayano yelled again. In this moment, their demeanors had completely flipped, the emotional and the emotionless. “Why would you say that, why would you say that!? He’s not going to be in Hell, he’s not! _Fuck_ you! Maybe if you killed him before, back then, sure, maybe! But he was trying, he really was trying, didn’t you hear what Yosuke _said_!? He didn’t want to mess things up, he didn’t want to make the same mistake, he was trying to be better and he was putting in the effort and he legitimately wanted to change! People like that don’t go to Hell! All you need is to sincerely want to better yourself and you’re fine, but you aren’t, you don’t even want that, it’s a bare minimum to save your soul and you won’t even do it! You’re going to rot in Hell _alone_ for this, Hikari!”

“Alone, huh?” Hikari asked, then smiled peacefully. “You’re wrong about that, Aya. I won’t be _alone_. I’ll finally get to meet the rest of my relatives. My father, mother, brother. My whole family’s already there, don’t you think? It’s time for me to go down in history, just like they did, as an irredeemable monster.”

“Down in history? No. I already told you,” Ayano choked out, harsh, practically spitting the words across the courtroom, “For something like this. I’ll remember you… But I’ll be just as _damned_ as you are, if I encourage anybody else to.”

Hikari was stunned speechless, and before she could recover, one of those grey and pink tentacles emerged from the darkness, wrapped around her head, and dragged her from the courtroom.


	155. Trial 2: An Execution of Damnation

**[Hikari Ruka’s Execution: FUTURE OF A DANGEROUS WOMAN]**

Hikari found herself stuck in the center of what seemed to be a spider’s web. Her wrists were held out to her sides, and her feet right next to each other in a straight line. Basically, she was being held in a T-Pose. The small of her back was also stuck to the web, but she was able to struggle a bit. Her knees and elbows could bend slightly, and her head had full range of motion. She realized very quickly that she wouldn’t be able to free her limbs at all, but she could have a look around.

Not that there was, initially, much to see. It was pretty dark in here, and she couldn’t see much past any of her limbs. There _could_ be spiders lurking in the darkness, sure, but she didn’t really think that would be the point of this execution. Spiders weren’t something that she disliked, and there was no real irony there, since she wasn’t exactly an entomologist or anything like that. She took a deep breath and waited for the execution to actually reveal itself.

Then, there _was_ light, streaming in from in front of her. Curtains had been drawn on a window, and sunlight was streaming into the room, glinting off the threads of the spiderweb and revealing that the room was _mostly_ empty aside from Hikari’s restraints. The wall behind her, which she couldn’t see herself, was plastered with a wallpaper of tarot cards, some of them flipped upside-down. Hikari probably could have interpreted some meaning between which of those were upright and which were reversed, but there wasn’t exactly time for that at this moment. The room didnt remain this empty for long, though.

From the ceiling, a glass ball fell, then stopped short of landing on the ground. As it rotated slightly in the sunlight, thin strings reflected it and revealed that was how the orb remained up. It had a slight purple tint to it, as did the light which filtered through it, illuminating a specific spot on the floor. Under the light, a spattering of blood suddenly became visible.

“Awwwwe, for me?” A sickly sweet voice sounded out. It evidently didn’t belong to any real person- It was just representative. There was a faint echo as it bounced around the mostly empty room, and no sooner had it faded out completely than another one of the crystal balls found itself in front of the window. This one was completely clear, and nothing happened at first when its filtered light hit the spiderweb. Only for a few moments, long enough for the next one to take its place, the web began to spark where the sunlight was focused in on it.

A small flame began to travel along the spiderweb from that spot, and Hikari made another attempt to struggle. As the web’s structural integrity began to be eroded by the fire, she was actually making a bit more progress. The crystal balls continued to descend, each one focusing a beam of light into the room, setting more flames along the web. One of them found itself aimed directly at Hikari, and she grimaced. Her sleeve was burned through, but it didn’t spread up her clothing, remaining in pace to blister the skin on that arm. She grit her teeth to sustain it, and continued her struggle, although moving that arm even just a bit was leading to a somewhat larger burn.

She didn’t want to just sit here and let herself burn, and though it took two more blisters aimed at her, the fire eventually ruined the structure of the web enough that she was able to pull her shackles away from the rest of the web. Silk remained around her wrists and ankles, but she fell to the floor. As soon as she landed, she found a spot where she could stand without light shining on her at all. The floor wasn’t flammable, at least, so she was safe from flames and only needed to worry about being directly burned. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the areas she could hide from blisters to grow more scarce, and even as she kept moving, her burns were increasing in size and number.

Even still, she didn’t give up on trying to avoid them, trying to put up a fight. She knew that this was going to end in her death, but that didn’t mean she had to sit and let it happen. Itadai had fought back, after all, so who would she be if she didn’t do the same?

Then, three crystal balls fell at once. Two of them angled the light to hit the wall directly behind her, and the other shot one directly between her eyes. She couldn’t see well enough to plan her movement, she could feel it heating up, then… None of that.

Each crystal ball that had fallen clear changed color in an instant, all purple. Where they landed, but for those last three, blood appeared again. One remained illuminating Hikari’s face, and the other two converged directly behind her head coloring an otherwise empty section of the wall. And her own voice sounded, though it certainly wasn’t her speaking in this moment. Her mouth was shut.

“I’m telling you, you need to stay away from her. You need to stop going to see her. Jun told me he keeps seeing you around there. She wouldn’t tell me because she doesn’t want to trouble you, but you need to stop. If I hear you’ve done it again… You don’t want to know what I’ll do.”

That phrase echoed about, and when it was finished, then came another. “You’re still fucking stalking her? You’re still up there asking for her work schedules. Jesus fucking christ. Hah. I can’t believe… The kinds of things you must have done to her, disgusting, why’d I ever let you near her to begin with? I told you. I warned you. So. I’ll ruin your life, I’ll make you regret being born. That is. Unless you go ahead and kill yourself, you worthless piece of shit. It might be better than what I’m going to do to you.”

A gunshot sounded out, and Hikari fell forward. It had been fired from the spot on the wall behind her. And as soon as it finished echoing, there was one last snippet of her own voice…

“Pathetic. Think a guy that tenacious about Aya would be willing to go through hell for her. Made things easy on me, though. Good riddance to bad rubbish!”


	156. Trial 2: Jun Shirogane's Monokuma Theater, A-Side

“Ohhh, Shirogane,” Torimi herself was the first to notice, the first time that Jun sat down in her husband’s bar. “What brings you round?”

Jun looked up from the drink list he’d been staring at, adjused his glasses, and forced an awkward smile. “Ah, well. I was just thinking, I’ve been legal for nearly a year, isn’t it about time that I actually tried my first drink?”

Torimi frowned. “Stressful daaay, huh?”

“What? No, no. It has nothing to do with stress!” Jun waved both hands in front of himself. “I just, I donno. Felt like it. Nothing to worry about. But I’m just not completely sure where to begin…”

“Totally lost, huh?” Another person sitting two stools down on Jun’s right asked. Jun looked over to see. He was a lanky, thin guy with close-cropped black hair and round glasses with lenses so thick his eyes were hardly visible. Enough of his face was visible to tell that he couldn’t be older than thirty, but was pretty close. Mature in facial features, if not in the rest. He looked like the very image of an ‘underweight’-type-otaku, but for the older pretty-boy looks obscured by those lenses. “Mind if I make a recommendation, then?”

“Oh! Uh, yes, please. I have no idea even what _sort_ of thing I might like…” Jun chuckled. “But don’t let the hair fool you or anything! I actually don’t care much for really sweet things, at least. I know I don’t want wine coolers.”

“Ahh, wine coolers.” The otaku laughed as well, and moved over one to sit next to Jun. “The chosen drink of prom queens everywhere. You don’t strike me as the prom queen type. I could probably pull it off, though. Why don’t you let me buy you a flight?”

“A… Flight?” Jun asked.

“It’s like a sample platter, but it’s for drinks, so it’s fancy. We can split ‘em. Harada!” He got the bartender’s attention. “Could we get, let’s see… Flight of beers, and a flight of whiskey over here? Your choice. Trying to see what this guy likes. What’s your name, guy?”

“I’m Jun Shirogane,” He said, “How much of my conversation did you overhear?”

“Just the last bit. So, I don’t know if it’s your eighteenth birthday or what, but I already made up my mind that you’ll be my drinking buddy this evening, so it doesn’t really matter to me. Could just tell it’s your first drink. You can call me Doromo.”

“Nowhere near a birthday. Well, my nineteenth is about three months off. This is my first drink, though. I’ve been playing it safe, but today, I just sort of decided… Fuck it. Doromo, huh? No first name?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” Doromo tapped his fingers on the counter. “Fuck it? Well. I did hear you say ‘nothing to do with stress’, but I’ll bet my oldest turtle that you were telling barkeep’s wife that because she knows your family, and it totally does have something to do with stress. You wanna tell me about it?”

“Ughhh.” Jun laced his fingers behind his neck. “It’s some complicated shit. You’re not gonna get police involved if I tell you something kind of sketchy, right?”

“Let me consult with my conscience for a… nope.” Doromo shook his head. “The right thing to do is not to do that because I do _not_ trust the police, not one bit. If they ever say I died of ‘natural causes’, check that shit out a bit extra, will you?”

“Me?” Jun asked, raising his eyebrows. “But we just met!”

“I get the feeling that you’re gonna stick around,” Doromo said, “Especially if you confide in me about the sketchy complicated shit. We’ll be really in it then, Shirogane.”

“It’s just… I’m running out of energy to deal with some of the stuff going on in. Not even my life! My friends’ lives. See, my best friend in the world. She’s like a sister to me, really, we’ve known each other forever. She just got out of a relationship that was kind of… It wasn’t great. But here’s the thing, we’re both working day shifts at this movie theater right now, and he keeps showing up. Always when she’s working. It… Yeah, it might not be that serious. I donno why it’s bothering me _so_ much. But it is and I just. That’s not the only thing, but it’s all I want to talk about with somebody I just met, you know? So. I guess I need to learn to take the edge off, or, quoth our manager. I will explode.”

“Movie theater?” Doromo asked, “Huh. I mean, Shirogane… Aren’t you supposed to be one of those Ultimate kids?”

“Heh, yeah. The friend I’m talking about is, too. But we’re both kind of biding our time till we get placement somewhere our talents can actually be useful. They’re not exactly impressive. I mean, mine’s ‘Ultimate Hall Monitor’. Theater ushering might be all that’s really good for.”

“Awe, I can think of a few other applications. But that’s not so important right now, is it?” Doromo shifted in his seat, and a second later, both flights were set down in front of them. “Gonna learn how to defuse you.”

“Defuse me, good one,” Jun said, and stared between the sets. They really were just small glasses of various alcohols, and that was the extent he could tell by looking at them. He really knew nothing about this stuff. “Uh. Where do I start?”

“With this one.” Doromo pushed the more intimidating set towards him first, glasses of amber in varying shades. “There’s a saying. Beer before liquor, never been sicker. Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear. It’s for hangovers. Technically, it’s nicer to drink beer first, so the liquor goes down easier, you’re already drunk. But you gotta be considerate to your tomorrow self.”

“Thanks for the advice.” Jun picked up one of the glasses, brought it to his lips, and took a sip. Then he screwed up his face and fought the urge to spit. He forced it down, then grimaced further. “Yikes, people like this stuff? Gross.”

“...Just gross?” Doromo asked, “Wow. That’s the mildest reaction I’ve ever seen from somebody not liking bourbon. You sure this is your first time drinking? You took it like a champ.”

“D-Doromo-san! Phrasing!” Jun chided him, his face turning pink.

“Awe. Delicate flower, are we?” Doromo asked, then reached out and took the glass from out of Jun’s hand and downed it in one smooth motion, then set the empty down. “Bourbon’s my favorite, so I’m in luck you didn’t like it. Go on and try another, trust me, they all taste pretty different. What most people don’t like about it is the burn, which you didn’t even flinch at.”

“It’s not any worse than mouthwash.” Jun shrugged, then reached for the next glass along the flight. “What’s this one?”

“That’s an Irish. Harada probably gave us a nicer one for a flight, but if you like it, you’ll wanna be ordering Jameson. Unless you’re making bank at the movie theater.”

“I’m not, but I don’t really spend on much,” Jun said. Dome City’s economy, after all, was on a ‘luxury items capitalism’ sort of system. Everybody would be provided for, but it did take labor to get nice things, and alcohol of all sorts was considered a ‘nice thing’. “It’s not like I’m going to be drinking too often, or anything, so it might be worth it to splurge…”

“Sure, but you gotta consider the circumstances,” Doromo said, then… giggled. It was actually kind of cute, Jun thought. “If you’re trying to have a cool, sophisticated time, sure. Get something higher-end. But if all you want to do is drink, booze is booze, and mid-quality still hits the taste shelf. Now, go on and try it, dweeb.”

Jun scrunched up his nose and took a sip of this one… Only to be pleasantly surprised. The flavor he deemed ‘gross’ in the last one actually lacked in this one, or was overcome by the other flavors at least, enough so that he actually… Huh. “I think I like this one?”

“Oh, I thought you might. You struck me as the sort of guy who catches people off guard that way,” Doromo said, “I mean. A guy as cute as you, someone might _assume_ you like light beers or girly cocktails. Speaking of which, Shinoe?" Doromo caught her as she walked by. "Could I also hit you up for a Fuzzy Navel? Thankyouuuu.”

“That the kind of drink you like?” Jun asked. Doromo nodded, so that gave Jun the chance to process what else he’d said. “Wait, you think I’m cute?”

“Very. Especially those freckles, they look like constellations~”

“Oh! Yes, that’s probably why I have them,” Jun said, taking a second to look at the backs of his own hands. “Er, that came out weird. I’m actually a replicant? I’ve got three parents and they all wanted me to look like them. So I got my pink hair from my mom, and the red tips from my dad. And my eyes from my mum, and, constellation freckles probably because they all like to stargaze together.”

“And your eyesight?” Doromo asked.

“That’s mum, too. It’s a low prescription, though. I only really need them to read at a distance, so I wear them for work,” Jun said, “It’s not even bad enough that I legally have to wear them driving.”

“You didn’t drive _here_, did you?” Doromo asked.

“No, no. I walked from work. I can stay at a friend near here’s overnight.” Jun waved it off. “Trust me, I wouldn’t even begin to risk it…”

“You _could_ stay at a friend’s,” Doromo said, “Or you could stay at mine.”

“I! Um!” Jun sputtered, “I mean! Well uh-”

“I’m not expecting anything of you because I bought you drinks, or anything,” Doromo said, “Don’t feel pressured or anything. If you didn’t have a friend in the area, I’d offer you cash for a cab if you didn’t wanna come back with me.”

“I’m…” Jun took another sip of his drink. “Very flattered, Doromo-san, but. You haven’t even told me your first name, and you’re not the type of guy that I _usually_ like that way and-”

“You’re in luck, then.” Doromo turned both of their seats a bit, effectively obscuring them from most view. “I normally don’t tell people this till I’ve known them a bit longer, but I think that I can trust you. I’m not quite ready to introduce myself to the world at large, is all. I’m well on my way to _not_ being a guy.” She removed her glasses and blinked at him. “Till then, I’m keeping my hair short to not raise suspicions. But I’ve got a wig at home. My first name’s _Koyuki_.”

And Koyuki Doromo was probably, Jun suddenly felt, the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.


	157. Trial 2: Jun Shirogane's Monokuma Theater B-Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art this chapter is a commission from sonslum@gmail.com

Jun and Koyuki’s relationship was secret.

That wasn’t to say that the relationship was a complete secret as a baseline. Jun and Doromo’s relationship was not a secret by any means, their respective friends were aware that they were dating. It was Koyuki herself who remained a secret, one that was kept within the walls of her basement apartment where Jun began spending several of his evenings. As far as his parents were concerned, it was about time he had a serious relationship like this one, even if it was a bit quick for him to be spending so much time at her place just a few months in. Doromo even came over for Jun’s nineteenth birthday dinner. He was spending a bit less time with his other friends, but that was alright. Except for Hikari and Ayano, they were mostly still in high school, so scheduling things with them had been a bit of a hassle anyhow.

Koyuki had explained to him in a bit more detail her current situation. She’d been taking estrogen for about half a year when Jun met her, but she was still able to keep it under wraps. The reason she was keeping it under wraps was because of her job- She was in a relatively dead-end data entry job with no prospects, but it was good enough to maintain her current lifestyle, and she was concerned that her boss wouldn’t understand if she came out. Not to mention her friends, who already teased her enough for liking guys. It was generally just an unpleasant situation that she’d eventually sort out, but until then, there was alcohol.

Jun may have been keeping one other relationship secret too, though it wasn’t a romantic one. It was the relationship that he had, over these past few months, ended up developing with alcohol. He didn’t even realize it much at first, of course, it was _casual_. Koyuki was usually drinking, and every time she got one for herself, she offered one to him as well. He wasn’t sure where along the line, he started pouring his own drinks. He wasn’t sure where along the line he started combating hangovers by just having a drink again. He really wasn’t sure, at what point, it started to become a problem.

He did know when he started to wonder if it was a problem, but by that point, he didn’t really care to change it. It was a problem shared between him and Koyuki, after all, and he wasn’t sure what to do with that. If he made an effort to get sober, what would that mean for them? Would she follow suit, or not? Would their relationship fall apart because it was built on drinking together, and suddenly they wouldn’t be sure how to fill their time together if one of them wasn’t even supposed to be around booze at all?

Maybe if somebody had sat Jun down and told him that there were options other than the 12-step-program which sounded so alienating, then maybe he would have started to sincerely self-examine. As it was, he started to think he might have a problem, led himself into the aforementioned anxieties, then drowned the lot of them in another glass. This had gone on for a while, he wouldn’t deny it really. If somebody asked him if he thought that he drank too much, he went ahead and admitted that he probably did.

But none of his friends really understood what was going on his head, and any concerns they expressed could find no meaningful followup. Syoko had said that she felt like they were losing him, but what did that mean to him anyway? He was still alive, and that was the part that mattered. He was alive and he was, more often than not, happy. He didn’t hold this problem in misery- He held it because he was content in his current life, it was better than it had been before he started drinking, and maybe there was no correlation but that didn’t change the fact that it was a form of positive feedback.

The only thing that even led to Jun considering the possibility that he should stop… Wasn’t the act or the problem itself. Why fix something that was, maybe objectively an issue, but didn’t have a negative impact on his life? From where he stood, it gave him confidence and helped him through the day, and he functioned well enough (when he was just buzzed) that his work performance had actually _improved_. The benefit of Koyuki living in walking distance of both the movie theater and the bar. What had Jun consider, for those brief moments, that he should try to stop?

Every so often, he would do things. It wasn’t like the alcohol was making him reckless and he did things to hurt people, rather, from time to time it felt almost as if he was a passenger in his own body. This had never happened when he was sober, and he only ever did innocuous things, but it was still disconcerting. It was an unpleasant feeling, like he wasn’t in charge of himself. But not unpleasant enough to encourage him to change, it seemed. Not so much.

Till that night.

It was a few days after New Year’s, the first weekend of the year 2127. This was when Dome City decided to hold its festival to celebrate this fact, rather than the Wednesday that the year actually changed over on, so that more people would have the opportunity to attend. Jun had gone with Koyuki, or more accurately, had gone with Doromo. He wore a men’s yukata himself, but Koyuki wore regular clothes- She would get the chance to wear her yukata when they got tired of the festival and decided to go home and watch anime instead. She’d worn it plenty of times before, mostly to indulge Jun. When she dressed up that way, she really was his dream girl. A yamato nadeshiko who was also able to be… Let’s say ‘assertive’. He couldn’t really be blamed for wanting to do anything to hold onto her.

And tired of the festival was what the both of them were, at this point. They’d had a nice time, some festival food, some drinks, and the fireworks had already gone off. Plenty of people still wanted to stick around and see all that it had to offer, but Jun and Koyuki had hit the point of ‘I’d rather be in the basement’ at just about the same moment, and didn’t hesitate to make their way back.

For the following information, it’s important to understand that Koyuki’s building only had the one basement apartment. There was a small stoop outside, with her door that only her key opened. This went directly into stairs down into her living room. Weather in Dome City wasn’t much different from Earth, excluding that snow tended never to begin till at minimum January, usually a bit later, and ended in April. Timekeeping still matched up well enough to that planet, apparently, that nobody thought it worthwhile to adjust a calendar to the seasons presented here.

It had been raining the days leading up to the festival, and it had been a relief that the skies were clear tonight. Most of the ground had remained moist, though, and as the evening wore on some of that was turning to ice. There was ice on Koyuki’s stoop; And both of them were certainly drunk. This is to say that it was reasonable to understand that the police ruled it an ‘obvious accident’. But Jun, and some others, would see through that.

The minute Koyuki had her door open, Jun felt like he wasn’t himself anymore. He wasn’t the one who walked to follow her downstairs, but he was. It seemed like he was. Anyone would believe that he was, but he had no control, he couldn’t feel his body and he wasn’t telling it to do anything. He was an onlooker, shutting the door behind himself, joining Koyuki in the living room. An onlooker, grabbing her by the wrist and twisting her arm. An onlooker who dragged her down enough to lock an elbow around her throat. An onlooker who, with precision as if he’d done it a million times before, twisted in just the right way. It wasn’t an instant, like in a movie, but a strain and about thirty seconds of pained noises. An onlooker who dropped her body at the foot of the stairs. Who grabbed one of her legs and stomped on it, snapping the bone. Who staged the scene as if.

She fell.

And then it was him again. Jun was back in his body and he fell to his knees and fell over and sobbed into her chest for five minutes before he could do anything else at all. Jun who pulled his phone out and called Ayano and cried incomprehensibly at her until she and Hikari agreed to come see what the problem was. It was Ayano who called the police as Hikari insensitively wondered if they even needed to.

It was Jun who felt the weight of those suspicions, and Jun who knew it was no accident. He… somehow he had killed her. It was his hands which did it, anyway. But did he really? Did he?

And that was just the beginning of the end of Jun Shirogane, but that’s not really _his_ story anyway. For somebody as basic as him, his downfall is just part of something… 

More interesting.


	158. Trial 2: Hikari Ruka's Monokuma Theater

Hikari knew that she had tunnel vision.

When Ayano had a bad relationship, that was all that she focused on. She didn’t know the reason that Ayano had finally decided to break up with the guy, and she didn’t really care. If she bothered to find that out, then maybe she wouldn’t have turned against Jun the first chance that she got.

And the first chance that she got really was when Doromo died. He was a blubbering mess, but he wasn’t fooling her. She was well-accustomed to crocodile tears herself, and in some way, she thought that the police would have to see through it too. The last gesture of goodwill that Hikari ever made to Jun was asking if calling the police was actually necessary. Because at least a little, she could sympathize with him, back then. But then he lied to her face and said that it wasn’t murder, and she decided that she just didn’t care anymore.

Somebody that heartless, she hardly even wanted to let him around Ayano anymore. But Ayano bought it a hundred percent, and got upset with Hikari anytime she tried to convince her otherwise. Said that Hikari was just being rude, and the three of them were best friends and always would be and she didn’t understand why she was trying to ruin that. Ayano never saw the worst in people.

Even when the worst was all, Hikari thought, those people were. Like Ayano’s recent boyfriend. Hikari’s tunnel vision was all she had when it came to that guy- She didn’t trust him from the beginning, and wasn’t surprised at all to find that he had been behaving cruelly behind closed doors. But she didn’t know why Ayano took the step to break up with him- She did know that he continued showing up at her job after that, though.

It was only a couple of weeks after Jun and Doromo got together, that Hikari made her first threat to that guy. Two more weeks when he hadn’t stopped, she made her promise that she would ruin his life. She was, in part, bluffing. She could make him suffer, but nothing that would echo for years to come the way she’d wish it would. He seemed to think that she would, though. Perhaps if she had allowed her periphery to function, she would have been able to understand why her bluff was so effective. He thought that her periphery functioned, that she knew more about him than she did. That she knew enough about his misdeeds to get him jailed, or at least turned him into a pariah for years to come.

He would rather die than face up to what he’d done, not to Ayano, but to somebody else. His actions toward Ayano weren’t good, but they were the kind of thing he could recover from with dodgey answers and platitudes. There was more to the story, but Hikari was completely unaware of that. And she didn’t even know english well enough to have heard anything from anyone else in that man’s life; But again, he was unaware that she was unaware.

There was more to a lot of this. Hikari and her friends had lived complicated lives, after all. Hikari and all of her friends, though this was the last day that she would be able to even have _that_ level of periphery. After all, what had just happened…

“We can completely erase the fact this ever happened,” The doctor, who was nobody of importance, had told her. It was only Hashi’s responsibility to handle erasing this event, and everything that led up to it, from _Jun_. Other people wanted to cover it up for everybody else. “It doesn’t need to have happened. You kids can all forget about it, and the victim is going to be okay, thanks to being part of a clinical trial. So it doesn’t need to be something that happened at all.”

“What if it should be something that happened?” Hikari asked, “You do know. After this, doesn’t it seem a lot more likely that Shirogane killed Doromo too?”

“Nobody’s been ‘killed’,” The doctor said, “This incident could cause lasting damage to all of your mental and emotional states, but if we clear it, it’s better for everyone. Trust me. The point of prison is rehabilitation anyhow, so what Hashi’s doing to Shirogane should serve the same purpose. She’ll make sure this never happens again.”

“If you say so,” Hikari said.

“We’ve been asking all of your friends this same question. Do you want to remember being friends with Jun ‘Barasu’, after we fix this? I imagine based on what you said that you wouldn’t, but…”

“I mean. What did Aya… What did Ayano Ueda answer?”

“She said that she wants to still be his friend.”

“Then I want to remember that much, too. I wanna stick around with Aya,” Hikari said, “Even if I don’t remember that he’s dangerous, if I’m there. I can keep her safe if something goes wrong again. That’s what I want to do.”

“Okay,” The doctor said, “In that case, I’ll give you a rundown of what’s going to happen with your memories. You won’t recall Shirogane’s potential involvement in Doromo’s death; We’re wiping that completely from his mind, so as far as you’ll be concerned, you and Ueda found the body by chance, alone. You will also completely forget about this most recent incident. You will not remember the victim at all. Between those of you who do and do not wish to remember being friends with ‘Barasu’ will be split. You’ll keep your memories of anyone on your side of the split, sans anything directly related to this incident. The opposite side will become ‘acquaintances’ for you. You will remember they exist, but not that you were ever friends. Is this agreeable to you?”

“I can’t really say ‘agreeable’,” Hikari said, “But I don’t have much wiggle room with this, do I?”

“I’m afraid not,” The doctor said, “I’m sorry. But you do understand, right? Something like this happening… And this isn’t permanent, either. You’re going to be given the option to remember once we actually find out what happened, there might be more to it than ‘Shirogane just suddenly attacked the victim’. Hashi thinks so. It’s just… To keep things quiet so we can think.”

“And this won’t hurt or anything?” Hikari asked.

“No. It might even wear off without our input, we’re keeping it completely on the safe side. We know up to which frequencies are a hundred percent harmless, and we’re only using a small factor even of that level,” The doctor said, “We don’t want to hurt anybody, we just want to avoid you kids trying to process this while it’s still an open investigation. Of course, we’ll be able to study your memories of the incident too, thanks to this process. It’s a win-win. You get to avoid some trauma, we get to investigate without an uproar, and you can either be happy in ignorance or remember down the line.”

“...I mean, who am I to say that doesn’t weigh out?” Hikari muttered. She had kind of driven a man to kill himself before- She couldn’t object to somebody else leveraging the concept of lesser evil.

And so, Hikari’s life once more began to imitate ‘normal’. With her best friends. Ayano Ueda and Jun Barasu. It would remain that way, until she remembered. Until her tunnel vision reared its head again and, to the exclusion of anything else, she would make one more suspicious person suffer.


	159. Trial 2: Escape The Courtroom

Rei had covered their eyes while Hikari was being executed. They didn’t actually want to see that. They had wanted to leave midway through the trial, and even though they’d ended up putting their talents to use, that didn’t change. “It’s… Over, right?”

“Mm,” Hiyoko said, “It’s over. The screens have retracted and everything. That… Is that something which really happened? Did Ruka really, before this game…”

“We didn’t even think to doubt that what Itadai’s execution said really happened,” Shin said, “But I can see no reason to doubt these things. It only makes sense in a game like this that our actual worst secrets would be put on display in our final moments.”

“It’s a fitting punishment,” Homura said, “I think it will continue to be a fitting punishment, now.”

“I don’t know what thaaaat’s supposed to mean,” Tooru said, then looked to Rei. “Now that the execution is finished, do you think that you can escape, Kaguyaaa?”

“I… Let’s see.” Rei got to their feet, a bit wobbly. “Replicant?”

And nothing happened. They brought their arms around themself and bit their lip. Saya walked over and put a hand on their shoulder. “Is it possible that your accomplice simply isn’t paying attention?”

“No, that can’t be it, she… I’m sure that they're trying to get me out, but, Mercury must have. Because I hacked the network like that, Mercury must have figured out how to. Block me, or, I don’t know, I-” Rei held themself even tighter, gone from wobbling to full-on trembling now. “I need to… I can’t just stay here!”

“Don’t worry,” Mercury’s voice filled the courtroom. “You _won’t_.”

Rei reacted in a split seconds, moving their arms so that their hands were protecting their neck instead, tucked under their scarf. (Weren’t they also wearing a necklace earlier?) Was that instinctual, or something else? Nobody watching could really tell, but could tell that they were smart to do that, as in the instant that they moved their hands, several of those grey and pink tendrils had emerged from the shadows of the courtroom.

“Do you really think I’d let you out…” Mercury continued, and the tentacles wrapped around Rei, lifting them into the air. “_Kaguya_?”

Rei tried to pull their knees up into themself, to be the most turtled target that they could be. “W-What are you gonna do to me?”

“While I’d really, really _love_ to keep you around long enough to make you fucking miserable,” Mercury said, “I know that if I did that, the traitor who helped you get here would find a way to get you out. So I guess I’ll just have to kill you right here and now, if I want you dead! Which, oh, I do. Two Kaguyas I get to destroy, that’s a _real_ treat!”

“H-Hey now, I, would really prefer if you didnt do that!” Rei strugged, keeping their arms in close to themself. It was obvious that they had thought well to defend against the tentacles in that one moment they had to make a decision, because not one, but two of them were squeezed tight around their neck. If they hadn’t brought their hands up, they would already be choking. As it was, it wasn’t like they looked comfortable.

“Guess you knew what I was thinking,” Mercury said, “I don’t really blame you, for trying to protect yourself that way. But just because I can’t just crush you directly, doesn’t mean that I can’t keep you from breathing… You came to interfere with a suffocation murder, so isn’t it sensible if you go out that same way?”

“What are yo- mmph!” Rei’s mouth was covered with one more tendril, and their nostrils pressed against their face by another. Their eyes were wide and evidently, they were terrified.

“Mercury, what are you doing!?” Mono questioned, standing up on their throne, “The rules say… Rulebreaking is punished with a quick and painless death, that’s what it’s supposed to be! They’re barely even supposed to realize that they’re being killed!”

“Kaguyas are exceptions to the rule!” Mercury snapped, and so did a bone. One of Rei’s, as one of her tentacles had managed to wrap around their ankle and tug it in just the wrong direction despite their attempts to avoid exactly that. They tried to scream. “Oh yeah, keep doing that, keep using whatever air you’ve got left! Maybe then you’ll begin to understand, even a little bit, how I feel! How your fucking mother made me feel! I hate the lot of you, all of you, _I can’t fucking stand your stupid faces and you’re just lucky I need to kill you **this** quick!_”

Rei squeezed their eyes shut and kept trying to move against the tentacles, though they were being thoroughly pressured on all sides. Yume, Homura, and Irarako had all walked up to try and beat the tendrils off of them, but their blows seemed to do nothing at all. After Homura pulled… A knife, who knows where he got it, another tendril knocked it from his hand before pressing against his windpipe as well, pinning him to the wall. There wasn’t enough pressure there that Mercury was actually trying to kill him too, but it didn’t look comfortable.

Yosuke grit his teeth against the tears he hadn’t been able to hold back any longer during the execution, only exacerbated by the current situation, and vaulted his podium as well to approach the tentacles. He made as if he was going to fruitlessly punch them just as Yume and Irarako continued to do, but swiped his scissors from the pocket of his lab coat, keeping all but the tip concealed in his hand as he brought them up to jab at the tentacle which covered Rei’s mouth.

“You little shits, after all the mercies I’ve granted you!” Mercury hissed, that tentacle having recoiled at the pain. Yosuke dodged it as it lashed out his way and put the scissors back in his pocket. She seemed to give up on punishing his insolence and brought the tentacle back towards Rei, but…

“Please!” Rei had been able to gasp air and shout again while their mouth was uncovered, “Get me out of here! If you can get at it, the League of Legends folder on my laptop has more security co-ahug!” They were trapped again, but they pulled off their message which would, hopefully, reach whoever their accomplice was.

Yosuke imagined that Rei didn’t want to grant that person access to the security codes beyond what would have previously been necessary to get them out, that they didn’t quite trust their accomplice, but this was a dire situation. He turned instead to Homura and managed to push the tentacle off of him- He wouldn’t be able to surprise Mercury like that again, so he tried to help somebody else. Homura coughed as he tried to breathe once freed, and looked up at Rei. They were now crying _nearly_ as much as Yosuke, because he was an admittedly excessive crier, and not trying to physically struggle any longer.

But then- 

They vanished.

\---

Rei gasped in the biggest breath of air that they could, then immediately had that knocked out of them as they crashed against the wall. Take a minute. Deep breaths. Sit up. They were alive. They got out of their alive, at the last second. They needed to… They needed to refresh the security on their laptop so that Speak couldn’t get their fingers too deep into it. They got their lungs working again, then got to it.

It was up to Sara now, to help him.

“Please… make it out of there…” Rei muttered to themself, “Don’t let her destroy you, Onii-chan.”


	160. Case 2: End

And besides this chapter endcap, here's a bonus of semi-interpreted conversations from chapter 128. There's definitely still information missing, lines which never made it in, but as far as what was presented within chapter 128 here's what belonged to who.

Hiyoko and Yuji

Hiyoko: “You really don’t remember, do you?”

Yuji: “I wish I could remember, I’ve been worried about it for a while, honestly.”

Hiyoko: “It’s dangerous to keep this up, you know. Pretending like it never happened. You must remember, you’ve always been smarter than me.”

Yuji: “If I remembered it, what if I just didn’t care?”

Hiyoko: “You cared the first time, I don’t know why you wouldn’t care again now. Why you wouldn’t just hate me all over.”

Yuji: “It’s my job to keep you safe.”

Hiyoko: “However much you want to keep me safe it doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t want to anymore if you remembered. The last time you knew the truth you didn’t want to anymore.”

Yuji: “I don’t know… Please, can you just explain what you’re talking about?”

Hiyoko: “If I tell you, then you’ll leave me. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want you to know, again. You’ll just blame me like everybody else always did. Like even you did, back then.”

Yuji: “I can’t imagine that I’d do anything like that, d-”

Hiyoko: “It doesn’t change the fact that you did it, after all.”

Hiyoko: “Of course you wouldn’t remember at this point, of course not, of course. After everything that’s happened. You’d block it all out.”

Hiyoko: “I’m worried if I tell you what you’ve forgotten, you’ll kill me. You may as well kill me right now!”

Yuji: “I don’t want to.”

Hiyoko: “I was ready to die tonight. I’m already ready to die. Just go ahead and kill me, I know that you want to.”

Yuji: “Maybe I do know that. Maybe I’m aware of it, deep down, but I’ve decided to be different this time, maybe I just want to live my life.”

Yuji: “I can’t believe you think that I’d ever hurt you, no matter what you told me, is that what you really think of me?”

Hiyoko: “It’s what I really think of everybody.”

Hiyoko: “Everyone I ever thought I could trust ended up hurting me and saying it was all my fault, how am I supposed to expect anything else from anybody? Even you?”

Hiyoko: “I’ve been ready to die and a part of me wants to.”

Hiyoko: “I thought for sure, you’re going to kill me. Tomorrow morning…

Hiyoko: “I’ll be dead.”

Yuji: “I can’t understand that, I really… I can’t. I’d never want to hurt you. You need to know that.”

Yuji: “Let’s just get some rest. In the morning, maybe we can talk about this with clearer minds and get this sorted out.”

Yuji: “I just want you to know…”

Yuji: “I love you.”

\-----  
Homura and Jun

Homura: “You really don’t remember, do you?”

Jun: “I don’t know what you’re talking about, at all.”

Homura: “What you did.”

Homura: “She’s dead.” 

Homura: “And it’s all your fault.”

Homura: “So do you really want to remember something like that?”

Jun:“I don’t care how awful it is, I want to know what happened. Of course I want to know. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you sure aren’t protecting me.”

Homura: ‘“From the truth?”

Homura: “You think you can just keep going like nothing is wrong, like we aren’t all telling you that you’ve got a problem? Blocking us out and anything we might tell you? Do you really want a repeat of what happened back then? Do you want everything to come to a head again?”

Homura: “You killed her.”

Jun: “I killed her?” 

Homura: “I told you that you didn’t want to know.”

Jun: “I can’t imagine that I’d do anything like that, d-”

Homura: “It doesn’t change the fact that you did it, after all.”

Homura: “Just because you want to pretend doesn’t change a thing.”

Jun: “I don’t… I wouldn’t say that I’m pretending, I honestly don’t know what you’re saying.”

Homura: “Of course you wouldn’t remember at this point, of course not, of course. After everything that’s happened. You’d block it all out.”

Jun: “I just want to keep being friends. I don’t care what you think happened…”

Jun: “I don’t want anything to change.”

Homura: “I thought for sure you’d kill me when I told you this.”

Jun: “I don’t want to.”

Homura: “I think it’s ridiculous that you won’t just accept that maybe, what you think you know is just wrong. That you aren’t just this innocent who could never hurt somebody.”

Jun: “Maybe I do know that. Maybe I’m aware of it, deep down, but I’ve decided to be different this time, maybe I just want to live my life.”

Jun: “I can’t believe you think that I’d ever hurt you, no matter what you told me, is that what you really think of me?”

Homura: “It’s what I really think of everybody.”

Homura: “I’ve never been able to trust anyone, really, and especially not you.”

Homura: “I don’t want to die but I can’t see how I’m still alive.”

Homura: “I thought for sure, you’re going to kill me. Tomorrow morning…

Homura: “I’ll be dead.”

Homura: “I hope that you can understand why, now.”

Homura: “I’ve been scared of you since we got here.”

Jun: “I can understand that. Well, don’t worry, then.”

Jun: “I’ll leave you alone and get out of your hair right away.”

Jun: “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Jun: “I need a drink.”

\----  
Hikari and Ayano

Hikari: “You really don’t remember, do you?”

Ayano: “I don’t think it matters what I remember.”

Hikari: “I realized it today, what I was missing…”

Hikari: “What he did.” 

Hikari: “It’s dangerous to keep this up, you know. Pretending like it never happened. You must remember, you’ve always been smarter than me.”

Ayano: “If I remembered it, what if I just didn’t care?”

Hikari: “All you need to do is look in the trash can and you’ll understand what’s been going on this entire time.”

Hikari: “Do you want to just sit by and watch, really?”

Ayano: “It doesn’t matter what I want, he’s going to ignore it. He doesn’t want to face reality, and I can’t begrudge him that. Reality is really awful.”

Hikari: “The last time he didn’t face reality-”

Ayano: “He didn’t kill him.” 

Hikari: “I told you that you didn’t want to know.”

Hikari: “Just because you want to pretend doesn’t change a thing.”

Ayano: “I just want to keep being friends. I don’t care what you think happened…”

Ayano: “I don’t want anything to change.”

Ayano: “What if we all just stopped trying so hard?”

Hikari: “That’s ridiculous. We’ve fought so long to stay alive, why would you throw that all away now?”

Hikari: “It isn’t any different now than it was back then. You saw what happened at the party. I remember everything now and I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Hikari: “You don’t want to know what happened when we were younger.”

Ayano: “Why are we alive if not to forgive him?”

Hikari: “Maybe that’s why you’re alive but it’s not why I’m alive. I’d never live for that.”

Hikari: “Someone will be dead.”

Hikari: “I just want you to know…”

Hikari: “I love you.”

\----  
Evie and Snow

Snow: “You really don’t remember, do you?”

Evie: “Of course I don’t remember. It’s your fault that I don’t.”

Evie: “I realized it today, what I was missing…”

Evie: “What he did.” 

Snow: “They’re dead.” 

Snow: “So do you really want to remember something like that?”

Evie: “I don’t care how awful it is, I want to know what happened. Of course I want to know. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you sure aren’t protecting me.”

Evie: “From anyone.”

Evie: “I killed them?”

Snow: “I told you that you didn’t want to know.”

Snow: “It’s my job to keep you safe.”

Snow: “Of course you wouldn’t remember at this point, of course not, of course. After everything that’s happened. You’d block it all out.”

Evie: “I don’t want to.”

Snow: “What if we all just stopped trying so hard?”

Evie: “What if we just hurled ourselves into the sea?”

Snow: “That’s ridiculous. We’ve fought so long to stay alive, why would you throw that all away now?”

Snow: “I’m trying to help you live a normal life! Without me, you’d have never lived this long at all!”

Snow: “You don’t want to know what happened when we were younger.”

Snow: “What happened to them, what happened to me, to all of us. But them most of all. If you knew it, then…”

Snow: “Knowing the truth would make you wonder why you’re alive.”

Evie: “I don’t think that’s true, really. I’m stronger than you think.”

Snow: “I’ll leave you alone and get out of your hair right away.”

Snow: “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Evie: “Let’s just get some rest. In the morning, maybe we can talk about this with clearer minds and get this sorted out.”


	161. Funney Jokes 1: a diner on the horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Composed using botnik writer

[THIS IS A NON-CANON CHAPTER ORIGINALLY POSTED AN APRIL FOOL'S DAY AS A JOKE]

Jun asked a bit confused folks or something.. " hikari ruka means that i'm older than most of you guys " 

nageko the ultimate parents had never been kidnapped from her eyes. She was absolutely everything in the game rules so i figured it would be rude cis nonsense. 

But not necessarily tiny dude boy answered for me. 

Management management of course you are normie … " homura sighed " well that 's just plain standards which sucks regularly … " 

history the door immediately gave yuji the same experience baby " i'm not interested in your suffering will feed yourself "

ohhh you don't believe us. That was blinding. Ahh … but it makes sense to be a dick and a dedicated person. Is that why you're such a vampire or human symbiote? After all the same pear i mean that we fixed up a finger royale. Otaku men are confused enough by natural desire to return a girl like that. 

" what 's the most surprising part of the killing game thing … it 's probably not even a television " syoko said something that made him really wanna die. " oh … i'm baby " 

whoa text " ayano asked really is a lost art " well i sure don't know what it means when i can understand everything now that does not count yet silly " 

laptop the door neighbors of course … well that 's just five more people … do you think you could find your girlfriend 's boyfriend jun? Father broke him in the dust again … that 's fine. It 's bad. It 's not like i was friends with everyone in our general age range back home being the best at everything. Mercury 's voice was just another manifestation of her eyes of the design. I mean a robot bara boyfriend dreams for the sake of science. 

shin was currently assembling what appeared to be a diner on the horizon. " that seems correct by the sound of his face for the next person. "

well … i did do stuff though … i hope that she deserves all the answers that i don't know. itadai 's my name also i panicked because i'm a pretty girl … but not now i'm going to kill my own feminity and then you. 

What was a large serving of one meal which was fully vegan premade of course. Jun barasu had never been happy to be a leader of them. He was incredibly unsafe to be around for eligible people who are sixteen years old. Hikari complained because she didn't have any other option. It 's not legitimate flirting unless it is haunting the rest of the dishes. 

" homura said some nonsense in a very frightening criminal act. " i guess that means there 's one thing you're not even going to begin to try and reach. It 's kind of funny to be a little bitch … " irarako crossed her arms and stuck her nose up in a place like this because i'm the best at least. 

" yeah right to make her in my eyes at it doesn't work unless somebody comes outta me … " irarako said something that'd be worse if you put it up on my feet. Sometimes people are dead even though they looked refined ~too~. 

Barasu " oh good grief in the morning rose … " whoa there 's no mystery. 

nanjo mirai: a killing does happen back to the cheese barons who'll buy people who are from earth 

wait the other hand as well enjoy it. That way you know that we're roommates. Lactose intolerant tooru said that ultimates practically lived in service of the killing game. But it 's not that i wanna commit murders before the other two beds free. He didn't even give a shit about the nature of the woman who claimed to have a nice time. 

evie snow 's language is a battlefield of those misconceptions and you are both men … no offense. That it seemed like you've got siblings with all the bodies to get along with kirara. I mean a little bit of co is a pretty good distraction from the uk. He 's a legend and i am seventeen dads inside this box hako vanished at the same time … pwease don't hold it against homura 's ears … but it probably didn't matter though syoko was a woman who claimed to be a genius like myself. 

Yes the other mirai twins departed over and ducked under a faulty outlook that isn't co so i don't know what today 's date really is … i hope 's a very specific lesbians in our neighborhood talk like that again … 

jun to be a miserable mortal " that makes me feel bad "

“nageko and i are natural allies and you are a stupid harlot … " evie frowned " oh yes it looks bad for you two ~straaangers~. " 

" fuck outta table " yume burst out of the corner of the room. " i'm gonna go ahead and do you. " 

why the other two anyhow? The time being known as a really frog chapter. After the trio rounded the corner of the room on a boat. 

Yes 's a very roundabout way of saying it 's possible " you think i'm brave enough that i exist. Maybe he just kicked those things. Yuji fiddled with his dogtags and that was exactly what syoko asked of him. Because you're weird to think that sounds dirty … but not quite unsettling. Congratulations everywhere and you're dressed like a four year old. 

Jun had been expecting him to sit down here … on his side. Men are confused. That 's true or not really what i meant- colloquially known as a boys. Yuji sato: egg intolerant 's not permitted to be in somebody else 's face. He was tall enough to be considered a character …  
wait a little bit longer to accept that she 's gone again because you are a stupid useless meaningless little salt. What the fuck does that even mean to me … just be a bear. 

[THIS IS A NON-CANON CHAPTER ORIGINALLY POSTED AN APRIL FOOL'S DAY AS A JOKE]


	162. Daily Life: Day Seven (Until Eight)

** 2:00 PM / 1400 Hours **

“Jesus _Christ_,” Mercury complained, the tentacles in the courtroom idly waving. “That little bastard got away. And as for you kids. Trying to help them? Defying me like that? What the Hell were you thinking? I was punishing the _invader_. I could kill all of you for attacking me, too. But I don’t really want to fuck up the game like that, so I’ll be punishing you differently instead. It’s only two. Unlike last trial, you can’t all just go back to your rooms until tomorrow. Nobody is permitted to return to your dorm rooms till eight. Dinner is still mandatory. New motives will be announced immediately at breakfast. You don’t get a break.”

“What were we supposed to do!?” Yume questioned, fists clenched at her sides. “You were slowly killing a _child_ in front of us, we’d be completely heartless people if that didn’t get us to react!”

“Reasonable. Understand the fact that I’m giving you a comparatively mild punishment as my acceptance of that perspective, and don’t continue testing me.” The tentacles retreated back into the shadows of the courtroom, and the room became silent. That was it, the trial was over now. Yosuke tried to wipe his eyes on his sleeve, but now that the fountain had been turned on, it wasn’t about to stop. He hadn’t cried quite _like this_ since he first woke up here and found himself in a world of panic. These would last a while longer. 

This was panic, compounded with grief, and anger, and everything that he could possibly feel tackling him in a dogpile all at once. And he couldn’t even go somewhere to hide it- Even after taking the elevator back up to the lobby. There were red projections across the doors not unlike the one that had appeared when he tried to summon Mono after the investigation end announcement sounded, these ones reading [CLOSED TILL EIGHT].

So it was outright impossible to even open the doors until then, huh? Yosuke stepped in that direction, and found that, yeah. His hand stopped a few inches away from the Monopad scanner when he reached for it. That was a little bit of overkill, he thought, since it would accomplish the same thing just to make it so the scanners wouldn’t work until that time, but then. He had just witnessed Mercury trying to boa-constrict a thirteen year old. There wasn’t much he would put past her right now.

“I’m glad that she didn’t kill anybody,” Saya spoke up, the first thing anybody had said since Mercury’s parting words, “I’m glad that Kaguya got out and I’m glad she didn’t kill any of you for fighting back. I am sorry. I would have joined you in trying to save them… But I was afraid. I did not want to be killed and I did not want to be the straw which made her want to kill everybody.”

“You don’t gotta ‘pologize for keepin’ out a fight,” Irarako said, “We were prettydarn less of use, anyway. But Yosuke! Man you did the, you saved Kaguya.”

“I… Huh?” Yosuke turned back around, holding a sleeve to one eye. “What I… I saved them?”

“Is it not obvious?” Shin asked, “They were able to say two more sentences when you got Mercury to lay off them for a second. I imagine it was those which allowed their accomplice to rescue them.”

“I haaaave to wonder,” Tooru said, “Why Mercury hated them so much. It obviously wasn’t just because they snuuuck in here.”

“I can answer that, with my knowledge of the last game...” Homura said, “It’s interpersonal drama, I guess? She hates Nami Kaguya, because Nami Kaguya dated Kira Kirara after Mercury did, and broke up with her. So. Now she wants to kill Kaguya’s children, or something. I can’t _imagine_ being that petty myself!”

“But that probably is what it is,” Saya said, “You heard her, right? She wants to _destroy_ Kaguyas. She wanted to completely break apart Rei… So whoever that ‘older sibling’ she mentioned is, among us? Is probably either in the most danger, or the least danger.”

“The least danger?” Yuji asked, “Pray tell. Why would our captor’s most hated person be lower on the danger list than the lot of us?”

“Well, I mean. Danger as in ‘danger of dying’,” Saya explained, “She probably wants to keep the other Kaguya alive and suffering for as long as she can, before somehow orchestrating a really horrible and slow death for them. I mean. That’s what I think she would do! She can be a very scary person.”

“Very scary, huh?” Yume asked, “And yet, she’s not even the worst person you knew growing up?”

“Oh certainly not. When nobody was visiting, my life was relatively pleasant. Mercury Mars has no grudge against me. She is vindictive, but at worst, she was neglectful. Made me learn my talent I guess, but, yeah. She never hurt me herself. What she did to Kaguya, that was… I’d never actually seen that side of her. Outright violent that way... I hope I do not need to see it firsthand again.”

“I hope that none of us do,” Hiyoko said, “That was… I have seen some awful things, back through the flames of vampiric generational memory. Nothing quite like that. Usually, revenge torture is done in private, while revenge killings are swift. Usually involving biting, or fire, or both if we’re talking about dragons.”

“There’s draaagons in your chuuni now?” Tooru asked.

“Not now. In the past. Ancient history of the world,” Hiyoko said.

“Do you really need to chuuni at all, at a time like this?” Snow questioned, “Tch. It’s disrespectful to the dead.”

“I am _coping_,” Hiyoko said, “Just like you are, by not switching back to Everett yet…”

Snow went quiet.

“Since we aren’t allowed to go back to our rooms,” Syoko spoke up, “I think that we should busy ourselves elsewhere. There’s no point just standing around here letting the tensions get to us. If nothing else, the sunlight outside should help _a little_. Myself, I’m going to my lab… If anybody wants me to paint on them. Feel free.” 

She then turned and walked off, but the importance of her words did land, and people started to disperse from the dorm lobby area. Connected to the courtroom, the site of a body discovery, and a consistent reminder that they weren’t allowed to take the personal isolation that returning to their rooms could grant them for hours yet. It wasn’t a very nice place, at least, not today.


	163. Daily Life: Day Seven (The Roommate)

Yosuke ended up taking Syoko’s advice a bit more specifically and found himself outside. She was right that the sun was helpful, a bit. Its warmth reminded him that he, at least, was present. He was here and he was alive, and maybe it was an awful and terrifying ‘here’, but he still existed and that was worth something. Even if this wasn’t the real sun, either. It proved that he was alive, that he’d made it this far. At least he had, where others… Hadn’t.

He made his way over to an edge of the island, one of the steeper drops down to the ocean, and sat down cross-legged a little ways out from that edge itself. Then, he pressed his palms against his eyelids, dipped his head, and gave one _very_ shaky sigh before he focused on breathing regularly. He had actually not been able to stop crying since he’d started. He’d always had this problem, since he was a kid.

Apparently, when he was an infant, the tears would continue silently even for two hours after he’d fallen asleep, so it wasn’t all that surprising that he turned out to be this prone to crying. It made him feel ridiculous, but he was set off even by small things, had trouble stopping even when the problem was already completely resolved. This problem wasn’t resolved even a little bit, but he still felt pathetic for crying. Which kind of made him want to cry more, honestly!

Jeeze. This day had started out just fine, it really had. He was scared, but he was excited. And everything fell apart from there. He wasn’t sure what to do next, by any stretch of the imagination. He was unsure? He didn’t have any _idea_ at this point. He groaned and lifted his head, only to see Homura kneeling directly in front of him. “Ah! Shinku!”

“Hullo,” Homura said, “Sorry to startle you. But I’m here now.”

“Yes, I can see that. Must you be?”

“Why? Because you’re crying?” Homura asked, “If anything, that makes me want to be here now _more_, not _less_.”

“Huh. So you can make fun of me for it?”

“I dunno why I’d make fun of you,” Homura said, “I mean. I don’t really _cry_ as easily as you seem to, but I’m not gonna judge. I isolate with noise canceling headphones the second I start to get overwhelmed. The only reason I didn’t during that trial was because I got kinda preoccupied with wanting to get Kaguya out of there. Speaking of.” He brushed his fingers against his throat. “Thanks for helping. Both of us. You could have ended up pinned just like me, but you didn’t let that stop you. Pretty brave.”

“I was terrified,” Yosuke said, then hiccuped. He narrowed his eyes and covered his mouth. “I’m still terrified. That’s why I’m still crying. Partly. I’m also mourning. And really angry. It’s a lot!”

“It is a lot,” Homura said, “And on top of all that, you came out today too. That bitch Ruka tried to use it against you in the trial… I can’t stand people like that. She went after both of us _that_ harshly, and didn’t even believe a word she was saying, she was just trying to poison the well. Fucked up theories like that aren’t gross by nature but it’s gross that she went into so much detail trying to pin it on other people!”

“...Yeah. None of that helps,” Yosuke admitted, “It’s all just…”

“A lot.” Homura nodded as he confirmed the same again. “But I do think that you coming out is a bright side, to everything that’s happened today?”

“But I-”

“Don’t you dare,” Homura said, “Sure, the person who helped you figure it out is dead, but what the fuck does that matter? I mean. Any of us could have done the same thing, he’s just the only one with bad enough foot-in-mouth and cute enough rest-of-face to get through to you. I saw inside your dresser too, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. So you’ve known this whole time,” Yosuke said, “You didn’t mention anything to him, right?”

“Nah. Not my place,” Homura said, “But… I do feel kinda bad that we left things on such a bad note. I was jumping to conclusions. Ruka gave me that warning, and I was already figuring that Jun might kill me, and everything else going on. Well. I don’t _really_ think that he killed his ex, not now anyway. And I do think you would’ve been cute together.”

“You do?” Yosuke asked.

“Mhm!” Homura offered him a smile. “I mean, you’re one of the only people old enough for it to not be a little bit weird. If Jun was gonna date anyone here, I’d _hope_ it was you. Isn’t the only reason, of course. For a guy who put so much emphasis on ‘types’, you really did fit his, so he was still gonna fall all over himself for you sober.”

“J-Jeeze, telling me that’s just gonna make me cry more, you know…” Yosuke sniffed.

“Sure, but why’s that a bad thing? Crying proves you care,” Homura said, “It’s one of the most _obvious_ ways to know you care. Anyway. I’ll leave you be, unless you really want my continued company.”

“I don’t need it,” Yosuke said, “But… Thanks for checking in with me.”

“I mean, a guy sitting and crying alone by himself by the edge of a drop? I’d really be setting us up for another investigation if I didn’t at least check in to make sure you weren’t going to fucking _kill yourself_, dude.” Homura stood up and stretched out. “Good to know you’re just processing your emotions like a real human person. Oh, and keep in mind. I’m your surviving fellow in arms here, so if you ever wanna talk about stuff. I mean. I’m game?”

“My fellow in… Dude!” Yosuke realized, “What the fuck? I saw you at the party, no scars or anything.”

“I know more than you. But, if you really gotta know, I never grew the lumps in the first place. Of all the things fucked up with my brain, I’d never really been in denial or confusion or any of that,” Homura explained, “Though, I do have some scars. Just not the relevant ones. Word choice, Yosuke.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Yosuke rolled his eyes. “Go… Do whatever you do, I guess? I’m gonna sit here and see how long it takes for me to dehydrate myself.”


	164. Daily Life: Day Seven (Exist On My Own)

** 3:00 PM / 1500 Hours **

Yosuke sat there for a while, not thinking very hard and just focusing, again, on breathing through his tears because _wow they just would not stop_, that’s what happened when he managed to fight them back for hours on end, he guessed. Carrying on to just leak tears for hours on end when he finally gave up on fighting them. But by this time, they were at least starting to slow down, and he could breathe normally without focusing on it.

This time when somebody came to check on him, he heard their footsteps, and was not startled. He turned to see that it was Ayano who had walked up beside him. “Hey.”

“Hello,” Ayano said, “Shinku told me that I could find you here. Is it okay if we talk?”

“Yeah, sure thing. Sit with me?” Yosuke tapped the rock at his right side. Ayano nodded and mimicked his posture exactly. “So that was… God, I’m over here bawling my eyes out, but you lost _two_ people important to you.”

“Just the one,” Ayano said.

“I don’t believe that. I mean. The Ruka that you _thought_ she was before, you still lost that friend when you realized how she really was. Right?” Yosuke offered, “You don’t have to grieve the real person. You can grieve the version of her that you trusted?”

“...But it’s the same person,” Ayano said, “The Hikari that I trusted isn’t going to split apart from Hikari. They’re both burning in Hell right now. There aren’t two Hikaris. They’re the same, and she lied to me. She made me think she was worth my time, and she’s not.”

“Then, you feel the loss of one friend, and betrayal from another?” Yosuke offered, “I honestly can’t believe somebody like you can completely harden her heart and only feel sad that one person died, even if it isn’t the death itself that makes you sad about the other?”

“Stop trying to analyze me. You aren’t Jun. You do not know me,” Ayano said, “Maybe you are a little bit right, though.”

“Yeah. I’m definitely not Jun. But, you know. He mentioned to me that he was still always trying so hard to understand you…”

“He was trying. And succeeding, often. I think only my parents understood me better than he did. And for Hiyoko, it seems to come naturally. “But it doesn’t surprise me, that he said that. Hikari thought that she understood me the best, and she didn’t really understand me at all. Jun was always worried that he didn’t understand me. But he understood me very well.”

“You do seem like a tough person to understand, but I could try. I mean. I might not understand how you feel about this whole thing, but I understand how you feel about Jun. We can relate on that level.”

“We can,” Ayano confirmed, and he found her leaning against him again. “We are friends. We can relate in our sadness, and hopefully someday, in some form of happiness as well.”

“I hope so too.”

“I like to have friends like you and Hiyoko.”

“The type who only like men?”

“Mm, well that’s why it works for you two,” Ayano said, “But Jun was, too. Friends who won’t be like Hikari. Who won’t fall in love with me and put me in a weird spot. I did know how she felt. But I thought if I never mentioned it, everything would work out fine. I underestimated her.”

“You can’t blame yourself for this,” Yosuke said, “I kind of get the feeling that… If you had done something, if you’d told her that you knew how she felt and you didn’t feel the same way? It might be Jun here mourning you instead.”

“I think that would have been better.”

“Don’t you dare start with that shit, Ayano.”

“...Okay.” She didn’t actually protest, and nuzzled into his side more. “You’re so sturdy. I hope that this isn’t weird. But it makes me feel… Safer.”

“No worries, I understand. I try hard to be this sturdy. Speaking of which, I’m probably going to spend some time exercising on the beach this afternoon. That’s how I dealt with all the fucked up feelings after the last trial, so.” He shook his head. “That was… I mean. I was a fuck of a lot closer to the victim this time, obviously. But I know who I am now, so that’s something? I mean, it. That first case made me feel confused and hurt in a completely different way, because I _empathized_ with Itadai and I didn’t know why. At least right now, I completely understand why I feel like shit. A guy who wanted to date me got murdered.”

“That is pretty clear cut,” Ayano agreed, “It’s just clear cut to be this terrible. But at least there’s something, right? Jun can come back if we can get him repaired.”

“Mono said it’s unlikely that his body can even get to somebody who could repair him,” Yosuke said, “I don’t know what that’s about, exactly. But it doesn’t bode well.”

“I know. My memory isn’t terrible. But I can still hold out hope, can’t I? I don’t know. Maybe Ms. Hashi is dead. But somebody else can do it. Somebody else must be able to, out there. I don’t know. Maybe it will take years. But my best friend isn’t really… He can’t just be gone. After everything we’ve made it through, he can’t be gone now. Someday I will have him back. I have to.”

“Ayano-” Yosuke started.

“I don’t know how to exist on my own…” Ayano hid her face in his coat. “I have always been… Always, Ayano with Jun and Hikari. Even when I was with other people, it was the three of us. And everything that happened. And.” She froze, then pulled away. “Did Hikari even… Know all of it?”

“Huh?”

“The things that me and Jun went through together. Hikari made this decision. To ruin everything. Without even understanding… All of it. Of course she didn’t. I never told her. Jun wouldn’t tell her, she’d just use it to make fun of him. She never. Why didn’t I see it, she never… Cared about him.”

“That sounds… Pretty awful. I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about in context, but from where I’m sitting. It sounds terrible. Why were you ever friends with her to begin with?”

“She was fun to be around. And she was loyal.” Ayano shook her head. “But she was only loyal to _me_, I guess. We were friends for so long and it was all for nothing. I don’t even know. If I could have avoided this. I would have to go so far back huh? If I wanted to keep her from hurting… anybody.”

And Yosuke said nothing. It was the first sign that he was beginning to understand her.


	165. Daily Life: Day Seven (Exercise Buddies)

** 4:00 PM / 1600 Hours **

Yosuke and Ayano sat in silence for a little while longer. It was nice, though, it was productive for Yosuke at least, to sit here like this. It was commiseration at its best, two people who didn’t know each other that well, but both knew the dead well enough to completely cross those barriers into a friendship as if it were already established.

Eventually, they went their separate ways. Ayano was going to her lab, and Yosuke went to a particular spot on the island. It was grassy, but quite flat and open, and was the perfect place to go when he wanted to exercise outdoors. No risk of rolled ankles like uneven or sandy ground would present, and plenty of space. The dorm rooms were relatively small, after all. He needed to kick jumping jacks from his morning calisthenics, because there was barely space for him to do them, and not enough for Syoko to join in or really move around the room at all.

So of course, that was what he started off with. He did a few sets, but by the time that somebody else approached him, he was onto shadowboxing. Irarako walked up, and he stopped to turn to her. “Oh hey, Ira.”

“Yo-suke. Wait, is it cool for to be me callin’ you that?” Irarako asked, tilting her head. “I would like to. Name’s real darn-cool. Cooler what than mine, for sure!”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me! We’re friends, so. I would’ve given you permission to call me by my first name anyway, if I wasn’t still. You know. Trying to figure out what my first name actually was. But, yours is pretty cool too? The fact that it’s so long gives you a commanding presence.”

“Awe what, thank!” Irarako laughed. “It ain’t even a real word or nothin’, you know. Irarako doesnt mean a thing… Well, my mam didn’ even know I was gonna be born till a month before, so I guess she hadn’t much time for thinkin’ what to call me!”

“Or she wanted you to have a totally unique name!” Yosuke offered, “Like nobody and nothing else in the world! Plus, I mean. Nine syllables for your first and last name isn’t _that_ long. Maybe a little bit, but not excessively. I think it’s just the double ‘ra’ which catches people off guard?”

“Huh! Maybe that’s right ‘n correct,” Irarako said, “But, I guess I kinda like it this way too, even if it ain’t all that _cool_ I bet. Ira is a cute nickname though! I’m real grateful that yall thought of it. Again, no one never called me nothin’ short before. Mostly Ebizakaya-kun cause yknow I ain’t that girly a girl, I’m casual like that. Or sensei what cause, I did teach lil ones how to swing a shinai an’ all!”

“Hah, so you’ve had experience teaching?” Yosuke asked, “In that case, think you could show me some moves sometime? I bet it’s pretty fun.”

“Awe, sure!” Irarako nodded, then got into a familiar stance. “But for now, I was thinkin’ what I could just join you what you were doing! Folks like you an’ me, we gotta keep our muscles big an’ busy.”

“Yeah, we do! Heh.” Yosuke took a step to maintain a safe distance between them, then positioned himself properly again and threw another punch at the air. “We’re definitely the most active people here. I bet we could even fight back against those hazards if we needed to…”

“Beat ‘em into the ground!” Irarako agreed, “Some the others might be able to, but… Evie pals sure can’t! Gotta take the chance we got to protect the weak!”

“I wouldn’t call anyone _weak_,” Yosuke said, “I mean, ‘Evie pals’, he’s really smart. I bet that with the right type of weapon he could really do some damage! Like, maybe, a low-recoil gun?”

“Low-recoil… Huh, yeah! Cause a normal gun’s up and breakin’ bones. Dislocatin’ even normal-boned people’s shoulders ‘n shit. But he _is_ real smart so I bet he could, if one wouldn’ hurt him to use.”

“Everybody’s got their strengths,” Yosuke said, “So it’s weird to call anybody weak, really. I mean, I bet that Snow would consider you and I weak. We might be clever, but we’re not very smart by his standards. We might be able to win a fight, but he can win a battle.”

“Ahh, right right! Put it that way it makes total sense. So what’s for us a best option is…” Irarako dropped her voice into a joking deadpan. “Snow commands us into battle.”

“We probably won’t need to do anything like that, though,” Yosuke said, “Mercury might be an unfair person who wants to excessively harm children, but I’m pretty sure that we would have been told by now if we were being expected to fight those things to get out of here. Or, I mean. If we were expected to fight the number of them that are out at nighttime, anyway.”

“To get outta here…” Irarako repeated back, “What if thinkin’ that way’s the prob, though? If we think too much ‘I wanna get out’, then… It becomes just same as what Ruka thought. I wanna get out real darn bad so for to get ‘er done I’ll try my luck at gettin’ a kill away. If we decide we’re content to stick ‘round here, with good friends and facilities for usin’? Then maybe it’d be fine. I wouldn’ mind, being stuck in this place forever. If it means none others die.”

“What, forever?” Yosuke asked, and slowed down again. “Don’t you miss people on the outside? I mean. Even if it’s gonna start off with a weird conversation, I want to see my dads again… And there’s other people in my life, too! Obviously I don’t want more death, but. I also don’t want to be isolated from everyone I loved for the first eighteen years of my life, either.”

“Guess that makes sense when people what love you outside,” Irarako admitted, “But I ain’t got that, not really. Oji-san’s dead now, he was the only family what cared about me at all. An’ then there’s Rifa who. Probably doesn’ wanna see me again neither. I got better friends here than there.”

“Don’t say that,” Yosuke said, “I mean, I’m sure I speak on behalf of everybody when I say that it’s flattering to hear that! For us. But it’s not that fair to you. I’m sure that this Rifa girl, she was friends with you _first_, yeah? So I can’t see why she wouldn’t want to keep that up. And what about the kids you teach, or other people at your dojo?”

“I don’t think they really want me back either.” Irarako stopped moving and crossed her arms instead. Then, she turned to look at Yosuke and laughed. “Well, thanks for lettin’ me join you! Should be dinner soon, yeh? Let’s head on to the dinin’ hall.”


	166. Daily Life: Day Seven (Discussion of Love)

** 5:00 PM / 1700 Hours **

Yosuke and Irarako both made their way over to the dining hall, where she grabbed a seat at a table and he instead went towards the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what compelled him to check in with whoever was cooking- Normally he’d at least take a peek at the meal assignment list first, but he guessed that he'd be ready to chat regardless of who was cooking. That turned out to be Yuji, who seemed a bit surprised to see Yosuke there. "Ah, Yosuke, doll. Do you need something?"

"Nothing in particular," Yosuke said, "But I've got some basic skills, so why don't you put me to work? I'm trying to keep busy."

“Ah, sure thing. I can understand that, here.” He gestured to a bowl of potatoes. “Could you chop these for me? Rounds, thin, but don’t go crazy. Not trying to make chips or anything.”

“Good, cause my knife skills aren’t good enough to cut potatoes thin enough for chips,” Yosuke admitted, “Whatcha making?”

“Few things. The potatoes, those are going to be au gratin,” Yuji explained, “I’m also tossing in a roast. And some rice pilaf, for our dietary restricted friends. These sorts of things are comfort food for me, and you can understand why I’d be compelled to, well, be comforted.”

“Huh. Western food’s comfort food for you?” Yosuke asked, “I can’t say I expected that, actually.”

“Well, in my house, we usually ate fish of course. Given it’s a fishing town, and I have nothing against it, but the more rare items became the comfort food for me. We would have this every other Sunday… My mother started teachin’ me to make it soon as I could stand up straight, without wobbling.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Heh. I guess I don’t have anything really like that? Father cooked, sure, but he never had any sort of signature dish or whatever. If Dad ever tried to cook he probably would’ve set the kitchen on fire… So, I make dinner at home sometimes, but it’s never anything too special or interesting.”

“That breakfast you made was quite basic, but quite tasty,” Yuji said, “When several of us were hungover, it worked quite well as a cure. Had Jun not been killed, I suppose… That would have been a useful skill in your relationship, for a time. The problem would not have resolved quickly.”

“Guess you’re right,” Yosuke said, “I mean. It’s weird to think about now… I was completely ready to do that, I was geared up to tackle all the issues in our relationship. And all of that got destroyed in a second. Like anything I could have done to help, it’s just gone. I don’t have to do it now, but. It was an ‘obligation’ that I wanted to do.”

“That’s how it can be, when you care about somebody. Being there for people, doing what you can to help them, it should never be expected of you. But you find yourself feeling not just like you need to, but that you want to, no matter how difficult it may be.” Yuji sighed. “I can’t really imagine… If Hiyoko had turned me down, back then. When I first asked her to be my girlfriend. Before I even considered if I should date her, I wondered if I would be ready to be there for her. I didn’t know what her problems even were yet, but I was completely prepared to stand with her against the tide. So I can understand how… Jarring it would be, to prepare yourself that way only to lose the opportunity to carry through on that desire to put the work in.”

“Yeah, exactly! You get it. I mean. That’s all of it that I couldn’t articulate, pretty much. It wasn’t just that I was looking forward to _dating_ Jun, but I was also ready to do what I could to help him with, well, whatever he needed from me. And then it’s just. Not going to happen after all. It’s leaving me with this feeling like, I have to do something. But that something isn’t here anymore. I don’t like it.”

“I can’t imagine that you _would_,” Yuji said, “But you’re going to be alright, doll. I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t feel this way about somebody you haven’t known very long, I know more than anyone that love works in utterly mysterious ways. You can meet somebody and love them immediately, or try to make things work for years and discover no true love to be found. It’s not the times you’ve already had which have you in such a state, it’s the times you could have had, and anybody who says otherwise doesn’t understand love at all. Instead, I will say. The times you could have had, can still be had with somebody, someday, and I believe you can wait it out for that day.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said, “That makes sense. Thanks, Sato. I was kinda beating myself up for this one, like. It was weird to care so much about him in the first place. That I shouldn’t be _this_ messed up about it, especially compared to people who knew him longer…”

“You can know somebody for a long time or just for a bit, either way, it matters how _well_ you know them, and how much more you want to. And frankly, most of all, it isn’t reasonable to attack yourself for the emotions that you have. You have them for a reason, and your heart isn’t going to listen to the flawed ‘logic’ that you shouldn’t feel a certain way for some excuse or another. And on that matter… I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Yosuke asked.

“I’m not sure exactly, but I do feel regretful. And sorry to you. I didn’t mention this during the trial because I would rather the others not know, but I think that you should. Jun knocked on our door, too. I believe it was after he spoke to you and of course, before Hikari ran into him. We didn’t open the door. Hiyoko had just earlier expressed a certain degree of paranoia such that she was even convinced that _I_ would kill her, so we weren’t about to open ourselves up to the potential of attack that way. But if we had opened the door, perhaps he would still be alive. And I have no way of knowing if this is true or means anything, but I do know that it’s giving me remorse. I hope you can accept my apology.”

“Of course,” Yosuke said, “I mean. If I insisted on walking with him, maybe it would have been fine too. Or maybe not. We don’t have any way of answering ‘what if’ issues like that, so… I’ll forgive you that, if you forgive me letting Jun walk away alone.”

“Thank you, doll. It’s very kind of you to say.”


	167. Daily Life: Day Seven (Dinnertime Laughter)

** 6:00 PM / 1800 Hours **

Yuji finished preparing the meal, and Yosuke helped to serve it before putting together a rather heaping plate for himself, holding back until the others had gotten their food. That was his usual M.O.- he wanted to eat a good amount of food, to maintain his active lifestyle, but he also wanted to make sure that everybody else got as much as they’d want first. This method hadn’t failed him yet. Once his plate was assembled, he wandered out towards the tables, only to see Tooru make eye contact and wave him over. He had planned to rejoin Irarako, but since he hadn’t mentioned that to her, he figured he could take up this invitation. He sat down across from Shin, who was at the same table.

“Soooo. Didn’t really get a chance to mention this earlier given everything,” Tooru said, “But you’re Yosuke now. Just straight up completely a duuuude, or something else?”

“I told you,” Shin said, “I was supervising Homura on the room check, he had a screwdriver kit.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Yosuke agreed, “That was the first thing that let me know something was off, honestly. I just needed some time to work through it myself before I said ‘yeah the needlessly gendered household object is right about me’. I was scared, I guess, of being a guy with the interests that I’ve got? Not exactly the most masc thing about me.”

“Dollmaking and… What else?” Shin asked.

“Uh, well. I can also cook?” Yosuke thought for a minute. “And I prefer non-competitive video games when I do play them. Putting it into words like that, my concerns aren’t super rational, but. It’s mostly just the dollmaking thing. People _really_ don’t care for it when men like dolls. So that was the hurdle I had to get my brain over. Still not totally over it in some ways but I’m doing my best!”

“Hmmm, well,” Tooru put his hands behind his head. “Just look at me if you gotta think toooo hard about it. I’m a cis guy who’s got more ‘feminine’ interests than that! I mean, I straight-up wear women’s sweaters because they just look better on me. Pluuuus, we’re both gay, that gives us even more leeway to be ‘un-masculine’ in the public eye. Stereotypes can work _for_ you too, not only against.”

“Yeah, yeah. Not that I have anything to prove to _you_ guys.” Yosuke shrugged. “I might come up against more issues with this stuff once I’m out in the world again, I’m not sure. One thing is I only cut my hair because I knew it wouldn’t get cut in real life, I’m not sure I want to actually go with this look… But how am I supposed to be taken seriously then?”

“If anybody here was going to be rude to you they would have to prepare to be crucified by all of the rest,” Shin said, “Just as Ruka was. So you clearly have nothing to worry about, though if it assures you of anything. The masculine clothing does suit you far better than what you were wearing before. It hid your impressive physique and generally just hung awkwardly, because it wasn’t really made for you at all.”

“You really think so? Thanks,” Yosuke said, “But really, what is with everybody talking shit on my old fashion sense? If there wasn’t this very good reason that it looked bad on me, that’d be a good way to get your teeth kicked in!”

“Haaairwise,” Tooru said, “Myself, I thought you looked pretty ‘masc’, as you put it, in that ponytail at the beach. I think you can get awaaaay with that, and even the people who’re prone to judging on that sort of stuff can’t fault you for it. It’ll at least look more professional than when it was down _or_ when it’s short like thiiis… What’s with this cowlick?”

“I guess when my hair was longer it was weighing it down, heh…” He admitted, “Good thing I’m not interviewing for any jobs here in the Neo World Program?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Shin said, “Maybe Mercury will suddenly decide that she needs a file clerk, and whoever gives her the best impression gets to leave the Killing Game and help her commit tax fraud, as I doubt a criminal like her files her taxes properly.”

“I think if Mercury wanted to pick one of us to be a file clerk, she’d go off of all the shit she’s already seen from us, not pull us in to have an interview and disregard everything she already knows from picking our brains and observing us in a high stress situation,” Yosuke said, “So my haircut wouldn’t save me! She already knows that I in fact can’t do math for shit.”

“Perfect for tax fraud. You wouldn’t even notice the discrepancies in her bookkeeping.” Shin shut his eyes and nodded. “I’m banking on this theory now. I truly believe that she will attempt this. I handled my own finances for the last year, and I have no moral qualms with committing tax fraud, so I am the greatest candidate. Take me away now, Miss Mars.”

“...You guys are stupid,” Mercury actually answered, startling the lot of them. “If I wanted an accomplice in tax fraud, I’d take the person who has already helped with _my_ finances for the last few years. Saya is basically a live-in secretary. I won’t do that, though, and your only way out of here remains to get away with murder. Goodbye.”

Yosuke hesitated a second, but then couldn’t keep himself from bursting out into sharp cackles. He laughed like a crazy person, sure, but it was just so absurd that Mercury bothered speaking up to debunk their obvious sarcasm.

“Duuude,” Tooru said, “Stop laughing at her or she’ll make sure you die next.”

“Ehh-hah!” Yosuke continued making the strange noises which constituted ‘laughter’ from him, but spoke between them. “Really, what’s she going to do? Give us a motive that exposes that I’d be a shitty file clerk?”

Tooru released one chuckle. “Okay, I guess it is a liiiittle bit funny.”

“I want no part in this.” Shin raised his hands. “Unlike you fearless lads, there probably _are_ motives which would get me killed. I am sincerely regretful I made fun of Mercury Mars and- Aw fuck.” He started to laugh too. “I can’t keep that up! Wow, it’s _really_ good to know that our literal kidnapper isn’t currently in the business for data entry professionals.”

Yosuke kept laughing until there was no laughter left. He’d spent so much of the day crying, his emotions were still running high, and it was nice at least that he could get some good out of it even at a time like this. It wasn’t even _that_ funny- But he needed it.


	168. Daily Life: Day Seven (A Contradictory Entity)

** 7:00 PM / 1900 Hours **

After dinner was done, people dispersed again pretty slowly. Ayano announced that she was just going to wait in the lobby for the dorms to unlock again at eight, but Yosuke actually didn’t want to follow her example. He’d spent too much time today already sitting around in his emotions, and while he didn’t sincerely feel much better yet and part of him definitely wanted to go to sleep and experience that universal reset button that taking on the next day always seemed to do so well… Another part of him wanted to beat what was left of _this_ day into submission and continue to exist in spite of everything a little while longer. That part made him less sad, so that was the one he would listen to.

He’d already spent plenty of time exercising today, earlier with Irarako, but that was about the only thing that both occupied his thoughts well enough and served as an outlet for these kinds of feelings, at least, the only thing he could do right now. Since his hobby box had just contained more of his dolls… Something he was grateful for, but did limit his options. At the very least it could have been dollmaking supplies, or even just for sewing and he would have had something to _do_. He guessed that sort of stuff would come with his lab, but his lab was not available yet. The building hadn’t yet grown in size, so he assumed that the new labs would appear overnight.

He felt immediately disappointed in himself for the passing thought, _it was my boyfriend who got killed, the least they can do is give me my lab next_. He knocked his palm against the side of his head, what the hell? Why would he think something like that? Maybe it was just the stress getting to him, he liked to _think_ he wasn’t such a callous person as that. Would a callous person cry for literal hours on end? No. Probably not. Well, they might cry for hours on end about petty callous person things, but not about something that actually meant something, like Yosuke had. So hopefully, he was a good person?

Even just thinking about that, he felt tears coming to his eyes again, because of course he did. This was embarrassing, but he knew what his best option here was- He just had to exercise in a way that nobody could tell if he was still crying in the process. This was what led him to go swimming, finding another similar swimsuit in the giftshop and changing in the bathrooms that were attached to the lab building. Since it was reasonable to get stuck there overnight, these amenities existed. He hadn’t used them before himself, preferring the privacy of his dorm’s bathroom anyway, but they did prove useful now that the dorms were off-limits. The only notable difference with his swimsuit this time was that it covered his stomach. He hadn’t even realized at the time, that he picked relatively masculine attire.

But as far as he’d always been concerned, even in a state of denial, dressing in especially skimpy or skin-tight outfits just wasn’t for him. He thought it was just a matter of embarrassment or insecurity in the past, but… Maybe it wasn’t quite that. He still wouldn’t want to wear anything spandex-adjacent, even if his body were to somehow transform to suit his personal standards. It just felt awkward. But, on the other hand, a form-fitting t-shirt wasn’t the worst thing, he figured, in that hypothetical scenario.

Had he the opportunity, some part of him did want to show off the results of his training. So it might make him look like a douche, but on the other hand, he did put in a lot of work to look this way. This distraction, he noted, did not actually help the flow that had resumed from his eyes, so it was about time that he worked on looking this way in the sweet embrace of obscuring saltwater. By which he meant swimming in the ocean of course, so he left the lab building by the door which faced that side and walked out to the dock to jump in.

Before he could, though, Mono was at his right side. He looked down at her and frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t ask anybody to join you,” Mono said, “And I figured that you shouldn’t be alone, so here I am.”

“Why shouldn’t I be alone?” Yosuke asked, “Come on, this water’s totally calm. It’s not like I’ve got even a shot in Hell at drowning.”

“Unless you wanted to,” Mono said, “I mean, you kind of have been crying nearly nonstop for about six hours now, excluding when you calmed down at dinner.”

“Pft, are you _serious_? Aren’t you a psychologist?” Yosuke asked.

“I am. And I’m aware that you’re just an overly sensitive person who cries at the slightest provocation, mostly,” Mono said, and sat down on the dock. “That’s, generally, who and how you are. But on the other hand, I can’t know that for sure. This isn’t a slight provocation, and it isn’t like you haven’t surprised somebody like that before.”

“I… What are you talking about?” Yosuke asked, “Come on, Mono, I’m a tough cookie. It’s obvious that I’d never do that. I might be down and out right now, but I’m also just starting to live my life. I’ll admit it’s a confusing place to be in, but half the equation more or less guarantees I’m gonna keep trying.”

“Sure. There’s also the consideration that we’re approaching the evening,” Mono said, “And you aren’t wearing a watch. The Monopads shut off in water as a precaution. Did you even think that maybe you should at least have somebody here to tell you the time?”

“I mean, it’s only just approaching eight.” Yosuke set his Monopad down on the dock after checking it to make that claim. “I don’t think I’ll be swimming for two hours without realizing it. But if it makes you feel better to keep an eye out for me here…”

“It does,” Mono said, “You don’t have to believe me when I say it, but I really do dislike when people die.”

“And it’d be even worse if I died in a stupid way that wasn’t even interesting, right?” Yosuke dropped into the water but immediately turned around to see… Huh.

Mono looked completely different all of the sudden, appearing instead as a woman in her early twenties. Her feet dipped into the water this way, and her eyes were a glassy image of one pale blue and one red eye. They reflected a sadness in them as she looked down at him. “It would be worse, that way. In a sense. I’d be bored, of course. I am a Monokuma after all. I can’t help it. But… Then, Mercury would be even more bored, so maybe that would be okay, in that sense. I still don’t want to let you die. None of you.”

“You… What’s with the human form?” Yosuke ended up asking what he was most confused about, rather than anything else she’d said.

“I wanted to show you. Why I can’t stand her,” Mono said, “This appearance, it actually hurts to maintain, it drains me. But she’d prefer if I always looked that way, when I’m with her, she requires it of me.” She closed her eyes, and she was the bear again. “Maybe I just want to ‘protect’ you so I have an excuse to be around you kids. I don’t want to become attached, but I don’t want to be around her. Everything in my life is a contradiction, I suppose.”

“It’s okay,” Yosuke said, “I’m a contradiction too. So that’s something we have in common.”

He flashed a thumbs-up, then turned and got to swimming his laps.


	169. Daily Life: Day Seven (Permitted Goodnight)

** 9:00 PM / 2100 Hours **

Yosuke ended up proving himself right and Mono wrong, naturally being finished with swimming a solid hour before nighttime. Mono had said she’d warn him at thirty minutes out, but didn’t end up needing to. He picked up his Monopad and his everyday wear from the dock and just went straight back to his room, now that it was definitely open. He just quickly rinsed off the salt in the shower before putting pajamas on- He’d shower properly in the morning, he didn’t really like sleeping with his hair soaked through. When he went back to the main part of the dorm, Syoko was just getting in.

She looked over to him, hesitated for a second, then asked. _Dead_ serious. “Are you okay?”

“Um. Well, by comparison, I guess that I’d say… No, but enough?” Yosuke scratched at the back of his neck. “Jeeze, you and Mono both. I’m about as ‘okay’ as you can expect given all the shit that happened today, and I’m a tough person, so that ‘okay’ is far from any kind of rock bottom, it’s just not good. It’s nothing to _worry_ about. I’d be more worried if I actually was okay after all of this.”

“So you’re, as far as it matters, fine,” Syoko’s voice relaxed, “I wasn’t expecting you to be happy, or anything. But I did want to make sure that you were acting yourself, and the fact you replied that way at all is proof enough for me.”

“That’s… Good? I mean, if you want a more in-depth report from me. I’ve been sad enough that I only stopped crying at dinner, and exercising enough in combination with it that I haven’t actually felt the complete boiling anger at Hikari Ruka that I’m expecting to feel soon. But that’s about what I’d expect from myself in the event that _my boyfriend was murdered_. And I’ll manage, some way or another.”

“I’m sure you will. But what do you plan to do next?” Syoko asked, “I know that right now, it probably feels like this is the only thing you can think about. But there’s the entire future still waiting, unless, you know. You die here. I’d prefer you didn’t, so I’d also prefer you consider this ‘what next?’ question of mine.”

“Huh. Well, I guess… I need to figure out more about myself,” Yosuke said, “Jun gave me the push I needed to know who I am, but I still have no idea why I needed that push and what took me so long to even consider this _possibility_. It has to be something, I’m not so stupid that I wouldn’t figure this out if there wasn’t something.”

“Of course there’s something,” Syoko said, “But… Sorry, my knowledge isn’t _that_ absolute. If you can’t even remember what it was, but it’s not like a gap in your memory. You must have been pretty young, whatever it was, to lose it this naturally? So are you sure you even want to explain it, when you could just keep working past it?”

“I can’t work past something that I can’t even explain,” Yosuke said, “Even now, there’s a part of my brain that’s screaming about why I cut my hair, that I can’t be ‘mistaken’ for a guy even though the rest of me knows that I _am_. I don’t want to just be able to exist in spite of that screaming, I want to know how to make it shut up.”

“Ah…” Syoko sat down on her bed, then glanced back up to smile at him. “Again, I’m really sorry! I haven’t figured out how to do that, myself. So for once, I don’t actually have any advice to give you. Existing in spite of screaming is the best that I’ve been able to manage, heh.”

“Really, you? I kind of think you _excel_ in spite of the screaming.” Yosuke sat down on his own bed, across from her. “But on the other hand, you’re not fooling me that the screaming doesn’t exist. So. Are _you_ okay? I mean, you were the first person here who became a new friend of Jun’s…”

“I’m trying to keep my mind off of that fact. I’ve been thinking about… Other things, actually. I mean. If I take too much time to think about Jun, then I might just lose it completely!”

“Hah… Well, yeah. Thinking too much, I’ve been avoiding that too, I guess. Even the amount I have been thinking, I can’t really keep my composure too well. But what have you been thinking about instead?”

“If a person won’t be missed by anybody,” Syoko’s voice stayed light, but her face turned cold. “Then does it even matter that they died?”

“That’s…” Yosuke hesitated a second. “What do you mean? Ayano won’t admit it, but she already does miss Ruka.”

“I don’t mean Hikari. Even I’ll miss the little bastard in some ways, once I start to get over what she _did_. I mean the man that Hikari killed first.”

“Huh?”

“What was mentioned in her execution.” Syoko raised a hand, as well as her head to make unwavering eye contact. “The man that Hikari Ruka drove to suicide by threatening his livelihood. He didn’t leave a note, and nobody ever bothered trying to find out why. Because nobody cared. I knew about that, I know about most things that happen in Dome City. He completely isolated anybody who might have cared about him, so does it matter at all that he died? Can we condemn her for giving him the final push?”

“Uh. I mean. Yeah, we can?” Yosuke said, “We don’t have to feel bad about the guy who died. I don’t even remember his name, myself. But we can’t just excuse her part in it?”

“What if he was just a bad person?” Syoko asked, “I’m not trying to say I’d be happy if anybody died. And I’m not saying that Hikari should have done that. But Dawson Packard, he was someone worth forgetting. What sort of things do you think he did, if a threat to his livelihood made him take away his life? I mean, just consider. He was thirty-eight when he was dating Ayano. Our heads might have been messed with, I have no idea how much, but it doesn’t seem like anything was planted, just removed and revised. So I remember _that_.”

“She was eighteen, right?” Yosuke asked, “So that’s sketchy, but not technically illegal…”

“Sketchy but not technically illegal seems to be a common excuse around here.” Syoko groaned and put a hand to her head. “It’s just a thought experiment, really. I’m not even saying I believe what I’m saying. But it’s something to think about, isn’t it? Does a death matter if nobody misses the dead? If the dead was a bad person, if that person would have just done more harm if they had been allowed to carry on as usual. It’s less depressing to wonder about that in the hypothetical, than to wonder what sort of future our actual dead friend could have had.”

“...I get it.” Yosuke turned and lay down. “Goodnight, Syoko. Tomorrow’s a new day. Let’s just take the chance to think about _nothing_ for a few hours.”

“I agree.”


	170. Daily Life: Day Eight (Taking Stock)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

“Morning everybody! This morning there will be a few announcements at breakfast, so make sure you’re there on time!” Mono’s voice roused Yosuke from his slumber. He sat up immediately, brow furrowed, and looked at the clock. Six. Did he sleep through his alarm, or…?

“Hey Yosuke.” Syoko waved from where she sat up in her own bed. “I disabled your alarm for the night, after you fell asleep. I thought that we could both use the extra hour of sleep, and that you’ll be exercising more than enough in the light of day to make up for skipping the good-morning routine. I hope you don’t mind.”

“You were right to do it without telling me,” Yosuke said, “But, you know. That also means you were right to _do_ it.”

“I thought so.” Syoko climbed out of bed and smiled down at him. “You wouldn’t have let me do this, but since I went ahead and did it. It was helpful, huh? Cause, now we can both just get ready to face the day and head out to breakfast, without any extra time before we really get going. Then you can exercise later on, and altogether, the default day is shortened. And you got an extra hour of that whole emotional reset time.”

“It really helped,” Yosuke said, “I do feel a little more clear-headed today, in general. I sure don’t feel good, but I feel more capable of carrying on despite the pain!” He gave a joking salute. “Hah… The human spirit, it’s damn impressive, huh?”

“Certainly. I think it’s what really _makes_ us people, the fact that we’re still able to find things to laugh about in the dark. Even if it sort of has the opposite effect, to deny ourselves proper grieving so we can go about our lives. No bereavement time for Killing Game participants.” Syoko dug around in her closet, then took the two steps to her bathroom door instead. “You go on ahead to breakfast without me, I’m sure you’ll be ready before I am.”

Syoko did usually bail on the morning workout a bit early so that she’d have time to put her makeup on, so Yosuke figured she would be delayed today. With that permission from her, he followed suit and stepped into his own bathroom, turning on the shower. He caught his own reflection in the mirror, and turned to look again. After having gone swimming, dried off an amount, rinsed off without washing his hair, and sleeping… His hair looked ridiculous. Ah, he was entering the world of short-haired bedhead once more.

He had short hair, a long time ago. When he was a little kid, he kept it pretty short, but he knew that it had become that ridiculous curtain before he hit middle school. Probably connected to all the same stuff, yeah, whatever. He felt generally less volatile after a good night’s sleep, and that applied not just to the recent grief, but to his usual panic attacks too, it seemed. All he really felt was that, yeah. A low ponytail with his original hair length, or maybe a little bit trimmed, might be a bit more professional than the current look. This had limited presentability even when it was newly clean and brushed. But then, as he’d figured yesterday, it wasn’t like he was going to have a job interview anytime soon. He could have some fun with unpresentable hair for now.

And, after he had showered and brushed it down, it did look more reasonable again. He knew that one cowlick would spring up as it dried, but that was alright. Maybe his hair had actually had some absurd innate knowledge of Jun’s death, and stolen his cowlick. That was a nonsense thought, but then, it had to be a good sign for Yosuke’s forward motion that he was able to think about something so silly.

Once dressed, wearing a different shirt and shorts but the same lab coat with his scissors in the pocket once more, Yosuke left the bathroom. Syoko was still in her own bathroom, so he took her advice and went on ahead to breakfast on his own. When he got there, he took a look around and didn’t see Ayano yet. He wanted to check in on her… Before he went to knock on her door, though, he stopped to check the meal sheet. Irarako was making breakfast this morning, huh? And he was signed up for dinner tonight. He’d completely forgotten that. This meal assignment sheet was almost spent, too, so they’d need to put together a new one.

In the time it took him to double-check that she wouldn’t be in the kitchen, Ayano walked through the door into the dining hall. She spotted Yosuke and waved, then kept going to sit with Hiyoko and Yuji. Just that much made it evident to him that she had hit a similar emotional position overnight that he’d managed. Not necessarily doing well, but able to push those unpleasantries into a functional mental backdrop! The joys of emotion, huh?

But, he was glad that she _seemed_ to be doing well, and seemed was all that could be managed right now, so that was an improvement over yesterday for both of them. That wave had also implied that she would rather sit with Hiyoko and Yuji _instead_ of with him, so he’d keep away from that table. He understood, it was important to maintain friendships as an individual and not rely only on certain group dynamics to actually trust people. He and Syoko, for example, had spent years of their childhood as ‘friends by proxy’, but it took talking one-on-one to actually develop the trust that they had now.

And that trust had really been built here in the Killing Game. They knew each other well, growing up in the same neighborhood and naturally spending time together throughout, sure. But Yosuke had never stopped feeling that strange jealousy towards Syoko until he shared a room with her and came to understand that, sure. She had a much better handle on who she was and who she wanted to be, than he did. But she sure didn’t have all her shit together, and there were some ways in which Yosuke could be considered ‘better’ than her just as she previously seemed so much ‘better’ than him. With this in mind, he wondered who here he needed to get to know better.

He hardly talked to Ayano before Jun died, but they’d made a bond through grief. He got along well with Tooru and Shin both. Irarako was somebody he considered himself close to, given that they were the two physically-strongest people there and could relate on that level, but she also showed a genuine appreciate for his dolls when he showed her. Hiyoko, he still wanted to know better. He hadn’t even hung around with her much when she was ‘Ryota’, and hadn’t had much chance since she’d come out either.

Yuji, he got along with him as well, they’d spent time together from time to time. He hardly knew a thing about Homura, but the thing he did know was that kid was a _lot_ to deal with. So that left… Saya, who he considered to be an odd duck but generally sweet. And Yume, who was sitting with her. A harsh and honestly frightening girl who would definitely make him cry, but on the other hand. She did manage to be friends with Jun, who was a self-professed ball of anxious energy given human form. So it looks like the table with those two would be the one that Yosuke joined.


	171. Daily Life: Day Eight (A Single Star War)

5** 7:00 AM / 0700 Hours **

“Huhh. Hey Oowada,” Yume greeted him as he sat down. “You need something?”

“Not really,” Yosuke said, “I just figured I might join you guys for breakfast. I just took an inventory of who here I know and realized that I haven’t talked a whole lot to either one of you. Hope that’s cool?”

“Certainly!” Saya exclaimed, raising one hand in the air. That was when he noticed that her other one clasped Yume’s on the table in front of them.

“Oh, uh, you two are?” Yosuke asked, gesturing to the excessive handholding presented here.

“Yes!” Saya grinned and lifted that hand instead, bringing Yume’s along with it. “She showed quite a bit of restraint during that last trial by not trying to crazy murder Ruka. And my standards are on the floor so that’s good enough for me to say, yeah! You’d make a _good_ girlfriend!”

“And it seems that ‘horny dumbass’ is a genetic trait coded into the DNA my brother and I exactly shared, so I am okay with this,” Yume just came right out and said it.

“It’s the perfect setup! I can set any requirements that I wanna,” Saya said, “And she’ll listen. And in return. I am a beautiful and attentive girlfriend. Absolute victory!”

“That sounds kind of weird to me, but whatever floats your mutual boat,” Yosuke said, “You’re really okay with, uh. All of what you both just said?”

“Sure, it’s unconventional as fuck,” Yume said, “But I’m gonna be frank with you. Saya is _really_ pretty, and this is a Killing Game, and you were totally game to jump into a relationship with a straight-up alcoholic, too, so you don’t really have room to judge.”

Yosuke froze up for a moment there.

“Oh, Yume, that wasn’t very nice…” Saya pouted.

“No, no,” Yosuke collected himself, pressing a hand to the corner of his eye. “I mean, she’s right! I was ready to do that, barely even thought twice. So I really don't have the room to judge. If I think about it, holding yourself hostage until somebody proves they’re relationship material is kind of what everyone does, you just put it into practice in a weirdly honest way.”

“It’s upfront! I say hey,” Saya said, “You obviously think that I’m cute. And you’re pretty cute too, but that anger is kinda frightening! So if you work on _that_, then we can try dating. And she worked on that. I mean, isn’t it more messed up for people to be in courtships where they don’t even know what the end goal is? Just, ‘prove yourself’? I think that it’s nicer to set a guideline!”

“If you put it that way it makes perfect sense. I’ve never really understood what women want in a ‘courtship’. How’s a guy supposed to know if she prefers flowers or chocolates without outright asking and losing points, or what?” Yosuke raised his hands in confusion.

“Didn’t you just realize that you’re a man yesterday?” Yume questioned, raising an eyebrow. 

“Sure, but first of all, I’ve never once tried to court a woman. It’s from an outside perspective that I express confusion at their ways. Second of all, even when I thought that I _was_ a woman, I set reasonable expectations! I laid it right out for Jun, after I composed myself anyway. He only spent a few hours confused before I said, hey. I like you but I don’t like myself, and I don’t want to make you deal with that, so gimme some time to figure it out first.”

“And that still didn’t work,” Yume teased, “Cause he pursued you anyway, right? At least he figured it out for you. That guy… Sorry I made fun of you for liking him. He _was_ my friend too. I don’t give a shit, that Ruka bitch saying that he didn’t really care about me at all. Maybe she was lying, maybe not, but even if I wasn’t his friend. Can’t stop him from being my friend.”

“Yeah, you know, you’re… A pretty frightening person,” Yosuke admitted, “I was going to say I’m surprised that Jun was even able to handle you, but then I remembered that he actually cited me being ‘kind of mean’ as part of why he was attracted to me so. Do with that what you will.”

“A weird one for sure…” Yume trailed off. “But Oowada, I’m going to ask that you don’t get too close to me. I’m barely allowing Saya due to the fact that she’s expressed she doesn’t care about her own death. At this rate, it seems almost as if I’m cursed, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, don’t say that,” Saya said, “I mean, yes. I don’t care about my own death. But that isn’t to say I think I’m going to die just because I’m dating you!”

“Right…” Yosuke realized, “You were friends with Jun, and the first victim, well. That’s obvious. So are you saying that you think it’s people connected to _you_ who’ve been getting killed?”

“Uh. Kind of?” Yume shrugged. “I know that it’s a fucked up sorta superstition to have, an’ further, I know that there’s totally different motives that we’ve been made fully aware of. But can you really blame me for thinking shit’s kinda suspicious that it worked out this way?”

“It’s just a coincidence,” Yosuke said, “I mean, both of the culprits so far are people that I disliked to begin with. Are you going to say that I’m cursed for that?”

“I wouldn’t say you’re cursed for that,” Yume said, “I’d say that you’re cursing people, for that.”

“...Okay that’s fair.” He chuckled. “I promise, I’m not. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know how.”

“Oh _really_?” Saya asked, smirking. “Ultimate _Dollmaker_, I think you know how you could curse somebody. The real question is how you got ahold of the hair.”

“Wh… You mean, voodoo dolls?” Yosuke asked, “I don’t mess around with that stuff! It’s not my religion.”

“Voodoo dolls have a religion?” Saya looked up at the ceiling and scratched her chin.

“Ahah! We have found it. Another one of your ‘raised in relative isolation’ gaps in knowledge.” Yume pointed at Saya. “Did you know this girl has only seen one of the Star Wars movies? Episode Two. The most boring one. At least Ep One is batshit insane on top of just being batshit bad.”

“I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars movies,” Yosuke said.

“Oh no, do not admit that. I have learned it will prompt-” Saya started.

“_WHAT?_” Yume slammed a fist on the table as she stood up. Since Saya was still holding her other hand she was also dragged to her feet, where she just remained still as Yume gestured wildly. “You haven't seen any… Any of the Star Wars movies?”

“Not a one. Uh, no Star Wars content at all, before you go interrogating me. I’m pretty sure there are things other than movies. I don’t know about any of it.”

“You, me, Saya. Some other time because Mercury Mars is a dipshit and didn’t put any of it in the gift shop, we’re gonna marathon all the Star Wars. Chronological order, only visual mediums, not books. It’ll take a while to actually reach the classic trilogy that way, but I prefer this viewing order. We’re gonna do it. No getting out now.”

“I… Alright. I didn’t take you for this much of a nerd, Yume,” Yosuke said.

“Star Wars is not nerd culture! It’s pop culture, pop culture I tell you!” She stomped one foot. “God, what sort of shitty fucking rocks have you lived under that you haven’t seen them? It’s like. Common viewing? A requirement of childhood? Saya I can understand, but Yosuke! You’ve got to be pulling my leg. You’ve got to be _joking_.”

“I’m not joking,” Yosuke said, “I mean, I’d watch it with you as a social thing. If you really want to. But that sort of thing kind of seems out of my depth? I like action movies and dramas, stuff that’s like reality but dumber.”

“You’re from another planet! At the rate technology’s progressed, Star Wars has _become_ reality but dumber! This is no excuse!” Yume groaned.

“It’s just not my thing.” Yosuke defended himself. “Not my parents’, either, so. I just haven’t seen it, it’s not that big a deal? But I already said I’d watch it with you, anyway. Could you chill out a little?”

“How am I supposed to chill out when…” Yume trailed off to notice Saya staring, unblinking at her. “Okay. I’ll chill out. But you won’t weasel out of the marathon just as soon as we got the chance to do it. Are we fucking clear?”

“We’re clear,” Yosuke said, and the girls sat back down to actually eat some of the eggs and vegetables Irarako had made frankly copious amounts of this morning.


	172. Daily Life: Day Eight (Alternate Objective)

** 8:00 AM / 0800 Hours **

“Hello hello.” Mono appeared on an empty table. “Morning everybody, as promised, there are breakfasttime announcements today.”

“Ah, lovely,” Yuji said, “What sort of horrors await us today?”

“Hey, that’s a rude assumption to make!” Mono complained, “Horrors, pfft. I’m not even allowed to tell you what the upcoming motive is. Deliveries of those will start at ten am and resume every two hours, but that’s not really the point since I can’t elaborate or anything. I _wanted_ to tell you what spectacular new things you unlocked thanks to the recent deaths. Not horrors, just bittersweet information.”

“Of course. Because everybody appreciates dark chocolate,” Yuji said.

“Actually, I kind of do. I’d like to know what we get as the consolation prize this time around,” Hiyoko said, “That’s what it is, of course. But a consolation prize is still a prize, just like bittersweet dark chocolate is still chocolate…”

“Good to know somebody appreciates what I do,” Mono said, “Oh, aside from Homura of course. He has always appreciated me. But anyway, the new facilities that you have available to you now… The Workshop, The Bathhouse, The Weaver’s Lab, The Dollmaker’s Lab, and The Kendo Lab are now open and available to you. The Fortuneteller’s Lab has also been added, although as a posthumously opened lab, entering it will result in being locked in on a timer. This cannot be circumvented.”

“Oh, would you look at that!” Yume snapped her fingers on one hand. “Yosuke, it’s your lab. That makes it an extra consolation prize for you, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Yosuke chuckled nervously, “I’d never dream of thinking anything like that! There’s no bribe that could make any loss worth it…” Nobody needed to be made aware of the fact that he had, actually, had that very thought yesterday, because then he would probably be rightfully condemned as a heartless bastard by at least one person.

“So Hikari would have received her lab, were she not the culprit…” Ayano observed, “She would be disappointed to know that if she were able to. She complained last time that she didn’t get her lab after she ‘didn’t even get to think the execution was cool because I ended up pitying Itadai’.”

“That is ironic,” Saya said, “Because Ruka’s execution was actually quite cool. I’m sure she appreciated every bit of it excluding the parts where it was a painful death for her and also exposed what may have been her biggest wrongdoing in life!”

“Yes, I’m sure she did,” Ayano said, then frowned. “Even still, none of this is a reasonable consolation. What is even the purpose of a workshop when we’re already receiving labs tailored specifically to us?”

“I mean, there’s always time to learn something new,” Shin said, “Frankly, my lab’s been available since the beginning, as we all know, a murder happened there. That hasn’t stopped me from using it, but without anyone giving instructions there is only so much to idly do with my talent. I’ll gladly see if whatever the ‘workshop’ has to offer piques my interest.”

“That bathhouse sounds nice, too,” Syoko said, “I mean, I agree. These are shoddy consolation prizes for the deaths of our friends, but on the other hand, at least we get _something_? It’s like Hiyoko said. Besides, it’s an especially helpful offering, a place to just lie back and relax after all of these stressful things…”

Oh, good, so Yosuke wasn’t the only one having cursed thoughts. And this one came from Syoko, so that made him feel even less terrible than just the idea of another person thinking the same way. Nobody was going to think twice about her saying it.

“I would say,” Ayano spoke up, “That this goes far beyond the stress that a nice bath can remedy. However, it isn’t like I’m ungrateful to receive ‘recompense’ for what’s occurred so far. I am curious, though. Mono, last time you said that we were closer to our eventual alternate objective…”

“It’s true. Again, you are.”

“I would like to ask you something,” Ayano said, “I know that you were not permitted to answer the question of ‘are we closer because of dead people or are we closer because of the passage of time’. But what if I am to phrase my question differently? Mono… Does the alternative objective require a certain number of participants?”

Mono fidgeted where she stood for a minute, but was eventually able to answer, “Yes. Your objective relates not to ‘number of people dead’ but to ‘number of remaining participants’. If one of you somehow managed to get disqualified without being killed, for example, you’d be as much closer as when somebody dies.”

“I see…” Everett noted, “That’s interesting. You hadn’t yet told us that it was possible to be disqualified without being killed…”

“Funny, that mostly relates to you,” Homura said, “Right, Mono?”

“Yes. It’s a bit of an odd situation… But if Snow committed a murder, say, then Evie and Everett are not guilty. Only Snow is guilty. So in that case… We would take advantage of the NWP to separate the guilty party, execute only him, then eject the remaining personalities from the game unharmed,” Mono said, “This isn’t the only way that somebody can be disqualified, but if I told you any other methods, you’d all be attempting to do it.”

“We probably would,” Homura said, “Well, some people would. I wouldn’t! I’m curious about the alternate objective, heh… So if I don’t get killed and I make it that far? Score. I don’t wanna be disqualified.”

“On some level,” Syoko said, “Of course the idea of escaping without condemning everybody else is appealing. And the idea that we could reach the point of knowing our ‘objective’ without anyone else dying is something that would have been nice to know, before. But the only disqualification option that you’ve _told_ us still involves death, so I’m not going to assume the other options are actually any better.”

“Hm. Put that way, I agree,” Shin said, “At least we know now, though. We’ll be given some objective when we hit… A certain number, one way or another.”

“That number could be as small as two, though!” Saya added, “So I wouldn’t really count on it being a good thing! It’s not a motive to kill somebody just because you suddenly think that the number is ten and you’re doing the rest of us a favor, or anything like that! Be smart!”

“...I apologize,” Ayano said, “Through asking the right question, it seems that I did open up a motive that we would not have otherwise received… In addition to whatever these next official motives will be.”

“It’s okaaaay,” Tooru said, “We all wish we could take back the last five minutes of our life! Besides. Yoshirooo mitigated it there. She’s right. No way we’re gonna be told what the number is, and trying to ‘get there’ won’t do us any good. So it’s not reaaally a motive at all.”

“Yeah, we’re good,” Yosuke said, “No more or less likely to kill people than we were before you asked your question, anyway! So. Enough of this, my lab’s open, I’m going to go check it out.”


	173. Daily Life: Day Eight (Yosuke's Lab)

Yosuke didn’t even stop to check if anybody wanted to come with him to his lab or anything, just stood up and left. He wasn’t actually that comfortable when the conversation started drifting to those kinds of things- The hypothetical of another murder so soon after the last one, he didn’t want to think about that. And the more they spoke about the ‘consolation prizes’, the worse he felt for being relieved that he got one that was worth his time for his trouble.

_Obviously_ he wasn’t suddenly okay with the fact that Jun died just because he got his lab. And he would have gotten his lab no matter who was dead- It wouldn’t have actually given him so much relief as he felt, if the victim was somebody he cared about less. In that case, it really was just a matter of ‘this isn’t worth the fact somebody died’, but he couldn’t help thinking that if he had to lose his _boyfriend_, at least he got _something_ out of it!

So what if that made him kind of terrible, of all the ways to be terrible, wanting to benefit from his own misfortune was fairly tame, wasn’t it? Obviously he was alive, so it wasn’t entirely his misfortune, but he didn’t consider it ‘benefiting from Jun dying’, but ‘benefiting from the loss of somebody he cared about’. So the version of it that _was_ his own misfortune. His lab was on the newly-built third floor of the lab building, which wrapped around the part of the ceiling which opened up in Jun’s lab, leaving it still able to view the sky. His lab didn’t get the privilege of having a door which closed, but that was fine with him. He walked in.

It was even better than he expected, actually. It really had the typical look of a puppeteer’s workshop to it, with wood flooring, paneled walls, and a workbench in the center of the room. Around the walls, too, there were counters with cabinets underneath and shelving above, some of those shelves with organized drawers. He investigated, and determined that all of these were stuffed with every tool that he could possibly need. From the most basic cornhusk dolls all the way to complex marionettes… Plenty of synthetic hair, plenty of fabric scraps the right size to make doll clothes with. It was almost overwhelming to actually have all of these options open to himself at once.

He’d like to have a workshop like this in reality someday, of course, but he usually just purchased his supplies for any given doll just before he planned to make it. The resources, anyway. Most _tools_ in dollmaking were definitely not single-use. The most important ones were stored in drawers underneath the workbench itself, each of them shallow trays which left space in between, so that he could stand and work with them opened if he wanted to. Of course, it wasn’t that surprising that the lab was so well-made.

Mercury could see inside their heads, when setting up the NWP. Mono had made this very clear. That was how she knew the fact of his gender, that he had been blocked by something in his memory from exploring for so long. How she knew the secrets she revealed in their motives, and in the executions so far. She knew everything in their brains, she had the cheat-sheet. So when looking for a dollmaking workshop to be his lab, she was capable of pulling directly from what he’d hope for from something like this. He wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, he’d appreciate it in spite of the circumstance. Morality be damned.

For the time being, he definitely didn’t want to take on anything that was too complicated. He was curious about the other new facilities, so he wasn’t going to undertake anything that would take several hours, so he settled for something relatively simple for him. A cabbage-patch type doll which had a painted plastic head and a fabric body. He got the mold set up with the quick-set silicone that he preferred to use. Part of what made him an Ultimate was that he went down to the grain with everything he did.

Why buy doll parts when he could make them himself in molds, why not sew their clothing himself, really, why not? He enjoyed every single aspect of the process, and it wasn’t like there was such a huge difference between tactile arts that he couldn’t build up his skills in everything relevant. Sure, there were a few things that he couldn’t do himself. One of the other labs that opened up today, he wouldn’t know the first thing to do with weaving textiles himself, but he could sew them together like nobody’s business.

He also couldn’t really _use_ puppets, when he made them. Of course he could make them, and plushies as well, anything that represented an extension of ‘dolls’ was something which held his interest greatly. But he hadn’t the faintest idea of how to make a marionette actually work for him, and needed to enlist outside help anytime that he tried a new pattern to make sure that it actually functioned well. There was an Ultimate Puppeteer in Dome City, who had learned over video call from the previous person who held that title. Yosuke was on good terms with her, if only professional terms.

Maybe now that he had this self-confidence, he’d actually go ahead and befriend her if he was able to get back to his normal life. It was weird, he thought. She easily could have been one of the participants here, really. She was an Ultimate in their age group. But she was able to escape this fate. How was that fair?

...Yosuke wouldn’t wish this on anybody. Obviously not. But then again, he _didn’t_ think it was fair, that he had to be here. That anybody was here had to be here, and there were so many other Ultimates out there who got to escape. That anyone Yosuke considered a friend got to escape this annd he was the one who had to participate. He was biting back tears again, and this time they were tears for _himself_ as he sewed up the limbs of the doll he was working on.

Why did _he_ have to be in a Killing Game? He, who never did anything? He was just a confused and miserable person. Everybody around him tried their best and he had always just been tied up in all the things which set him off. To cry, to shout, to go and isolate himself and devote himself to each of his main hobbies. To make dolls and to work out and not much else. He had a good group of friends once, but he couldn’t recall much about them, not really. It was a weird sort of forgetting, like maybe he was just too wrapped up in his own head to know but maybe, just maybe, he was being tampered with the same as the others.

How much had the children of Dome City been made to forget last year? Because it was only this past year he could clearly see his… Acquaintances. Syoko, he knew for longer, but she had hung out with this group as well. She brought a room to life, really, it was all what she did and it was thanks to her that he could ever have fun with people at all. The Ultimate Puppeteer helped him with marionettes their whole lives but only became friendly with him when Syoko was also there, and their other friends. And he and Syoko were here now, plucked from meaningless but happy connections. Why did they get to avoid this? Why? Why _Yosuke_?

He was thrown into this game before he even understood who he was. Before he ever had the chance to reach out beyond a cage of his own creation and make real, human connections. Now he was here and every connection could just.

_Break_.

Without warning.

How was he supposed to exist? How was he supposed to handle this? Why? Why? Why him? Why couldn’t he be granted even a second of genuine happiness to hold for himself, his real self, why did it have to be snatched away immediately and why was that threat still here? He could lose Syoko. Irarako. Shin, Tooru, people he considered his friends now and each of them was under threat of just being _gone_.

He set his needle down. [He stabbed it directly into the wood of the table in a fist which shook the entire workbench, rattling the tools in the drawers.]

The silicone head should be ready to be painted now.


	174. Daily Life: Day Eight (Motive Begins)

** 10:00 AM / 1000 Hours **

Yosuke finished making a doll.

He finished making the doll that he set out to make, and he set it on one of the counters, on display. He’d rather take it back to his room with him, but he didn’t want to carry it around the rest of the day, so he’d just come back for it. He knew that this one wouldn’t make it back into the real world, of course… Which was a bit annoying. He liked to always be growing his collection, even when he made a doll as a gift for somebody, he made two of them so that he could hold onto one. For his… Let’s call it portfolio, that sounded more reasonable than personal collection.

It wasn’t a crime to want a record of his hard work, was it?

He’d been busy for the better part of two hours, though, so it was time that he moved on. He poked the forehead of the doll that he’d just finished making, then wandered off. He wasn’t completely sure which lab he wanted to take a look at next, but when he walked out into the hallway, he decided to just go to whichever was nearest. That happened to be the kendoka lab. That one, as well as the fortuneteller lab, had a door. His own lab and Yuji’s both lacked them. So, since there was a door, he tilted his fist to rap against the wood sideways.

“Yeah you can come on’in!” Irarako called out.

“What? Who’s that?” A voice that Yosuke didn’t recognize at all said. He rolled his eyes. Was there another invader? Oh well, he opened the door. There was actually a monitor sticking up from the floor, with the face of a young woman on it. She gave him a sheepish smile. “Ah, you’re… Oowada, right? I didn’t recognize your voice, you sound kind of different now. I’m Rifa Kiriyaga.”

“Yosuke,” He introduced himself, “Yeah, I’m, you know. Trying to sound kind of different. Anyway, Kiriyaga… What’s going on here?”

“Seems what like this is the current motive,” Irarako explained, pressing the tip of her training sword against the floor to lean on it. Yosuke took a minute to actually look at her lab- It was a pretty basic dojo, though with some eclectic decor. Posters from various alien-related shows, X-Files primarily. Huh. So that was what she liked. There were also racks of training swords, and one display rack of what seemed to be actual swords. He grimaced and looked away from those. Back to Irarako, before he could wonder about the strike to his gut that seeing those swords somehow prompted for him. “At exactly ten the clock, this monitor came out the floor an’ now Rifa’s here. Mono said the motives would start ten, ye?”

“That seems about right to me,” Rifa said, “I was just sitting here when the monitor the game was being shown to me on changed to this. Uh, I didn’t even think this tv had a microphone in it, but… Well, I can’t really expect anything to be impossible right now?”

“Why for?” Irarako tilted her head.

“There’s… Well. I don’t actually know what’s going on outside, but. Apparently there’s a quarantine on right now, and some really awful stuff is going on. We’re safe here for now, that’s what the voice on the tv said. Me, and some others on the VIP list, and anyone else who was here…” Rifa shifted on the screen and glanced away. “It’s pretty scary, that all of this is happening at once.”

“Wait, seriously?” Yosuke asked, frowning. “A quarantine? You mean, there’s some sort of disease?”

“I dunno if it’s a disease.” Rifa shrugged. “But it’s something and it’s big. I don’t really want to talk about it…”

“What ‘bout…” Irarako said, “What ‘bout Oji-san? He not come with you to the rec center? He get stuck out there what where somethin’ real bad’s happenin’ an’ that’s why…”

“No, he died before any of this even started,” Rifa said, “I mean. I just never… Got around to telling you. It was actually a while back, I mean. I was really torn up at first, but now I’m pretty much okay, I just didn’t want to let you know. He came down with meningitis, and well... You know firsthand how little he trusts hospitals. He wanted to get better all on his own, and by the time I put my foot down and made him go, it ended up being too late. I’m sorry. I should have called you.”

“...Hah. Yeah, that don’t surprise me but one lil bit, Oji-san. Doc’s the enemy, right?” Irarako lifted her sword from the floor and wiped her eye with the back of the hand which held it. “Dumb fuckin’ dude. How many times he got to be proved wrong ‘fore he’d listen?”

“Had to be more than twice,” Rifa said, “Since that’s how many times he really was, before he got sick. Right? Your mom, and…”

“Hey now!” Irarako suddenly hit the monitor with her sword. “We don’t needa go talkin’ bout all that! My good frien’ Yosuke, he’s right here. An’ his boyfriend got killed so don’t go bummin’ him out with Oji-san’s dumb-crap life story!”

“Right, right,” Rifa said, “Well, no offense, Oowada. I’m sure that you’re a really great guy, but actually, I think that me and Ebizakaya should talk alone about these things. If she would rather that I not bum you out. I want to be able to speak openly with her, and I can’t do that with you around.”

“I completely understand,” Yosuke said, then turned to Irarako. “But you don’t have to keep things private on account of me, Ira. If this stuff is hard for you, then I’m ready to be here as moral support.”

“...Nah,” Irarako said, “Not that I don’t appreciate the offer but, yanno! You got ‘nuff on your plate, an’ whatever’s I got coming to me I can handle it. Thanks for checkin’ my lab out though, ain’t it sugar sweet?”

“It is pretty sweet,” Yosuke agreed, leaving out the discomfort he felt with those metal swords on display. “You should have a look at mine sometime, too. I could even make you a custom doll if you’d like that.”

“Sure would!” Irarako laughed. “Well, bah-bye for now. I’ll be seein’ you round, though! Spot any others what you see, warn ‘em what the motive is?”

“Will do.” Yosuke saluted as he turned, and walked out of Irarako’s lab to leave her to her conversation. Upon shutting the door behind himself, he chuckled. Jun would have cracked the door and listened in, wouldn’t he? Yosuke had no plans of doing that. But, at least he had already reached this point where he could think fondly in such a way.


	175. Daily Life: Day Eight (The Weaving Lab)

** 11:00 AM / 1100 Hours **

So, Yosuke set his sights on the next open lab, the other one which was a comrade of his own in its lack of a door. The Ultimate Weaver’s lab. As soon as he so much as approached the door, it smelled… Salty, like seawater, though there wasn’t actually any to be seen when he walked in. Honestly it smelled more like the ocean in here than the actual ocean of the island did, by comparison.

The flooring was wooden just like that of his own lab, but much less smooth. It resembled more closely a dock, which made sense with what he knew about Yuji’s hometown. In general, the room echoed what he would expect from an Okinawan fishing village, with the addition of Yuji’s talent-specific items. There were crates scattered around the room which, he was sure, held materials. One obviously had long dry reeds that were used in the weaving of baskets, but that wasn’t what Yuji was currently up to. Instead, he was seated and working at a loom.

Hiyoko was hovering over his shoulder, watching him work. He seemed to be working on a cotton textile that was primarily black, with the occasional red threads worked in, just enough to give a double-take at the color and not so much that it seemed to be striped. Yosuke waved from the doorway. “Hey there. Already at it, yeah?”

“Oh, Yosuke! How’s the day treatin’ you, doll?” Yuji looked up with a smile and didn’t stop working at all. “Yeh, of course. I haven’t been able to do anything this whole time, the ideas have just been piling up! Ah, in some ways… Hiyoko is my muse, if she weren’t here, perhaps I wouldn’t be so overflowing with things I would like to create.”

“He’s making fabrics just for me,” Hiyoko said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Ah, finally, something that truly suits the vampire princess. Though…”

“I actually can’t sew,” Yuji admitted, “So the best bet would be just using the fabric as a cloak, I guess. I’m not sure how I can do this so well and be completely lost when it comes to putting it into any useful format, to be frank, but it seems that skill is just out of my grasp…”

“Well, I can sew?” Yosuke offered, “I’ve never actually made full-sized clothing, but there’s a lot of sewing in my profession. Whether it’s for the dolls themselves or to make them clothes, I’m pretty experienced in that category. What sort of thing would you want this made into?”

“Ah!” Hiyoko brought a hand to her mouth, looking back at him wide-eyed. “I didn’t even think of that! Usually, Yuji and I just work with a seamstress to bring his textiles to life, and I assumed we didn’t have that option here… But would you really want to put in that much work for something that’s so temporary?”

“From a certain perspective, dear.” Yuji shut one eye. “All clothing is temporary, that doesn’t keep me from being stunned to see you in it.”

“I mean! Uh! Oh, gosh!” Hiyoko covered her face completely now. “Yuuuuji! Do you have to say stuff like that in front of people?”

“I need to reassess the fact that we are very much in love at every opportunity,” Yuji said, “After all, look at us. Any hint of weakness in our romance and we’ll both be swarming with other suitors.”

“Then,” Yosuke said, “I’ll make it a skirt. With ruffles. Would that work for you both?”

“Ruffles are always befitting of vampire princesses.” Hiyoko recovered immediately, striking a pose. “Above the knees, so as to leave a bit of room between the hem and the socks. A look befitting all women, but youthful vampires most of all. The gothic-lolita-esque style that blurs the line between the true chaste lolita and the allure of darkness…”

“So you’re an _anime_ vampire?” Yosuke asked.

“What other style would suit her better than that of an ‘anime vampire’?” Yuji asked, “She still has the glow of youth, after all. A flower just beginning to bloom, not a rosebush filled yet with mature elegance. For vampires who have reached that point, skin-tight ballgowns are superior, but for my darling Hiyoko… Absolute territory.”

There was an almost frightening glint in both of their eyes as they discussed fashion, so Yosuke decided to change the topic. “I can do that for you, just get me Hiyoko’s measurements and the fabric itself when it’s ready. While I’m here, I did want to pass on a warning. I was just in with Ira, and it looks like she got first crack of the new motive. It’s a video call with somebody important to you, I guess? She was talking to Kiriyaga from the VIP list, on a monitor that came out of the floor.”

“Somebody…” The glint had disappeared in an instant from both their eyes, but it was Hiyoko’s voice which now shook as she wrapped her arms around herself. “Somebody from the VIP list…?”

“Hey now.” Yuji sounded deadly serious as he set his weaving to rest and stood up, his hands on her shoulders. “Not necessarily… It’s not necessarily somebody from there? Dear, don’t get yourself all worried about this before it’s even certain that something bad will happen-”

“S-Stop it!” Hiyoko snapped, stumbling backwards and out of his grip. Yosuke thought that she looked somehow like a cat who had been frightened by a loud noise, but couldn’t find anywhere to hide. “How can you just say that so nonchalantly!? Yuji, you don’t understand, you don’t understand! There’s only one person on that list for me! There’s just the one! K-Kenta’s…”

“Hiyoko, it’s… Fine. I promise,” Yuji tried to console her, but she seemed to just shake more with every step he took closer. “Even if it is him, I’m right here for you. And it’s just a monitor. Just prepare yourself and think and remember that his words, dear, they’re useless, yeh? Can’t hurt you if you put no stock in the nonsense that he’s spouting!”

“You. Don’t. Understand.” She hissed through her teeth and shook her head. “I have to… I can’t do this, I have to go back, I can’t, why did I. I can’t be here! I have to be, I have to be ‘Ryota’! He can’t see me like this, not again, there’s no way…”

“I’ll be right here!” Yuji kept trying, but Yosuke reached out and grabbed his arm when he tried to move closer. “What’re you doing?? I have to help her!”

“Can’t you tell you’re just scaring her more?” Yosuke asked, dragging Yuji back a few steps with ease despite his resistance. “Hiyoko, is there anything we can do for you?”

“Hi-Hi-Hi-Hiyoko… Can’t be…” Hiyoko’s voice was raising in pitch and panic as she went. Her hands twitched and she held herself even tighter as she buckled over at the waist and released a _rending_

**scream**

directly towards the floor before falling over onto her side. dropping like a limp rag to lay on the wood, still shaking and twitching with no sound left but her frantic breaths and the tap as her shoes occasionally made contact with the wood beneath her.


	176. Daily Life: Day Eight (The Princess's Guards)

“Let go of me…” Yuji growled under his breath.

“I dunno, man,” Yosuke said, still holding him back. “From where I’m at, sure, you were being all lovey-dovey earlier, but as soon as she started panicking she was terrified of you. What am I supposed to take from that? How am I supposed to feel? Come on. Why was she scared?”

“Let _go_ of me you fucking bastard!” Yuji wrenched his arm, but it wasn’t any use. He grit his teeth and grabbed for Yosuke’s necklaces instead, pulling them in his hand with a twist that immediately put pressure on his throat. “Let go! Let me go help my _girlfriend_! What the Hell are you implying there, let me make sure she’s okay!”

The pressure that Yuji was putting on Yosuke’s neck with this stunt was nothing that made him feel endangered; The necklaces would break before any real damage could be done, but it was uncomfortable. Still, he held his ground. “Sure. Once you tell me what the deal with that was.”

“I…” Yuji let up on his grip, and the fire softened almost immediately as his initial anger went and he remembered that he was dealing with a reasonable person here. “I don’t really know. Sometimes she’s scared of me, but I swear, it’s nothing I’ve done. She says it herself, you know? I told you yesterday. She gets scared of _everything_, an’ everyone, and if I happen to be there she’s scared of me too. I’m used to it. I was trying to hold her back so she wouldn’t hurt herself… So can I please go make sure she didn’t? You saw the shit she just did, clear as me.”

“Okay.” Yosuke let go of his arm, but walked right behind him over to where Hiyoko was lying. Yuji crouched down and reached out, brushing her hair from her face.

“Hey babygirl. You know you’re safe, right?” His voice was completely soft now, soothing even as far as Yosuke’s ears were concerned. “You’re with friends and you’re with me and everything’s gonna be just fine. Did you hurt yourself falling over like that? Do we need to hit up the infirmary?”

“Nnh..” Hiyoko made a small sound and turned her face to the floor.

“I promise,” Yosuke said, “You notice what I did even to _Yuji_ just there? I got your back! Whatever you think is gonna happen, I’m on duty to protect you, too. Friends can do that, not just boyfriends. I bet even Ayano would pull out a few tricks if it meant helping you.”

“I’m sorry…” She squeaked out, keeping her face hidden. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to see me that way. I’m sorry.”

“That’s not a big deal,” Yosuke said, “Just earlier, I had a breakdown not too different from yours in my own lab. We’re all having a hard time here. I can’t claim to know what you’re dealing with or anything, but you’re not alone. Okay?”

“...Okay.” Hiyoko turned to look at the boys again and started to prop herself up on her elbows.

“Here.” Yuji reached out, and she let her weight fall towards his arms. He grabbed her by the midsection first, then gathered her up in a princess-carry. “Heh. I can do this no-sweat, Yosuke. And you managed to hold me back. Hear that, Hiyoko? Nobody’s getting through guys like us.”

“Mm.” She buried her face again, this time against his chest. “I think I did hurt my arm a little. I could at least use a tylenol…”

“Then, let’s go,” Yuji said, then turned to Yosuke again. “I’m sorry for what I said to you. I was just worried. You understand now, right? That I know what I’m doing with the woman I love?”

“Yeah.” Yosuke nodded. “You can get going, then. And once this fabric’s ready, don’t forget to bring it to me, either.”

Yuji nodded right back at him, then walked out of the room with Hiyoko still in his arms. Yosuke stood in the lab by himself and let out a deep breath. That was… Something, alright. He wasn’t actually convinced a hundred percent that Yuji was telling the truth, but what was he supposed to do about it? He didn’t want to be unnecessarily hostile to somebody he considered a friend, and he knew full well that Hiyoko’s distress could have nothing to do with Yuji directly.

That was a situation he didn’t need to get involved in, was the bottom line. Maybe in the future, it would become something that he did need to be involved in, but Yuji’s explanation did check out, and it would be worse for him to condemn somebody when there was every reason to believe he was innocent. Running a hand back through his hair, Yosuke turned and left that lab. He was thinking he’d run back to the main building to get lunch, but spotted Ayano and Syoko by the door for the fortuneteller lab.

He quickened his step to catch up to them. “Were you thinking of going inside?”

“Yes,” Ayano said, “I do want to know what it would have looked like. Her lab. I did not want to go alone, though… Since we will be stuck inside for any amount of time. I believe it is randomly generated.”

“So I decided to accompany her,” Syoko said, “After all, I’m curious too. Ruka considered me her worst enemy… It’s frankly a surprise that I wasn’t the one she killed. So I suppose I have some small responsibility here.”

“You have a weird sense of chivalry,” Yosuke said, “But I’m curious. Is it alright if I join you? I was going to get lunch, but if you’re going in there anyway. I’d also rather not get stuck in there alone, so if there’s the opportunity now…”

“Mhm.” Ayano reached for him and grabbed his wrist. “I would prefer if we went in together, yes. I am sure I won’t want to enter a second time, but I do not want you going in alone. If nobody else would go with you… Yes. Come along.”

Before Yosuke could even think to thank her, Ayano had also grabbed Syoko by the wrist and pushed the door open with her shoulder, sealing the three of them into the room for…

The timer only read ‘1:10’. It didn’t reduce immediately, so that had to be an hour and ten minutes, which wasn’t too bad. Yosuke had checked that first, but then turned his attention to the room, and…

This wasn’t much of a _lab_ at all.

There were windows on the far side of the room with the curtains drawn, and several glass orbs hanging in front. The wall with the door was plastered by tarot cards…

_And there were singed remnants of spider silk around the room._


	177. Daily Life: Day Eight (Cracks in the Dome)

** 12:00 PM / 1200 Hours **

“This is… It’s…” Ayano trailed off as she looked around the room. Before anyone could step in to even attempt to finish her thought, however, a monitor appeared from the floor. She jumped back, and it flickered to life, revealing that it wasn’t actually aimed at her. The person who appeared on the screen was Shuichi Saihara. But this seemed to snap Ayano out of her shock, at least. “Oh hello, Mister Saihara.”

“Hello, Ayano,” Shuichi said, “Uh, Syoko’s there with you, right?”

“Right here.” Syoko stepped into frame more properly, as only her arm would have been visible at first. “Hey, Dad. Can’t say I was expecting this… Are you really, uh, you?”

“Sorry, forgot to warn you,” Yosuke said, “Ira got this motive first, it’s communication with outside people. She got Kiriyaga, and looks like you got your dad.”

“Yes, it does look that way!” Syoko noted, “Is it just you? What about…”

“Ah… Yeah, I have to guess that Kokichi’s gonna get the chance if the motive keeps going? But as soon as the connection opened up, the doors shut, and they’re locked too. If he was in this room when it started, he’d be here, but looks like you just get me for now… Sorry, honey?” Shuichi scratched his cheek.

“Don’t apologize! It’s good to see you, too. I just wanted to make sure you’re both safe…” Syoko said, “You are, right? Safe? That looks like our living room, but I can’t assume!”

“We’re safe, sort of?” Shuichi said, “I mean. Individually, we’re fine, and we’re at home, and we’ve even been receiving resources. But there _is_ a reason we need to be receiving resources… The failsafe mechanisms were activated a little while ago.”

“Oh…” Syoko brought a hand up over her mouth. “What set it off? A disease? Warfare? Alien attacks from beyond the stars?”

“They were activated on Earth, too,” Yosuke added in, “That was something else that Kiriyaga mentioned, when I was off in Ira’s lab.”

“Who _is_ that?” Shuichi asked, craning his neck as if that would somehow re-center the monitor elsewhere.

Yosuke just chuckled and leaned in so he could be seen. “Hey, Mister Saihara. I’m Yosuke Oowada. We’ve only sort-of met before.”

“Oh, hello, young man,” Shuichi said, “Do your parents know yet?”

“No, this motive just started…” Yosuke admitted, “But I think it’ll be fine. They might be kind of upset that I picked a name without them, but that’s alright. Do you have an answer to Syoko’s question?”

“Why the failsafes activated… I don’t know the details at all, but. There was this girl who started talking during the game’s broadcast and said something about… A thing that wasn’t supposed to happen ‘yet’, and that we need to watch the end of the world. So nothing promising there, but also no details. We can’t see outside, either. But enough of that. It’s concerning, sure, but that’s not what’s important right now. How are you holding up in there?”

“It’s… I’d really be lying if I said that I’m okay,” Syoko said, “Obviously. I wish I was handling it better than I am…I don’t want to get into too much of it in front of my friends, but you can imagine the sort of pressure I’m under!”

“Kichi keeps telling you…” Shuichi sighed. “You need to imitate Star Trek. If you under-represent your capabilities, people are impressed when you’re the best, instead of expecting the best from you.”

“Usually, I like the best to be expected of me! But for once, I do feel like some things are out of my range…” She glanced at both Ayano and Yosuke. “I mean, these two know. I’m really squeamish about dead bodies, it turns out… But I volunteered as detective in the first investigation. At least so far, people have stepped in to help me with that, but it’s still a failure on my part.”

“I fell asleep crying during the first investigation of my game,” Shuichi said, “And I saw what you did, you know. That’s well-done, really. Reminds me of watching Kaede, in some moments. You definitely don’t need to be any better than that!”

“Remember,” Ayano said, “At the last trial, I figured it out. So you can share the burden. We’re all willing.”

“The last trial…” Shuichi noted, “So you’re a bit ahead of us, that makes sense. There needs to be _some_ delay to edit together what they actually want us to see. So… Who was it?”

“Hikari killed Jun,” Ayano answered this one, even though she had moved out of frame now. “She remembered about Doromo-san, and got convinced that it really was Jun. She was worried for my safety and nobody else’s so she carelessly killed him. That’s what happened.”

“Ah… Yes, that’s unfortunate,” Shuichi said, “But then, I guess that’s all I could really say no matter what happened… I’m still having trouble believing that this isn’t just one long nightmare. I’ve _had_ this nightmare before.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Syoko asked, “If any one of us could just wake up and it’s fine again… Can you warn Shirogane about her son?”

“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get in contact with anybody else,” Shuichi admitted, “But that woman said everyone on the VIP list, and those in the buildings with them, would be fine. So she’s alive, but unfortunately I have no way to deliver her any information… I don’t know how she’ll handle it. Especially after everything else that happened.”

“...Yeah,” Syoko said, tone suddenly dead serious, “Like tampering with my memories, right? So I’d forget whatever it is that turned Jun Shirogane into Barasu.”

“Ah-”

“I don’t imagine either of you were actually okay with it,” Syoko clarified, “I don’t think there’s anything you could have done to stop it, if it was really that big of a deal that people wanted to do that to us in the first place. But you did know, right?”

“...Yes. It was required, actually. Adults in your lives had to, even if we might have wanted to forget too, so that we could help you through it if you did remember,” Shuichi said, “And you haven’t, right?”

“No,” Syoko said, “Not the details, anyway. I remember Jun Shirogane to an extent, but there’s still plenty missing from that, and I have no idea what the real big incident was. You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

“It’s not my place to let you know,” Shuichi said, “I hope you can understand, I’m trying to speak out of respect for the others who were involved. One person does remember it in full, and it’s their discretion if they want you to know it. Or if you remember on your own. But I’m not in any position to explain it myself.”

“I understand,” Syoko said, “I won’t ask you to, then. It’s the same as this game… I wouldn’t tell you what I’ve learned about people here, if it wasn’t being broadcast to you anyway. It would be their discretion. I know if I were in, say, Itadai’s place… I wouldn’t want people seeing that side of me unless I trusted them, and I sure wouldn’t want people spreading that information about me to others.”

“...Some of the others think, you know,” Shuichi said, “That it’s you because we failed you. Not that we failed to protect you from ending up in a Killing Game, that you were picked for this game in the first place because we failed as your parents. You’ve all been through and dealt with so many things that we thought, by coming to this planet, we could escape from. And there’s still part of me that thinks you’re better off not remembering that incident. It’s bad enough, the things that you do remember.”

Syoko was silent for a few moments before she spoke up again, “You’ve been taking good care of Kaneki, right?”

“The best care that a hermit-crab-adjacent lifeform can get, don’t you worry about that,” Shuichi assured her, “We wouldn’t let anything happen to your pet in your absence, trust me.”

“That’s good.” Syoko smiled now, for the first time during this conversation. “You know how precious he is to me.”


	178. Daily Life: Day Eight (The Workshop)

** 1:00 PM / 1300 Hours **

Once the door for the lab timed out and the group were unceremoniously booted from the ‘lab’, the monitor did seem to follow Syoko out. With that, they decided to split up, so that Syoko could have some time alone with her dad away from Ayano and Yosuke’s input. Yosuke himself figured that the ship had already sailed on eating lunch today, so he may well check out the other new facilities instead. He found himself wandering over to the workshop. It looked quite different from his own lab, which was a workshop in his own right- This one resembled more of a warehouse with various types of equipment inside, and a smooth cement floor.

While there were plenty enough tools and equipment there, such that it would be completely possible to make an entire house with some time put into the process, there were no materials. Nothing to actually make anything… With. Which was strange, but then again, Yosuke figured that at least in some capacity that would be superfluous. He ended up going back to his own lab and putting together a binful of his own materials, which he brought down to set in the workshop. He’d leave these here if anyone else wanted to use them, it wasn’t like it represented a serious dent to the supplies in the lab.

With some materials actually down here in the workshop now, he took a second to wonder what exactly he was going to make. He was compelled to make _something_ after all, to actually test out this facility now that it was available. It was evidently capable of plenty of things, but he decided to stick to working with material that he was used to, and nothing too large while he was at it. Sure, the workshop seemed to have the _ability_ to permit the building of an entire house, but…

Well, how about something that was unlikely for any of them to make or find in one of their labs? If he just wanted to make some variety of wood sculpture, well, may as well make a doll out of it. There were wooden swords in Irarako’s lab, so there wasn’t much point to making any of those. Why was his mind on weaponry? Maybe it was because of what he’d seen at the end of that trial, with Rei being attacked directly. His scissors had proved useful, but they were small, and he was only able to get one blow in before he had to pull back. So he got to crafting…

Arrows.

Yes, he was going to make arrows. There was a machine here which could be easily set to make different sizes of wooden dowels from the blocks he’d brought from his lab, and from there, it wasn’t especially complicated to combine those with the relevant additional pieces. He wasn’t completely sure why this was what he’d been compelled to create, and the first few were definitely subpar in quality, but as he kept going they improved to the level that _maybe_ they would be useable by somebody who knew how to use a bow.

He did not know how to use a bow, or any weapon, really. He could hold his own in a fight by virtue of using boxing as a workout method, and could improvise, but had no real ideas on the use of any real weaponry. Irarako did say she could show him some kendo moves sometime, though. And maybe with how much she cited hanging around the dojo, she’d know a thing or two about archery to boot? Not that there was any immediate reason to learn. Obviously, fighting back against Mercury was unlikely to get them anywhere…

But that pang of dread in his heart when he saw those real swords there, certainly metal, certainly sharp. Even at a glance, there was nothing dull about those. He wasn’t sure why those edges set _him_ so on edge to see, but they did, and some ability to wield one himself might give him the kind of confidence to figure out why. Or to avoid… Whatever that reason had been, from coming back to bite him.

He noticed, as he was working, that it had become…

** 2:00 PM / 1400 Hours **

And wondered who the motive had changed to. It wasn’t him, but there were eleven other options, and since he was alone in here he had no indication to speak of. It was just a passing curiosity, really. Eventually, he had used up all the dowels he had made from that one chunk of wood, and turned the final resulting arrow over in his hands. It was surprisingly simple to get the hang of this; Probably not from a baseline, maybe. But as somebody who was used to working with the materials, making things with his hands, it wasn’t an arduous process.

This last arrow, and several of those leading up to it, was perfectly serviceable. At least it appeared to be. Lacking the knowledge to use it, he couldn’t say for sure, but it did seem likely that he had succeeded. And with that, he set them all in a pile together. Furrowed his brow, tossed the worst ones in a different part of the room, then turned and wiped his hands on each other and-

“Wha!” He startled to see that Tooru was just standing right there in the doorway of the workshop. “Hey! Jeeze. You surprised me.”

“I waaalked in about twenty minutes ago,” Tooru said, “But you were handling those arrows soooo adeptly, I guess I found myself mesmerized!”

“You did not,” Yosuke said.

“Mm. Right, well, I’m moooore curious why you were making those at all, really.” Tooru poked his own cheek. “I mean… If you waaaanna kill somebody, isn’t a handmade weapon sorta a dead giveaway that it was you? Unless that’s your intention. Is thaaaat it? Wanna send a message?”

“I don’t even know how to use these,” Yosuke said, “I don’t really know. I kind of just wanted to make something different from what I usually do, and arrows seemed easy enough.”

“Suuure,” Tooru said, “That really just seems like a lot of stupid work. When there’s soooo many weapons here. Why bother making anything at all, if that’s all you can think of? Not very creative thiiinking there. Hah. Well, I just wanted to see what this place looked like, but I was on my way to the bathhouse. Care to come along?”

“That’s the only new place I haven’t been yet, so. Sure.”


	179. Daily Life: Day Eight (Who Would You Die For?)

** 3:00 PM / 1500 Hours **

Yosuke followed Tooru out of the workshop and in the direction of the bathhouse, trailing just a few steps behind him. “So. I have to ask, how are you dealing with all of this?”

“Meee? I mean, there’s not a whole lot for me to be dealing with, personally. I’m an easy-breezy sorta guy,” Tooru said, “People live, people die… It’s tragic, sure, but it’s not like death is something that really affects me that much.”

“You can say that, but…” Yosuke frowned. “You don’t have to mince words just because you’re talking to me. I can’t fucking stand when people lie to me like that’s going to spare my feelings, dude. I want to know the truth.”

“Who says I’m lyyyying?”

“You didn’t renounce Ruka during the trial at all. Ayano did, and it’s still obvious that she’s being hit harder by losing her too than she would be if the culprit was someone she didn’t know as well. You were the one other person here that Ruka really called her friend. It can’t just be ‘easy-breezy’ for you to be in that position with everybody around you acting like someone you cared about was just objectively terrible.”

“Can’t let that bother me much. What am I s’posed to do, huuuuh? Ain’t like you don’t think she was objectively terrible too. Maybe I just don’t understand her enough to call her evil,” Tooru said, “If everyone thinks somethin’... Then I’m probably the one who’s wrong. And I have to deeeal with that.”

“I’m angry with her for what she did,” Yosuke said, “That’s true. Killing Jun was objectively wrong. And what she did to that other guy, Ayano’s ex-boyfriend? That was wrong too. She also wasn’t very nice, in general. But that’s just what I saw about her, so. I know you saw something else, and none of us are considering that before we just trash-talk her in front of you.”

“You’re still dooooing it, you know,” Tooru said.

“I never said that I was going to stop,” Yosuke said, “I just said it can’t be easy for you, with all of us doing it. There’s a difference. It’s not easy for me, keeping from bursting into tears every time I think about him. I’m admitting to that. It’s not easy. So you can’t say, if I ask you how you are, that it _is_ easy. That’s just fucking dumb.”

“...Well. Alright then.” Tooru nodded and looked away. “I gueeeess that I did just see different things about her. And in the end. Even if she was mistaken, even if it didn’t work out and didn’t need to happen. She thought that what she did, she did it for love. Both times. You fell in loooove, right? So you can understand? If you don’t feel regret that Hikari is dead, that’s just the same as being willing to kill for Jun. So I can’t hold it agaaainst her, that she thought that way.”

“So. You still think of her as a friend now, because… You think that murder is romantic?”

“Yeaaaah. Something like that. If you do it for the sake of loooove, what else can it be?”

“I get it. You two vibed so well because you have that same weird outlook on things. Like romantic love’s the most important thing, and any sacrifice or cruelty is worth it for that. Hah, it’s almost a shame that you two had incompatible orientations, right?”

“Mmm… Suppose so. I haven’t even _got_ anyone right now to moooon over. Maybe if us ‘weirdos’ were mooning over each other, things would’ve been different. Or maybe not. Maybe it’d be all the same, just maybeee… Who knows, Ruka might’ve killed Tsubasa because he’s too dangerous to share a room with? Or something?”

“Guess it doesn’t make much of a difference, huh? Even you think that, that she was inevitably going to do something like this?”

“Deeeefinitely not compatible with the Killing Game, the way it is now, anyway. I don’t think she’d really be a danger if it was the way it was a while back. Shinku was telling me, that it’s a pretty new thing for there to be the promise of setting two people free. That it uuuused to just be, the culprit goes free. If it was like that. I think Ruka woulda been harmless. But. Can you really say, Oowada? You reaaaally wouldn’t have done the same thing in her place?”

“In her place? We’re all in her place.”

“I mean. If somebody you really didn’t trust, was here. And you hated them. And you haaaad the opportunity to teach them a lesson, you’d take it. And if they died, you’d waaanna try to get out of here with the person you do love.”

“If she got away with it, you were going to die too.”

“I’m okay with that.” Tooru put his hands behind his head and shrugged all in one movement. “Of aaall the things to die for. Love is a pretty good option.”

“You’ve got a pretty strange view of the world,” Yosuke said, then looked up as they walked into the bathhouse. There was a sign which said ‘swimsuit bathing only’, two large doors, and some small doors at the sides. The small doors were labeled ‘single-occupant changing room’, while the large ones were… Split by gender. Well. “Oh, this is a bit archaic, huh?”

Tooru blinked, then put a hand on Yosuke’s shoulder. “Well, everyone here classes themselves as ‘boy’ or ‘girl’, so it should be fine, right? It’s swimsuit only, so there shouldn’t be any issue there. Right?”

“Hah, I… Can’t really say that I actually expected to run into this kind of issue so _soon_ after coming out, is all,” Yosuke admitted, “I mean. There’s still some awkwardness, I guess, to… Walking into a room that’s labeled for men.”

“Well look at it this way. Your whoooole life walking into rooms labeled for women, you were doing the wrong thing,” Tooru said, “I can’t believe you. Taking advantage like that.”

“...But I’m gay,” Yosuke said.

“Nope, nope, go with it. You were a disgusting pervert for eighteen yeaaaars, and now you’re finally turning your life around. Go on, get changed, and then we’re going in the bath.”


	180. Daily Life: Day Eight (Murimura)

** 4:00 PM / 1600 Hours **

The bath area itself was very nice- Lit at a comfortable dim, warm water, with a faint but pleasant scent something like, but not quite, aloe permeating throughout. Yosuke and Tooru had both become overcome with the spirit of relaxation and quietly sat in the water, no words exchanged, for a good amount of time when suddenly they were both splashed in the face.

“Bwahg!” Yosuke exclaimed, blinking quickly. This was not completely clear water, there was definitely something in it to produce that scent, so it stung in his eyes for a while until he’d successfully overcome it with the power of tears, for once serving their biological rather than emotional purpose. That being the cleansing of eyeballs, personal saline solution and all that.

The source of the splash, once he could see again, turned out to be one of those motive monitors. On it was somebody he didn’t recognize; A blonde man, with light brown eyes behind a set of glasses. So that must have been…

“Wh- Adaaachi!” Tooru stammered, “Well it’s, you’re, oh my, hello?”

“Could you try making sense?” Adachi Murimura asked, a laid-back smirk on his face. “Hey there Tooru. Can’t say I was expecting the opportunity to actually talk to you during this whole thing, but may as well catch up, eh?”

“Yeaaaah, may as well,” Tooru said, frantically trying to fix his hair from having been splashed in the face moments ago. “Sorry you uhhh, caught me at a bad time?”

“Not sure that’s possible,” Adachi said, “You’re real cute when you’re disgruntled. But, enough of that. How’s this whole thing treating you? The broadcast is a few days behind, but you do seem to have been fine thusfar.”

“Heheh, well, you know me. Things just kindaaaa roll right off.” Tooru raised his arms in a shrug. “Bein’ in a killing game, I had to die somehow so if it’s here, then that’s alright, I guess. Nooothing to think so much about.”

“Sure, sure. That’s how you’ve always been. Gotta say, though, I’d be pretty disappointed if a thing like this got you killed. I sort of always thought that it suited you most to pass peacefully in your sleep.”

“Aww, I thought the same,” Tooru said, “You know me sooo well.”

“So.” Adachi glanced over. “Who’s this guy? He your new boyfriend?”

“Yosuke? Nooo, no no.” Tooru shook his head.

“You don’t have to say it like that,” Yosuke said, “Seriously, you’d be lucky if I was. I’m a _catch_.”

“I’d say,” Adachi said, “Come on, Tooru, look at the biceps on that guy.”

“Ohhh, he certainly doesn’t compare where it counts.” Tooru brushed the issue off. “Aaaanyway. He was going to date this man who just got killed, so I don’t think he’s got any plans to move on. To me _or_ to you, so cut it with the fliiiirting.”

“Why should I?” Adachi asked, his tone turning a bit more serious. “You broke up with _me_, it isn’t like you should have any qualms with me trying to look elsewhere.”

“Which day is the broadcast on… The fifth day we were here, right?” Yosuke chimed in, “Tooru, he’s gonna see that question you asked about him in a few hours anyway.”

“W-Wait, that’s-”

“We received a motive showing us the VIP list, and were told to ask questions about its context. Tooru asked if you still love him,” Yosuke explained, and poked at Tooru’s cheek. “So I think it’s safe to say that there’s still something there, right?”

“But… Wasn’t his worst memory when he fell out of love with me?” Adachi asked, “That seems inconsistent.”

“I meeean.” Tooru shut his eyes and sighed. “I have to explain this again? I’m always gonna looove you, Adachi. But I wasn’t _in_ love with you anymore, and realizing that really _sucked_!”

“I imagine, but, worst memory?” Adachi asked, looking away. “Really? Nothing worse happened than… I mean…”

“Love’s the most important thing to me. _You_ were the most important thing, to meeee. And realizing that… You took the genuine feelings I had for you and took advantage of them to get what you wanted from me. Yeah. That’s pretty much the worst.” Tooru glared directly at the screen. “When what I wanted was a long-term boyfriend, and you wanted a _fuckbuddy_, that’s almost worse than if you rejected me outright.”

“I kind of feel like I shouldn’t be here for this conversation,” Yosuke said.

“Oh, no, it’s perfectly reasonable to have a friend around as moral support while on a skype call in the bath to your ex-boyfriend, who, _apparently_,” Adachi said, “Didn’t deserve to hear why he was being broken up with until months later.”

“I could dooo without the sarcasm,” Tooru said, “Look, it’s… If I talked to you about this stuff in persoooon, you’d just, do as you do and wink or something and I’d be aaaaall over you again with you saying you’ll do ‘better’ but never actually change the issues and. From here, you can’t seduce me into forgiving everything!”

“...Well that’s a fair point, I do have that kind of raw sexual energy,” Adachi admitted, “Though you say it like I’d use it in malice. You’re the one who’s so susceptible I could ‘con’ you like that without even trying. I guess that a distance conversation like this _is_ the way to work these things out. I would like to, you know. Work things out.”

“I’m going to leave.” Yosuke stood up. “You guys, uh… Good luck, I guess? If you really want to… Deal with these things. I can’t say I see why the two of you would bother, but all the power to you. Seeya round, Tooru.”

“Yeaaah… Seeya round.” Tooru nodded back in Yosuke’s direction. With that confirmation, Yosuke left the bath, changed back into his normal clothes, and stepped outside. No sooner had he shielded his eyes from the sun than there was a -thump- of weight against his arm. He turned to see one of the participants with comparable height to himself and insignificant mass, Homura, had basically just tackled him.

“Shinku… What’s going on?” Yosuke asked.

“You protected me, when I was being attacked by Mercury,” Homura said, “So come with me to Jun’s lab. I’m going to make it up to you by letting you in on a secret.”


	181. Daily Life: Day Eight (Homura's Secret?)

“Do we… Do we really have to go to Jun’s lab?” Yosuke asked, “If you’re just telling me something, you can do that anywhere.”

“Nah, can’t do it anywhere,” Homura said, “I wanna do it there cause, I don’t really understand you or anything! I don’t know what you’re capable of or what you might want to do. But I understand enough that you wouldn’t disrespect Jun badly enough to kill his roommate in his lab. So no matter what I tell you, I’ll be safe there.”

“That makes it sound like _you’re_ planning to kill me and you know I won’t fight back if it’s in that room.”

“Why would I be planning to kill you? Whatever, believe me or don’t. It’s up to you, like I said, I wanna pay you back for helping me. You could know something that nobody else knows, if you trust me. Or you could end up dead if I’m lying. The info’s worth the risk, though. Really. Don’t you wanna know why I think it’s a fair punishment that people get killed here?”

Yosuke paused. Admittedly, that was a compelling question. He’d heard Homura mention this fact before, but had always just assumed that it was some peculiar heartlessness on the part of somebody who did consider Killing Games to be entertainment in some sense- That as far as Homura’s true crime brain considered it, this was justice. But then, now that Homura had said it, Yosuke found himself infinitely more curious.

The reason why Homura thought it was fair… Was a secret of some kind? “You’ve successfully made me wonder enough about what the fuck that could mean that you’ve broken down my inhibitions. So, okay.”

“Hurray! That’s the power of my talent, that I can be so cryptic as to convince you to gamble with your life!” Homura took a step back and waved both hands. “Taking the risk that I might kill you, just to find out what I have to say… Of course, I have no plans of that! But, my words mean nothing if I am planning anything. So it’s still a gamble. One that you’ll win, though.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Yosuke scratched the back of his neck. “Let’s just get going before your nonsense makes me change my mind, dude.”

“Right-on.” Homura dropped his hands and walked toward the lab building with purpose. Yosuke followed along behind him, as he really was just along for the ride here. He could have easily walked alongside Homura, as he knew where they were going, but something about the situation told him to trail instead. Through the lab building, upstairs, and into the lab which had belonged to Jun Barasu.

Yosuke noticed something sitting on the desk, and wandered over to see. Ah, this was… A revised floorplan which included those semi-secret rooms that Jun had memorized. This might be useful to hold onto, so he reached out, folded it up, and put it in a pocket of his lab coat. “A… Souvenir, I guess.” He rationalized aloud.

“Do what you want,” Homura said, “I’m not gonna judge or anything. Makes no difference to me.”

“I guess you wouldn’t,” Yosuke admitted, “In any case. Are you going to actually tell me something, or are you going to kill me? I’d really like to know the outcome of the gamble that I made!”

“I am not going to kill you,” Homura said, “But I might just blow up your brain, so. I guess there’s that possibility in there, that I’ll commit _manslaughter_. But nothing intentional.”

“Damn, you really think you’ve got all of life’s secrets figured out or something, huh?”

“Not all of them, not by a long shot, but some of it. Funny you call it ‘life’s secrets’ cause, I mean, that’s kinda just what this is about. A secret about life.” Homura set his hands on the edges of his headphones. “I do think that the executions are a fair punishment. I think that it’s the least you can do for somebody you killed… To also know the experience of dying. I should think I can have an opinion on this, having been murdered before.”

“You keep saying things like that,” Yosuke said, “Don’t you? But, I thought you were just _almost_ killed. How could you have actually been murdered before and come back? Mono already told us there’s only one replicant among us, and that was Jun. That’s the only way I can imagine…”

“There are plenty of other ways. I mean, if somebody is killed in a Neo World Program, but the failsafes are on, for one. Or if your brain is backed up as an alter ego and put back in your body, you’re almost the same person. But I wasn’t killed in a Neo World Program. I was killed in real life. My brain just happened to be backed up, too, in a different way. Everything that composed my ‘self’...” Homura reached down with one hand to grasp a necklace which wasn’t there. “Was being stored in a particular device. From that, I could be recreated with the power of an organic nanomachine called Luciora.”

“Are you fucking with me?” Yosuke asked, “That sounds ridiculous. Just because that other stuff’s possible doesn’t mean I’ll go ahead and believe that recreating a real-life dead person could actually exist…”

“Wouldn’t you want to believe it, though?” Homura asked, clasping his hands now as he turned to look at Yosuke. “If I told you that… I think there might be Luciora here?”

“Huh?”

“This Neo World definitely has the failsafes disabled. That much is obvious. Mercury wouldn’t have bothered with trying to kill Rei so much, if she didn’t believe that they’d stay dead. Huh, for all I know, they still might have. Luciora’s unlikely to have any effect on replicants, I’m sorry to say. But, well. It’s a fair punishment that Itadai was executed for killing Nanjo… If both of them are going to be brought back to life by Luciora’s power.”

“So even if you’re telling the truth, and even if this thing is somehow in play here,” Yosuke said, “Jun’s going to stay dead?”

“Luciora can’t save him.” Homura shrugged. “But a qualified technician could. So there was always a chance there. As unlikely as Mono seems to think it is, that we could even get him to somebody qualified… Well, I dunno. Gonna be honest, this is a shot in the dark. But I’ll be okay with what’s happening, as long as I let myself think… That the Luciora I brought with me is saving people. If I faced up to the possible reality that everyone really is dead?”

“Well.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “If I faced up to that, Yosuke? I don’t know _what_ I’d do. It wouldn’t be anything good. So, why not believe in it with me? Maybe it’ll dry your eyes a little bit. Besides, it isn’t like I’m the _only_ person here who was part of the clinical trial, either. I know it was being tested on both Earth and Dome City. So? So you believe me. Right, Yosuke? Right?”


	182. Daily Life: Day Eight (I Don't Believe You)

** 5:00 PM / 1700 Hours **

“I don’t…” Yosuke reached for words. “That would be pretty great, Shinku. Or. Well, it just seems _too_ good to possibly be true, that nobody really died.”

“Oh, then you’re in luck, you misunderstand,” Homura said, “Everybody really died. They definitely did. They died. They just might have been brought back. I wanna believe that they’ve been brought back. It isn’t too good to be true at all, not really. Knowing how it feels to die, really knowing? The failsafes don’t let you remember the sensation. Luciora can’t undo anything. It just rebuilds you, your mind and everything’s the same. So, you get what I’m saying? It’s not really a good thing. It’s just different.”

“Different?”

“You can stay dead and then you’re at peace. Or you can be brought back with the knowledge of how death feels, and that’s awful, really. So I don’t know. I wouldn’t say Luciora is ‘good’. I would’ve rathered that I died, instead of deal with those memories, so. It isn’t a mercy. But it _would_ be nice for us, if those people aren’t dead anymore. I think it’s just the right amount of good that it could be true. It’s selfishly good… That I want it to be true even when I wish it hadn’t been true for myself.”

“Just because you say that… Obviously, it’s an outcome that you hope for,” Yosuke said, “But do you have _any_ kind of evidence that bringing Luciora to a Neo World would have that kind of an effect? Even if I believe you that something like this exists, even if I grant that possibility. What makes you think it could have that kind of effect?”

“I-I mean.” Homura took a step backwards. “I guess that I don’t have any evidence but it… Doesn’t it make sense that it would work this way? If a nanomachine that brings people back to life is connected to a device that stores the contents of somebody’s mind, that person can be returned. Doesn’t that last part… It describes the Neo World too, doesn’t it?”

“That’s just conjecture.” Yosuke turned toward the door. “When you said you had a secret to tell me, I expected it to be some brilliant insight from somebody with your kind of killing game expertise. In a place like this, circumstantial evidence can’t be enough… And pretending like it’s a given that two different technologies will work together? That’s the least objective thing I’ve heard from you this whole time. For a fatalistic person like you, this is some real shitty blind optimism.”

“I… Mean…” Homura took two more steps back, gritting his teeth. “You really don’t want to even… Humor me? Come on. Just say that maybe, it’s possible. That my selfish wish, it isn’t completely out of the question-”

“I think it would take more effort for those technologies to work together than that. It would be difficult to code, not some automatic fluke reaction,” Yosuke said, “You’re not stupid. You have to know this sounds ridiculous.”

“I…” Homura reached toward his headphones. “Well, I guess there’s one thing you’re _lying_ about. Couldn’t lie and say you believed me. Had to lie and say that you don’t think I’m stupid for thinking this, but if I’m _so_ obviously wrong, then I must be. I’m just a stupid kid and you want nothing to do with me. Why did I even think… That you’d be different?”

“I don’t know why,” Yosuke said, “I mean. It’s not like I know you that well, I can’t just blindly believe it when you tell me something that strange. I won’t tell _you_ not to believe it, but you really can’t expect me to. Sorry.”

“I just told you if I… Didn’t think this, I don’t know what I’d do. I don’t… Why would you-”

“You’re not going to blackmail me into saying I believe it,” Yosuke said, “Just because it upsets you to hear, doesn’t mean that I’ll just lie, come on. Look, I need to get going, alright? I’m on dinner duty and I can’t just stand here letting you make me feel bad for not buying your story…”

“Haa… Like you really feel bad. It’s okay, though. I’m the stupid one for thinking that it wouldn’t just be the same. As if I wouldn’t just keep on being a nuisance.” And before Yosuke could even think of any response, Homura had placed his headphones over his ears and turned away. So, Yosuke took that opportunity to leave after all and go to cook dinner. He _did_ feel bad in some ways.

Certainly not enough to change his mind, though, and he was more annoyed that Homura tried to _make_ him feel bad. He was apologetic that he couldn’t believe, but being accused of doing so for any reason other than his own unwillingness… He wouldn’t _let_ himself be pushed into feeling like he’d done something _wrong_ when he hadn’t. Obviously he sympathized with Homura, but he wasn’t going to lie to spare his feelings either. So, he made it back to the dining hall and into the kitchen area, to make dinner. Because that was something he _was_ supposed to do.

Believing nonsense, that’s ridiculous. Thinking he’d done anything wrong there, by refusing to accept something as the truth which he thought, pretty obviously, wasn’t. And Homura… Maybe he really did feel that way, but all Yosuke could think was that he was fishing for pity by saying those things. Trying to make him go back on being honest, to rescind his actual opinion and give in with some sort of bullshit… He couldn’t stand. That kind of.

Thing.

He was making dinner. He was cooking. What was he cooking? Well, who knows. Autopilot. It would be fine, yeah, it’d be fine. Yosuke wasn’t having a good day. He really wasn’t. There was earlier. And there was now, now. Now was being a problem? It was, wasn’t it, he was crying again, but what was such a problem it wasn’t like he _cared_ so much about Homura that it should actually bother him that he had been, admittedly, rude. But it was just standing up for himself, right? It was fine, it was fine. Everything should have been fine.

But it wasn’t. Why wasn’t it? He shouldn’t, didn’t, believe. Bad things happened when he believed liars. Bad things happened if he agreed with somebody about something that obviously wasn’t true and obviously wasn’t real and-

“Yosuke!” Irarako’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he turned toward the door to see… She wasn’t there. Where was… Right. She was on his other side, he turned to see her holding him by the wrist. He had a knife in that hand, pointed towards the cutting board he’d just been using. Why did she… She sounded panicked. She sounded.

Huh. He blinked a few times, looking back down at the cutting board itself. He had his hand on it, palm down. Intact, perfectly fine, but he could see how… “I wasn’t going to do anything.”

“Are you… Real seri right now?” Irarako questioned, eyes wide as she looked down at him. “Weren’t going to do nothing?? Then what the fuck _were_ you?”

“I don’t. Know.” Yosuke removed his hand from the cutting board, and Irarako extricated the knife from his other one. He felt a shiver go through himself. “I was just thinking about… Things. I didn’t even realize, I was. Making dinner in a daze… I wasn’t going to do anything. You know I wasn’t. Why would I do that?”

Irarako brought the knife down to hold it by her hip and looked at him, sideways. “Question of why… Yeah right. Anyone here could give a thousan’ reasons why you might wanna hurt yer-sel right now. But it ain’t really any of those, is it?”

“H-huh?” Yosuke asked.

“Yer shakin’... A whole lot. An’ it came on like this, seems like. It ain’t the stuff you’re already front-conning directly to the forehead. Lemme finish with dinner… Kay? Sit down and drink some water.”

He was about to protest, that he was fine and she was wrong and he could finish dinner. He would have, but… She said that last little bit, so level. She had to take time to think of what to say. She was worried about saying the wrong thing to him, giving the wrong advice, and he could… Admit that she was right to be concerned. So he just nodded, took a few deep breaths, and turned to leave the kitchen.


	183. Daily Life: Day Eight (Kenta-kun)

** 6:00 PM / 1800 Hours **

Yosuke took a minute to calm down. Or, something like calm. He wasn’t really, there wasn’t much that he could really do to actually be calm at the moment, but he was at least _present_, he was aware of what was around him and he even managed to dry his eyes, though he was still shaking. Anybody who looked at him could probably tell that he was dealing with _something_ or other. Irarako finished cooking, served food, and sat silently across from him. Nobody else sat at the same table. He, as usual, waited for everybody else to take a serving before he grabbed his own, large helping.

He sat back down and started to eat, an act which was more grounding than just sitting without doing anything. Irarako kept glancing at him as she ate, as if she was trying to think of something to say but failing to come up with anything. At this type of time, was there anything that could be said? Probably, sure, but Irarako couldn’t think of it. Emotional support was something that was expected of so many, but rarely were those people actually as qualified as they’d need to be to offer meaningful help. For Irarako, that gap between advice she could offer and advice that would help was strong enough that she figured she shouldn’t even try.

Mere moments after the meal had been sorted out and everybody was eating, there was a shift in motive. Yosuke had noticed that Tooru was still talking to Adachi, and heard from Yuji that the unknown hours, from two till four, had been his to have a chat with Gavin. He seemed oddly shaken by the encounter. Just like when Syoko got Shuichi earlier and lacked her other father, Megumi was nowhere to be seen there- So there must have been some prerogative of the system to focus on people when they were in a room alone, or something of that ilk.

The shift of it was obvious with everybody here in the same room. The monitor flicked off and descended into the floor, then another one rose, this one over near Hiyoko. She recoiled from it automatically, averting her gaze. It flared to life, and on the screen was a man. He had a fairly mousey appearance, wearing an argyle brown vest over a short-sleeved button up. The thick round glasses really cemented it, he looked like a light breeze would send him scattered in the wind. Not nearly as fragile, however, as Hiyoko herself suddenly appeared.

“Aw, hey, Hiyoko. Sweetie,” The man on the monitor greeted her with a quiver in his voice. “You’re… Hey. Doing okay in there, right? Without your mother around, you’re getting in touch with yourself again, that’s _good_.”

Hiyoko didn’t say anything.

“...Come on, nothing to say to your old man? Looking at you and your boyfriend, I mean. Aren’t you putting all of that behind you? If you’re pretending like it never happened between the two of you, then, heh… Can’t you spare that sort of kindness for your poor dad? Pretend it never happened with me, too?”

“I have nothing to say to you, Kenta,” Hiyoko muttered. From where Yosuke sat, he could barely hear it, but did pick up on the name. So this guy was… Kenta Nageko. Hiyoko’s father, who…

“If you’ve gotta be here,” Yosuke directed at the monitor, “Then the least you could do is shut up and say nothing.”

“Wh… Hold on!” Kenta protested, “You’ve got the wrong idea about me, I swear… There’s all sorts of context missing when that bear just says that I beat up my sweet little girl so bad. It wasn’t like I was angry or really wanted to hurt her!”

“Then what _did_ happen? I was unaware that you could accidentally beat somebody within, quote, ‘an inch of her life’.” Yosuke stood up and approached that monitor. “Don’t try to tell me that you got caught up in a rough moment, or some bullshit like that. I grew up with a parent who has trouble controlling his temper, and he never once in the entire time I knew him hurt a single living thing, let alone a person.”

“Come on, come on! None of you kids know a thing about me, and you’re judging me over a misunderstanding!”

“What are we misunderstanding!?” Yume joined in now, shouting across the room. “Mono’s been correct about everything she’s told us, even things we don’t realize ourselves! She’s a psychologist with complete access to everything in our memories! If she said that you did something, you did it. We might be ‘kids’, but we aren’t just going to let some fucking asshole come in and tell us that we’re wrong-”

“I saw _you_ in the courtroom.” Kenta’s voice suddenly lost its nervous quality, solid and confident as he aimed his accusation. “You’re telling me that you’re any different? Even if it were just an act of aggression in a moment of anger, then you and I would be the same. You aren’t in a position to judge me.”

“I…” Yume froze where she stood. “Obviously I would never attack somebody close to me… So unless you’re telling me that you hate your own daughter…”

“I don’t… Ugh!” Kenta’s voice fell right back into that timid, pitiful tone. “I could never hate Hiyoko, I love her! That’s why, that’s the reason why! Don’t you know, that’s how some people show their love? I’m not proud of it but it’s just the way I am... Birdy, I love you so much, why won’t you just talk to me? Come on, just let daddy hear your voice again! I’m stuck in this public housing with your _mother_ right now and you know that’s just terrible, right? Can’t you humor me for old times’ sake?”

Hiyoko lifted her head, but didn’t turn to look at the monitor. “What is Karine doing there?”

“Oh, that was Sachiko’s doing.” Kenta raised both hands. “She wanted to come chew me out for being able to see you when she’s not able to? I guess they managed to block the frequency outright for people who aren’t on that list, in _this_ place anyhow. They were both here when everything, er, shut down. So we’re quarantined together…” His voice took on the steely tone again. “Karine didn't want her to be alone with me. She only called me Dad for a _decade_, and your bitch mother thinks I can’t be trusted?”

“Oh yeah, that’s real stupid.” Hiyoko’s voice now had… A similar coldness to it, though it was obviously put on to match her father. “_Sachiko_, you can be trusted alone with her. But I guess even after the divorce, that woman won’t stop worrying that somebody will steal you away, even her own children. How jealous can one person be?”

“Does she just expect me to be available to get back together with her the minute she gets over herself?”

“Maybe you should. Two dumb bastards like you deserve each other,” Hiyoko said, and Kenta went quiet for a few moments.

But he wouldn’t just shut up. Only return once more to the quivering nature. “B-But… Hiyoko, if you hate us both so much, where would you live if we did that?”

“I don’t hate our life as a family,” Hiyoko said, “If we could return to that, I’d be happy, even. That would be okay. But for now I’d rather that you just be quiet. Because that won’t happen, and right now you’re just… Causing trouble for my friends.”

With that, Hiyoko stood and walked out of the room, with the obvious implication that she would rather wait out the remaining duration of this motive on her own, without the interference of those around her. Yosuke didn’t feel guilty that he stood up for her, or anything. There was no indication that he was wrong to do so; Just that Hiyoko didn’t want to ask anybody to keep it up for any longer.


	184. Daily Life: Day Eight (Ayano's Journal)

** 7:00 PM / 1900 Hours **

After Hiyoko had gone, people finished up their meals and generally started to scatter about, as one generally did after dinner. Yume was the first to leave, shrugging off Saya’s attempt to go with her. Yosuke imagined that what Kenta had said to her had a greater effect than she was letting on, and he understood why. Yume did have anger issues- it was evident from the beginning. And unlike Yosuke, she didn’t seem to have good management tactics either, so being compared to somebody else’s volatile nature…

Yosuke probably could have said something to help if he had thought to try going after her himself, but then again, she might just want to be alone right now. He could understand that too. He was, himself, doing better than he had been earlier. Coming up against an outward antagonist let him get out some of the feelings that he couldn’t quite place, exert the buzzing in his brain towards something tangible, so now he felt… Less terrible. At least he was thinking normally again, though not quite enough to be sure where he’d go next. Luckily, he didn’t need to, because Ayano approached the table he was sitting at.

“Yosuke,” She said, “I was thinking that I would go to my lab this evening. Would you join me? Just for some company. There probably isn’t much for you to do in my lab, but Hiyoko’s already left, so…”

“Sure thing.” Yosuke nodded and got to his feet, glad to have direction handed to him right now.

“You can come too if you’d like, Ebizakaya.” Ayano turned toward Irarako. “I didn’t intend to steal Yosuke from your company, I just wished to have his company myself. So you’re certainly welcome to join us.”

“Hey, real thank! But I’m thinkin’ I’m gonna to my lab some more. Didn’t get to enjoy it nearly as much as I coulda earlier, what with Rifa makin’ her unexpected television appearance there. I got the motive first, so I weren’t even prepared a lil bit…” Irarako said, “Oi, Mono-kuma?”

“Yes?” Mono appeared.

“You able what to clarif on that motive for us yet? You didn’ even show up during dinner or nothin’.”

“Ah, I was planning to, but…” Mono said, “I frankly didn’t want to be in the room with Kenta Nageko. After all, I have a complete understanding of the effect that man has on Hiyoko’s psyche. I don’t want to be attached to you kids, but to an extent, I can’t help but care… And I would have said something I’d regret.”

“I don’t regret what I said at all,” Yosuke said.

“I imagine you don’t. In any case, the current motive works about as you’ve already determined for yourselves. Every two hours, for a two hour block, you have open communication with somebody you know outside. You cannot avoid this. The motive suspends during nighttime hours, of course,” Mono said, “That’s about it for the rules. Oh, the person who’s speaking to you does get locked into whichever room they’re in, but this doesn’t have the intelligence to prevent others from being locked in with them. It’s just coincidence that those who have been cohabitating have only spoken to you individually thusfar.”

“Thank you for letting us know,” Ayano said, “I don’t imagine that you would be willing to indulge me on what exactly it is, that leads you to be so upset with Kenta Nageko?”

“Even if I was allowed to do that, I wouldn’t. It’s only Hiyoko’s place to tell you.”

“...I just want to know what’s going on with my friend,” Ayano defended herself, “It isn’t like I’m trying to go behind her back or anything. After what happened just now can you blame me…?”

“I don’t know,” Mono said, “You didn’t know what was going on with Hikari, sure. But you knew as much… More, even, about Jun’s problems than he did himself. That didn’t end up helping you.”

“Oh.” Ayano dropped her hands to her sides. “You’re right… Well, thank you anyway. Yosuke, should we get going?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Yosuke agreed, and with that, Ayano breezed past to leave the room. He followed her along to her lab. He hadn’t actually been in here much before, just the cursory glance to see what was up with it before. It was an interesting place, and it too, gave him some information about who Ayano was as a person. “Hey, is it alright if I move some of this stuff around?”

“What for?” Ayano asked, already sitting down at her desk.

“I was thinking that if you’re going to be sitting there doing stuff, I could also do some stretching, right?” Yosuke said, “If that’s okay with you, anyway…”

“Oh, that’s fine, yes. Here.” She pointed out a particular part of the room. “I know where the stuff there goes, so feel free to move it and I’ll put it back when you’re finished. You have been exercising quite a bit, haven’t you?”

“Yeah. I have,” Yosuke admitted, “But you know, when it comes to coping mechanisms, I’m pretty sure this is one of the healthiest you can get. Though what you’re doing, looking to art and shit? I think I heard that’s pretty good too.”

“I’m not sure I’d call what I do _art_...” Ayano fidgeted. “It’s certainly not, if I compare it to what you do. Though, has that not been helpful for you right now?”

“Not really, no. I made a doll earlier today and I kind of ended up having _more_ of a breakdown. It’s like… That stuff is so second nature to me, it doesn’t occupy my brain or my body enough to keep me from thinking about things I don’t want to. It’s really more of an activity for the mentally-stable Yosuke. Anyway, you seriously saying that calligraphy isn’t art?”

“Well, I sure can’t draw to save my life…” Ayano said.

“And what you do isn’t, uh. Drawing words?” Yosuke prodded, “That’s what it is, you know. It isn’t just writing, there’s a lot to it, isn’t there?”

“There is,” Ayano said, “But I mean… Well… A lot of it, anybody can pick up and figure out, you know? Especially with things like brush pens. I half think that what qualifies me as an ‘ultimate’ is just because I use inkwells and quills more often than more modern supplies, heh.”

“What are you working on, anyway? Writing Jun and Ruka’s names like you did last time?” Yosuke asked. Jun had passed that information on to him before.

“No. I already wrote Jun’s name.” Ayano held up a piece of card-stock. “And I meant what I said to Hikari. I told her flat-out that I wouldn’t write her name if she died doing something cruel. That’s exactly what she did, and I’m a girl of my word. I’m writing a journal.”

“A journal?” Yosuke asked, “What’s the point of that here? I mean. Correct me if I’m wrong, but journals are things you look back on to remind yourself of the past, aren’t they?”

“They can be. But this is a bullet journal,” Ayano said, “It’s less to say ‘what happened’ and more like a fancy day planner… These are actually how I got my start in calligraphy, so it’s calming to do. It makes me feel like things are kind of normal, even when they’re not…”

“I guess that checks out.”

“There’s something about having it all in a calendar, too,” Ayano said, “Just to have it here, in front of my face. How long we’ve been here and when things happened. I just have it right here on the calendar when everybody died. And what’s happened here. Fights between people. Relationships. Motives, anything eventful really. I tracked how much Jun was drinking in my own habit tracker and… Mm. Maybe this makes me sound terrible. But keeping track of these things just helps me to process them.”

“I don’t think that’s terrible at all. Do you bring the journal to the courtroom with you?”

“Yes,” Ayano said, “But so far it hasn’t been necessary. I suppose that I can remind people of things they may have forgotten if it comes down to that… That was my thinking. Was it yours?”

“Maybe I’m just too caught up in all of this that my first thought is how useful your personal journal might be for a murder investigation… But it would be. If we needed it.”


	185. Daily Life: Day Eight (Kurou and Ayu)

** 8:00 PM / 2000 Hours **

Ayano kept working on her journal, and Yosuke kept doing light exercise in the corner while they both chatted with each other. Yosuke found out that Ayano's favorite colors were red and pink, and that she had an albino angora rabbit named Haru who liked to sleep in her bed most nights. The love for rabbit-themed items was inspired by Haru, rather than the other way around. Yosuke told Ayano about how he never had a pet and could hardly care for a houseplant properly when he tried, but she teased him that maybe his dolls were just enough for him to care for anyway. He figured that made sense, really.

They spoke more on the difference between their engagement with their talents, as well. Yosuke was a dollmaker because he loved the end product, and his collection included plenty of dolls which _weren’t_ made by him, though the quality often paled in comparison, there were always gems to be found. Ultimates didn’t have a monopoly on talent. Ayano, meanwhile, preferred the act of her talent itself. She found it calming, and a way to express her emotions where she felt that she wasn’t often able to do it in ‘traditional’ ways. She didn’t much care about other people’s calligraphy, though she didn’t consider herself superior.

And at eight, when the motive shift occurred, Yosuke once more got to see a monitor pop up before his eyes. But again, it wasn’t popping up for him. Rather, it appeared on the opposite side of Ayano’s desk, shooting up high enough that she could see it past the desk’s shelving. The screen flickered to life, and unlike before, there were two people visible there. Kurou and Ayu Ueda, both sitting on a couch. Ayano looked up at them. “Oh. Hello.”

“Ayano!” Ayu exclaimed, “Are you okay? What’s been going on in there? I mean we’ve seen a lot of it but you know. Not all of it! We’re so worried about-”

“I am alive,” Ayano said, “Jun and Hikari are not.”

“...Oh,” Kurou said.

“She killed him yesterday.” Ayano lifted her pen to her chin. “She seemed to think that she did it for me. She seemed to think she was doing the right thing. I told her that she was going to Hell. I don’t understand how she thought any of that.”

“People can do… All sorts of awful things in a Killing Game…” Kurou said, “I know. I was in one, remember? There’s people who think that they’re doing something right, or people who think they don’t have any other choice. Do you feel guilty about what you said to her?”

“Not at all,” Ayano said, “She had plenty of other choices. There was nothing to tell her that she had no other option. She made the decision to hurt Jun, and she made the decision to cover it up when he ended up dead. It was intentional and she had the nerve to say that she was in the right there. By killing somebody who thought she was a friend.”

“It’s the situation, though,” Kurou said, “I understand why you’d be angry with her, but the circumstances are unique… I mean. I’ve long since forgiven everybody who committed a murder during my own game…”

“Dear,” Ayu said, “That’s different, isn’t it? The closest friend of yours who was murdered there didn’t end up dying.”

“You never know,” Kurou said, “They might not end up-”

“Is Ms. Hashi dead, Dad?” Ayano asked, cutting him off. “Has she died?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know that, Ayano.” Kurou adjusted his glasses and turned his attention back to the monitor fully now. “We’re mostly cut off right now. We’ve been able to communicate a bit, between our houses. Just with landlines, if we have the numbers. But not with anyone outside, and she wasn’t on the VIP list after all. I haven’t heard from her. That doesn’t mean she’s dead, though.”

“If she isn’t alive, then Jun can’t come back,” Ayano said, “He could. He could be alive if he could be brought to a qualified repair technician. Mono said that probably isn’t possible, which means that Ms. Hashi is dead. They’re probably all dead, if none of them were on the VIP list. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that it?”

“Anyone in the same building as somebody on the VIP list was sealed inside with them and guaranteed to be ‘safe’ from whatever is happening out there,” Ayu explained, “And we have no way of knowing what that is, currently. The world is falling apart, we’ve been told. But we can’t know who’s dead and who’s alive.”

“This is… too much,” Ayano said, “It’s all too much. Even if we make it through this game, what kind of world is waiting for us out there…? Is it worth trying? There has to be… A specific number of people, for an alternative objective. That’s what Mono said. So. Why am I still here? I don’t want to go outside to a world where my best friend is still dead and there’s nobody left.”

“We’re still here…” Kurou said. Ayu stood up and looked around the room for something, then sat back down with a rabbit in her hands, who she set in her lap. “Oh, and Haru, of course!”

“Look,” Ayu said, “She recognizes you… She’s been missing you a lot, you know. She won’t even eat the dry food right now, the little princess…”

“Hi, Haru…” Ayano greeted her pet, then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know. It isn’t as if I want to die, it’s just so hard to think about these things. It really is. Let’s talk about something else, um… This is Yosuke.” She gestured over to him. “Oowada, I mean. I think with what’s been broadcasted so far… You wouldn’t know him if you didn’t know Jun died, anyway.”

“So that’s his name,” Kurou said, “Hey, Yosuke. Nice to meet you for real, I kind of figured it was obvious, honestly. Tori sure thought so.”

“Bwuh-” Yosuke stammered at suddenly being involved in this conversation, “You guys talk about that kind of stuff??”

“I know, I know… We’re awful gossips,” Kurou said, “Parents talk about their kids and their kids’ friends, is all. It isn’t like I ever said anything weird about it, Tori and I just wondered what was up with you and figured that might be it. You gotta admit, you kind of give off, uh. ‘Worry about me’ vibes? That sounds bad…”

“No, I get it,” Yosuke said, “I mean. I probably still give off those vibes because I cry all the time and everything, so I don’t blame you…”

“It’s still kind of rude,” Ayu said.

“Well… I should go, right?” Yosuke said, “I was hanging out with Ayano, but now that you guys are here, it’s probably best if I give you some privacy to talk. Hey, Ayano? Take care, make sure you get back to the dorm building before night and all.”

“Mm.” Ayano nodded, and with that reminder given, Yosuke left.


	186. Daily Life: Day Eight (Edge of a Memory)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter art is by Ministarfruit on tumblr

** 9:00 PM / 2100 Hours **

Yosuke had, after leaving Ayano to talk to her parents alone, finished up the workout he was doing. He did it out on the beach, he just didn’t want to leave it in the incomplete state. But once he was done exercising and he was alone, back in his dorm about an hour after the motive had shifted, well. Being alone with his thoughts wasn’t a good idea. He’d recovered from whatever happened in his lab, then again from whatever happened in the kitchen, but he hadn’t really. Not really. He’d just put it on hold.

And it, whatever _it_ was, was back with a vengeance. He felt dizzy, and dropped down to sit on the floor, staring at his own hands against the carpeting. They seemed all too real, and not real even a little bit all at once. Uncomfortably so, he was here and present. Uncomfortably so, here did not feel as if it was any sort of real, actual place in which to be present. The thought of it made his head hurt. Looking at it made his head hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut. That didn’t help GOD that didn’t help at all it just made things worse.

Who was he to do this? Who was he to be Yosuke? Who was he _trying_ to fool? It was ridiculous. It was _ridiculous_, wasn’t it? For him to claim to be somebody like this, to claim he could define who he was for himself rather than from what other people believed and perceived of him. What gave him the right? But who was it who ever tried to define him for him before? Who was it?

He knew it wasn’t his parents. Obviously it wasn’t his parents! He sucked in a choked breath and brought both trembling hands to press against his eyes. They were always fine, there was never anything wrong there. They always encouraged him to be whoever he wanted to be however he expressed that and it wasn’t like they knew that he didn’t have the faintest idea of who that was, and who he was being, that wasn’t the person he was encouraged to be-

That was the person that he had been-

_”There’s a fun game to play with little boys who like girly things like this. It’s a lot more fun to take dolls apart, than to play with them like girls do, you know.”_

Don’t _touch_ them what are you _doing_ you’re HURTING THEM.

Who was that? Who did that, back then, who said those things to him? To Yosuke? It was before. It was long enough ago that Yosuke, he thought, he didn’t even know his parents yet. Yeah, it was before he even knew them, so who was that? Who said that? It wasn’t the people who managed the foster care. The Kaguyas would never say or do anything like that so who was it? Who was it? Where did this come from?

Of course those two ‘managed’ the system they were as hands-on as they could be but it wasn’t as if it was their main job it wasn’t the focus of their time they were just doing their best there were plenty of others involved and he imagined those two didn’t personally vet everybody who was involved there were others who were involved and others who vetted those who were involved and he couldn’t blame them at all it obviously wasn’t any part their fault that such a person found their way into Yosuke’s life but-

**WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT PERSON??**

And why was he- Why was he thinking about this stuff right now? Where did this come from? What was going on? There were so many other things for him to worry about right now and whatever happened in his past should have no part of it. He was able to get through these concerns to assert himself and who he was and that should have been enough he dragged his identity from the depths and shut the door behind him. He had to have shut the door behind him, obviously, that was what he’d do so where was this coming from where did it come from how did it escape how did it get out get OUT OF MY HEAD.

He needed to stop this he needed to break out of this where was it coming from? Why, why right now? He had so much on his plate. The Killing Game, his own existence, Jun’s death, _all_ of the deaths so why was this sort of thing coming up? Didn’t he have enough to deal with? Wasn’t he struggling as it was? Why was it that he mind saw fit to show him such cruelty as to pile on more, to do as it did so often and take just one shovelful of dirt to unbury something that he never wanted to know?

It was so much worse, one shovel at a time, this way. It had always been like this, though, so he guessed he didn’t have anything to compare it to. Maybe it somehow would be worse, if it were dug up all at once. He had no way of knowing, but he couldn’t imagine it actually would be. One piece at a time, and he couldn’t dig any deeper himself. There was more, he knew there was more, and it was out of reach and…

_How deep did it really go??_

He needed to move, he needed to stop this. He tried to stand up, but didn’t go anywhere. Couldn’t move, couldn’t get up. Try again. Okay, he was on his feet, but where was he going to go anyway? What was he going to do? He didn’t know how to deal with this, how to stop feeling this way and he _needed_ to stop he couldn’t keep this up not right now he needed to keep it together. He needed to get it together and keep it there, please, there’s bigger things at stake here than something wrong with him that he couldn’t even _place_.

He took a breath and stumbled toward the bathroom, but he didn’t get very far. He didn’t know how long he was trying to move and he didn’t hear anything other than the ringing in his own ears, but suddenly. Syoko had a hold of him. He didn’t hear or see her come in. But she was holding him, firm, in place.

“It’s not okay, is it?” She asked, “The way that we grew up.”


	187. Daily Life: Day Eight (It's Not Okay)

** 10:00 PM / 2200 Hours **

“H-Huh?” Yosuke questioned, “Syoko, what do you…”

“It isn’t okay,” She repeated, “It’s not, it’s really not, stop trying to tell yourself that it is. As if we don’t have a right to be hurt by anything that’s happened to us just because we grew up somewhere that’s ‘better’. As if admitting that you’re not okay is some kind of injustice to people who grew up here on Earth.”

“Who says that I’m doing that?” Yosuke asked.

“I know that you’re doing it, because I’m doing it!” Syoko exclaimed, and held him tighter. “I know how it feels, I promise you, I do! We grew up hearing it all the time, Dome City is so much better and so much safer and it’s away from all the problems on Earth, so what’s it matter if we still have problems? Obviously, those are petty, they’re nothing at all, but it’s… Yosuke, we’re just pretending. We’ve all been pretending. Even outside of what they did to Jun, even outside of messing with our memories, we still… Never wanted to admit that everything we heard was wrong.”

“It’s not like it was… wrong…” Yosuke said, “I mean you… We know what happened to Itadai, right? That’s nothing like what. It’s not a big deal, really. At least for me, we know I’m just overreacting. I’ve always been like this, I’m so fucking overemotional. I shouldn’t be falling apart about anything outside of the Killing Game right now. Let alone something that happened when I was such a little kid? It was nothing. Obviously it was nothing. Dome City doesn’t have bad, disgusting people. So I’m getting worked up over nothing.”

Syoko pulled away, keeping her hands on Yosuke’s shoulders as she looked him in the eyes. “That’s what we’re supposed to think. That doesn’t mean it’s true.”’

“But…”

“Trust me?” Syoko tilted her head. “It’ll be better. It won’t be worse, it’ll feel better if you let yourself understand the truth. We were being told that it was a good place, but think about it. If they covered up some incident with us by wiping memories… Who’s to say they didn’t do that all the time? Who’s to say that there weren’t so many more crimes that just got swept under the rug? We can’t even trust ourselves… So we definitely can’t trust them.”

“And you’re saying this to me because?”

“Because I can tell you’ve been feeling the same way as me, this whole time. Like whatever negative emotions we feel, it’s unfair to the others?” Syoko took a deep breath. “I want you to acknowledge it, Yosuke. That we’re not okay, what happened wasn’t okay, and it’s okay that that’s the truth.”

“But it’s not like my parents…”

“It isn’t their fault,” Syoko said, “Whatever happened to you isn’t, I know that. If the sticking point is that you love them too much to blame them, then don't. You don't have to. And I know they didn’t want our memories messed with either, but they didn’t have much say in it. It’s just… It’s everybody’s fault, for making the kind of society where we feel like it’s wrong to admit that our lives have been far from perfect?”

“I don’t even know… ‘what’ happened to me,” Yosuke said, and opened a hand he didn’t realize was clenched. His scissors fell to the floor. “What right do I have? I was born in Dome City, the place free from the Quiet War. Where we were never supposed to suffer the way our parents did. And here I am, being torn up by a memory that I don’t even have. It isn’t my place to feel this way.”

“But it is. It _is_ your place to feel however you feel, because you’re you.”

“What right do I have to be me?”

“Hey, come on. That’s _my_ line,” Syoko teased, trying to lighten the mood, to no avail. “I mean… Do you think it was erased too? Whatever else happened to you?”

“If they didn’t erase your past, why would they erase mine? I don’t think they even figured out the technology till they used it on us… It was a year ago, right? You know that much. Now that we know it happened, I can figure out when.”

“Right…”

“So nobody erased anything from my mind. I’m just… Overreacting to something innocuous that I barely remember in the first place. It’s nothing more than that. If it were anything more, I think I’d know. Right? I should know.”

“Not if it was bad enough,” Syoko said, “I mean. Look at Itadai, right? He completely buried a chunk of his life, because if he remembered it, he couldn’t exist the way he felt he needed to. He figured out who he was, but had it shattered, and his memories of that time with it. So it isn’t surprising, the same could have happened to you, you know.”

“You’re supposed to tell me…” Yosuke muttered, “That I _am_ scared about nothing. That I’m imagining worse scenarios than could have possibly happened. That whatever exists in my memory is all that exists at all and I’m just an overemotional idiot getting fucked up by nonsense that wouldn’t make _anybody_ this much of a wreck for more than a fucking decade to come.”

“That’s clearly not what you need to hear right now. So it’s not what I’m saying. Your concerns are valid. It’s possible that something happened. It’s possible nothing else did, but does that really matter right now? It's hurting you either way. What matters is that you need to feel better. So let’s go get some ice cream from the gift shop, and maybe then, you can get some sleep?”

“Why are you trying so hard to help me?”

“We’ve known each other for a _really_ long time, you know. You’re my friend. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I wasn’t going to-”

“Just like you weren’t going to earlier, when Ira caught you?” Syoko pulled at Yosuke’s hand. “Yeah, she told me about that. Maybe not you. But the thing which had ahold of you. That was going to. I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t.”

“Not… I wasn’t going to die.”

“Maybe not. But hurting is bad enough. I don’t want to see somebody I care about that way.” Syoko stopped and turned back to face him, midway down the hall to the gift shop, and brought another hand over the one of his that she was already holding. “I’m here, you know. For you. I won’t let anything happen, I promise. I don’t want you to be hurt or to hurt yourself. I keep on… I keep letting people die, I keep failing them. I can’t keep everyone safe, but I want to keep you safe. The last one of us, from back then. If I can keep you alive, then I can still call myself Syoko Saihara.”

“Mm. Thank you.” Yosuke nodded listlessly, and they carried on. He didn’t have the brainpower to wonder at what any of that meant beyond that Syoko cared about him. Not really, not right now. Tomorrow he’d try again to be a person. Yeah. Tomorrow.

Like everything will change in eight hours, right?


	188. Daily Life: Day Nine (Mild Confrontation)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

“Good morning everybod,” Mono’s voice woke Yosuke up again, meaning… Yeah, he couldn’t blame Syoko for disabling the alarm once more, after the state that he was in last night. And he _was_ in a state, he couldn’t really describe it any other way. He was doing a bit better this morning, though. Just a little bit. He sat up, and…

A monitor shot out of the floor. He groaned. Of _course_, the motive shift resumed at six in the morning on the dot. He turned to it- it had appeared between the beds, despite there being a television hung above the door to begin with. Dramatic, huh? He couldn’t tell from that, whether this motive was intended for him or if Syoko was being targeted a second time. Mono didn’t say that there was necessarily any rhyme or reason to it, so he assumed that it was random. However random it was, though, the monitor flickered to life to show one Chihiro Oowada.

“Good grief, this early…?” Chihiro asked, yawning as he pressed a hand to his own cheek. “It’s two hours, isn’t it? Looks like I’ll have to wait a bit extra for Mondo to make it back with my coffee.”

“Father!” Yosuke exclaimed. Really it was more of a squawk, because his voice couldn’t decide _what_ sort of emotion he was supposed to be feeling about seeing his father. Maybe he was happy? He was definitely nervous. Caught off guard, too. Lots going on in his brain right then. “Um. Hello, it’s. Me. Your kid.”

“Mmm…” Chihiro yawned, stretched out, then addressed his son. “Don’t worry, Yosuke. The Uedas called and explained last night. I almost didn’t pick up, but your dad got excited that the line was working at all, so I did. Apparently the landlines still work between homes with the failsafes turned on? In any case, you don’t have to be worried about that…”

“I, er…” Yosuke scratched at the back of his hand. “I wasn’t exactly worried about telling you that I’m me, even though it’s sooner than I expected, well, er. You always assured me that anything like this would be fine, and all. It’s more that…” His lip curled and he felt tears coming to his eyes again. “I-I’m sorry. I’m really- I’m not doing well. You don’t need to see that. You’re going to, in the next few days, with game stuff airing there and I’m not…”

“_Yo_suke…” Chihiro gasped. “Why are you apologizing for that? It’s a Killing Game, of course you’re having a hard time, and I’d rather know that you’re struggling than for you to hide it…”

“Mister Oowada,” Syoko butted in, leaning over from her side to be seen. Her hair was pretty wavy and ragged before she wrangled it in the mornings. “Your son is apologizing for having mental breakdowns due to the fact that he was raised in a culture built on the idea of causing _markedly fewer_ mental breakdowns than the culture on this planet, and is now feeling enough outside pressures for that to leak through.” She stood up straight. “But I’m just a dumb teenager, so what do I know?”

“Syoko…” Yosuke chided.

Chihiro’s face fell even further. “I mean, well. Er. I can’t say that’s exactly… Untrue… Even though we always encouraged you to be open about your emotions I guess that. Emotions and events are two different things and Dome City isn’t very good about… The latter.”

“I’m going to take a shower,” Syoko said, “But I do have a question for you to answer for Yosuke’s sake, while I’m not here. What did the managers at the orphanage tell you, when you first started fostering him?”

“Ah…” Chihiro glanced away from the screen, and waited a moment till Syoko was gone. “About that, Yosuke. We’re not that sure. We started fostering you when you were seven, eight by the time we officially adopted you. Do you remember that birthday?”

“It was nice,” Yosuke admitted, “That was the first time I actually _made_ a doll. I was just collecting them before, but you and Dad got me a kit… It was a good birthday. I don’t remember a whole lot of my life before then, which is weird, isn’t it? Usually, you start remembering childhood stuff around five, I heard.”

“It might be. Weird, I mean. Uh. They didn’t tell us anything, not really. They said you’d been fostered before and it didn’t work out, which was why they were hoping we’d click well enough to permanently adopt you? But anything about what that could have entailed, not a word. We didn’t think anything of it…”

“Because it’s Dome City, right? I must have just been too difficult a kid, for whoever tried before.”

“That… Is what we thought.”

“You didn’t even think to ask any more questions, figure out if it _could_ have been anything else. Not that I blame you, that was… That’s everything, isn’t it? Everything’s innocuous. You don’t have to keep an ear out, for people saying suspicious things, it’s all harmless. That’s the kind of place built for Killing Game Survivors. You wanna trust everybody… And you’ll believe lies if it means that you can. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Yosuke-”

“No, really!” Yosuke sobbed, then clapped a hand over his mouth and took a few deep breaths. “I-I mean it. When I say I don’t blame you. Being in here now, that kind of place _sounds_ like a dream, really, it does! But if you go to all that trouble to say everything’s fine here and everyone’s trustworthy… Can you blame _us_ if really believing that backfires?”

“It’s…” Chihiro trailed off, and stayed quiet for a bit as his son struggled not to break down bawling again. “We failed you.”

“_You_ didn’t. You did everything you could to be there and help me…” Yosuke assured him.

“Sure. I mean. I don’t think we were bad _parents_. But… For everything we all said, about not failing the next generation, we went and did it again. We left a broken world, then came up here and broke another in a completely different way, and. It’s not us who suffer for it. I know. I’ve known, really. I just hoped that… But, that was naive. Of course it’s you too.”

“It is. I’m sorry.”

“Really? I’m the one who’s sorry. You’re completely right… About the way that Dome City ended up. I guess how it’s always been, but that too. I wanted to be able to trust people without question, so I bought into it, I didn’t question it. The people who were invited… Needed to be able to see the heart of the final game, but that’s… That doesn’t mean everyone who made it here was a good person, at all.”

“And now, because of all of this…” Yosuke muttered, “There’s no chance to fix it, huh? It’s too late. The incident that they wiped out from our memories, we’re all in here now. And out there…”

“The broken world we left and the world we broke ourselves… If that woman is to be believed…” Chihiro’s voice was numb, really, as he made this observation. “They’re both being razed to the ground equally. It doesn’t matter anymore. We made… The wrong choice, back then, and it’s doomed now. I guess it’s not surprising. Though… She did say one other thing, and that gives me hope. Because I believe in your abilities, son. She said that even though we’ll see the world destroyed either way, the ‘next generation’... You guys might be able to fix it, somehow. Undo the destruction, I guess?”

“So that’s it, huh?” Yosuke stood up. “The alternate objective. Somehow, finding a way… To fix a problem that huge? Huh. I dunno how likely that really is.”

“If anybody can do it, it’s you and your friends. I’m sure of that.”


	189. Daily Life: Day Nine (Breakfast Chatter)

** 7:00 AM / 0700 Hours **

Yosuke and Chihiro took some time talking to get away from the more serious topic, changing to small talk and catching up as well as they were able. Yosuke was teased for his obvious crush on Jun, before he’d died and all. There wasn’t really a one-hundred-percent light topic to be had at a time like this, admittedly. Even still, things calmed down, and Yosuke went to breakfast. The monitor kept going into the floor and reappearing next to him as he moved, which was kind of uncomfortable. Definitely better if once he got to the dining hall he stayed in place so it would… Stop doing that.

Upon arriving, he spotted Ayano sitting alone at a table and approached. “Hey, Ayano. I’ve got the motive right now, so, do you mind er. Hanging out with my father, I guess?”

“Hello, Ueda,” Chihiro said, then chuckled a bit nervously. “Sorry to intrude.”

“It’s no trouble at all.” Ayano shook her head. “Please, it’s nice to see people that I know. It’s reassuring to have this type of connection to the outside world, I think…”

“Right, even if it’s a bit inconvenient on both ends,” Chihiro said, “I’m still grateful for this opportunity. I fail to see how it’s actually supposed to be a motive…”

“Shinku said it wasn’t.” Ayano looked up at the ceiling. “I wondered about it with him, see. And he said in the final game, it wasn’t exactly a motive by itself at all. But a certain person who appeared on the monitors _made_ it into a motive. Does that make sense? He said, somebody who wasn’t supposed to be talking to the person on the outside was fed information by that person which made him distrust somebody and end up planning to kill them.”

“So as long as none of _us_ want you to commit murder, it’s going to be fine, right?” Chihiro said, “That’s nice. I don’t think anybody is actually going to encourage that sort of thing right now. I mean, even if somebody would normally want you to get out and come home really badly… It’s not exactly…”

“Yes, if only Hikari was made aware that the outside world she wished for us to reach so badly was not one worth reaching.”

“I wouldn’t say _that_!” Chihiro protested, “It isn’t like… I mean, your loved ones are fine and that’s something? And we have no way of knowing what’s actually going on, if anybody is even really dead out there. If these people are able to hijack all of our technology to do this, activate our failsafes, and leave landlines functional only between those houses with them activated? It seems easy, to convince us that everything’s falling apart when we can’t see for ourselves…”

“That’s optimistic of you,” Yosuke said.

“I mean, do you blame me?” Chihiro smiled and looked away. “Are you forgetting what me talent was, back in the day? I was the first Ultimate Fortuneteller. If I have a premonition that things are going to turn out okay in the end, then isn’t that enough for me to be a _little_ optimistic?”

“Mister Oowada can have little a optimism.” Syoko sat down next to Yosuke as she joined the conversation. “As a treat.”

“You got that one from the Kaguyas… Ah, they must have gotten stuck somewhere other than their house, if they haven’t called yet. Both of those ladies are so spacey, I can’t imagine they remember any of our numbers off the tops of their heads.”

“I don’t know any phone numbers off the top of my head,” Yosuke said.

“That’s irresponsible, you know!” Chihiro chided, “At least memorize my cell number, it’s unsafe not to know that!”

“I have to agree,” Syoko said, “Seriously? Do you open up your phone to find the number every time you need to fill emergency contact on a form? That’s going to get you burned.”

“Well, I don’t think knowing my father’s cell number would really have avoided this whole Killing Game situation. Knowing you, Syoko, you have your entire address book committed to memory,” Yosuke said, “So that obviously has nothing to do here.”

“You’re right. I do have them memorized,” Syoko said.

“I have my most important contacts committed to memory,” Ayano noted, “Every time I start a new journal, I hand-write them in again, so it was just a matter of time until they stuck in my brain.”

“Well, you’re polite girls, of course you’re responsible like that.” Yosuke waved them off with a laugh. “I’m just a disorganized young man.”

“You can say that again. You display your dolls so nicely, but everything else… Come on. Clean your room when you get home, okay?” Chihiro teased.

“I’ll clean the whole damn _house_ if I get home from this,” Yosuke said, “I’ll just be glad to be back, and getting back to living normally. Or, I guess. Normal’s probably going to shift after everything that’s going on, isn’t it?”

“Yes, probably.” Chihiro shrugged his shoulders. “There’s not that much to clean, besides your room. Your dad’s already been very anxious with this lockdown, looking for things to do to feel useful. We haven’t touched your room because we don’t want to intrude on your privacy or mess with your things, though. So do that when you get back?”

“I will. I’m pretty sure, at least, I didn’t leave any food trash before I got kidnapped…” Yosuke said.

“You didn’t, we did take a quick look to check and make sure.”

“I did leave half a sandwich behind,” Ayano noted, “Haru got to it, and it made her a little sick for a day but she was fine. Peanut butter is just too fatty for poor little bunnies… This meal would be fine for her, though!”

This meal being a breakfast cooked by Tooru and therefore consisting primarily of vegetables. The three at this table had taken turns standing to grab plates, but the conversation hadn’t really been interrupted by it.

“I guess it’s better for a bunny to find the food than for it to get moldy and attract ants,” Chihiro said, “But don’t blame yourself, it isn’t like you knew that you were going to be kidnapped. I’m sure that you keep your room clean normally.”

“I’m not that organized with my calligraphy supplies and my clothes… I’ve spilled a lot of ink on shirts…” Ayano admitted, “But I do avoid food trash in my room. I also tended to clean up Jun’s, his room was a lot cleaner than mine mostly but he was bad at keeping track of the food mess that did get in.”

“I should… Also clean my room when I get home.” Syoko gave a sideways grin and glanced away. “Eheh. Usually I’m pretty neat and organized, really, but there’s definitely clothing _all_ over my room right now. I don’t even know what’s clean and what’s dirty…”

“That’s surprising,” Chihiro said, “You don’t seem the sort, really. Was something going on, to change your habits that way?”

“Yes. We were getting our stove replaced, so a bunch of mice got inside. I was hearing them in my closet and pulled a bunch of my things out to try and figure it out but… Ah, at this rate they’re just going to move into the piles all over my room instead…” Syoko sighed. “Though, that’s a petty concern, isn’t it? I’ll worry about that when I get there.”

It was nice, Yosuke thought, that his friends and his father were getting along. It was refreshing, to just have a conversation outside of the closed circle and see these friends chatting in a slightly different context. So, for him, this certainly wasn’t a motive at all. It was actually nice, just what he needed the morning after such a breakdown.


	190. Daily Life: Day Nine (Mother)

** 8:00 PM / 0800 Hours **

Eventually, Yosuke and his friends had to bid Chihiro goodbye, as the motive shift approached. Yosuke told his father that he loved him, and asked him to pass the message on to his dad as well, and no sooner had he agreed to do so than the monitor flickered off and retreated back into the floor for the last time in this stretch. Then, he looked around the room, as did everybody else seemingly. The motive shifting during a meal… Didn’t go well at all last night, but on the other hand, it did keep everybody in the loop as to who the motive was on. Though there was no way to know if there was an actual algorithm to who it went to, it was still reassuring in a way to be able to see who _had_ experienced it.

In this case, the monitor rose up over by Irarako and Everett, and made immediately evident which of them the motive was intended for. Yosuke didn’t recognize the person on the screen, but they were obviously a relative of Evie’s. The same orange hair, same skintone, and blue eyes identical in hue to Everett’s one. They rushed forward and pressed their hands against the monitor. “Everett!!”

Everett tilted his head to one side and smiled innocently. “Good morning, Mother. I hope you’re well.”

Veronica Snow smiled right back, though there was something unpleasant and wild about the way she bore her teeth. “Yes, yes. I’m quite fine, but more importantly, you! Good to see that you’re still alive, of course, it’s so good… I was really worried, when the game started to air and you were wearing that silly outfit again, dear. Don’t you remember, at a time like this? It’s even more important to be somebody that people will sympathize with…”

“Well, they’re all here right now, so I am not… Completely certain that your theory will hold up with it spelled out. But they have been kind to me so far. Everybody, I would like you to meet my mother, Veronica. Isn’t it just so nice of her to check on me this way?”

“...That’s what the motive were, Everett. Ain’t no choice of hers,” Irarako said, her voice particularly harsh.”So yer ‘Mother’, huh? Mm. Can’t say it’s nice to meetcha much at all.”

“Irarako…” Everett chuckled. “No, no, it should be. My mother really is a very nice person, she just wants what’s best for me!”

“I can’t imagine somebody like you would have any comprehension of the lengths a mother will go to for her child,” Veronica said, “Can’t imagine you’d have much comprehension at all, to be frank. But even without that, it isn’t like you’ve ever known this kind of unconditional affection, is it? Kids like you never have. If you’ve got any parents at all, they’re the reckless sort who allow you to do whatever you like and get yourself hurt. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, with parenting like that, if you get yourself injured beyond repair before you’re twenty-five.”

“Mom!” Everett protested, “That’s mean, you know… Just because she doesn’t understand the way you show your love for me, doesn’t mean that she’s stupid at all. She’s a very smart person and she’s a friend.”

“A friend of ‘Evie’s’. Why are _you_ defending her?” Veronica asked, “It isn’t like you really care about those silly things the way he does. You’re the only one with any sense in you, and these types of friends…”

“Just because I do not personally seek friendship doesn’t mean I don’t trust Evie’s judgment on that. There’s a reason he’s responsible for those things, you know…” Everett mumbled, but then put that smile back on. “I’m really glad to be seeing you, though! I miss you so much. It’s really difficult to adjust to being here without you, I don’t think we’ve spent more than a week apart since I was really little?”

“Right. Not since you were working on that show,” Veronica said, “And we all know how that turned out, don’t we?”

“Hahah well…” Everett waved a hand. “Not _really_. Snow’s the one who knows that. It’s all just too awful for somebody as innocent as me, isn’t it, Mother?”

“Yes, much too awful indeed.” Veronica nodded. “I can’t stand those boys, but I suppose you are lucky to have them helping you out, Everett.”

“I sure am…” He gave another nervous chuckle, and glanced at Irarako only to notice that she was still just standing there in shock. He frowned.

“Honey,” Veronica said, “Are you quite all right? These people aren’t… Don’t tell me that they’re pressuring you to tell me that everything’s fine when it isn’t. Are they bullying you? Are you being bullied, dear?”

“Not at all!” Everett exclaimed, “I mean, I wasn’t even being bullied _before_, and all the really mean people are already dead, so…”

“What about the girl who broke your leg?”

“That was an accident! She’s like that with everybody, I think. I’m just more fragile than everybody. Don’t worry.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “The bullies, Mother, are dead and gone!”

“Of course. But you’d think if Snow was going to put your talents to use, he would have just spent them on escaping, not on making sure you wouldn’t be _bullied_, hoooh?” Veronica took a step back from the monitor and gave an exaggerated shrug. “How useless is that sort of boy, when he hasn’t even got you home to me yet? I swear, he never applies himself…”

“Obviously we don’t want to hurt anybody, Mother!” Everett said, “Snow had nothing to do with the people who died so far, either.”

“Sure, that’s what you’d like the people around you to believe. So you think. But if they pity you and they fear ‘Snow’, then wouldn’t you be much safer? Consider admitting to it, darling. You can’t fool your mother.”

“I’m not… No, that’s not right,” Everett said, “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Of course not, dear. You’re innocent, that much is very clear, Everett. You always have been! But those boys. Evie is always being corrupted by those rotten, immoral friends of his. And Snow, does he even have a heart? You’re the real one, you’re my precious daughter. But if they have to exist, the least they can do is keep you safe. It’s obvious that Snow has put in at least some of the effort to do it. I’m glad. Now, you just make it home safe to me, and we’ll never need to be split up again, you won’t need them anymore. Just you and me, Everett. Forever.”

“...I’ll make it back. But I won’t hurt anybody to do it, you know. So it’ll be a little while longer. Just a bit, then I’ll be home, Mother.”


	191. Reality 4: Rei Makes A Friend

**Location: ISS SPEAK **  
**Date: September 8th, 2128**  
**Time: 0900 Hours**

Rei Kaguya had previously been occupying one of the shuttles of the SS Akamatsu, a piece of equipment which hadn’t been operational for years by the time that they were born, and regardless of their mental or chronological age, they certainly had not piloted it legally. It was also never intended to travel this distance at all, so they never even knew if they'd make it here. Neither had the person that they were with, though, so it was a necessary evil that one or both of them break the law in this case. After all, Rei came to be with a very specific purpose etched upon their heart.

For all of their causing problems on purpose, everything that they made themself into, there was one thing that was inescapably given when they were created. They were not created _by_ their parents, though undeniably, Nami and Sayaka Kaguya were their two wonderful mothers. The person who did create them had very little image of who they should be, but for two factors. The child of the Kaguyas was one. The other, was somebody who would never hurt their beloved older brother.

The latter of course, was the kind of directive that when given to a replicant was likely to be absorbed maybe a little too much. Not only did Rei never want to hurt their Onii-chan, but they didn’t want to ever allow anybody else in the world to do so either. When they discovered Sara had the same opinion- Of wanting to protect that person, no matter what, a plan was hatched between the two of them. Rei had finished all that they were able to do, though, and really. They were expecting that they might die.

They didn’t want to die. They especially didn’t want to die the painful way that Mercury was attempting in the Neo World, of course. So they still wanted to escape even if they thought they weren’t going to survive for much longer on the outside. But by the time that Mercury’s associates had taken action to destroy the shuttle that Rei was holed up inside… They found themself aboard the Intergalactic Spaceship, SPEAK, instead. It was named after the ‘accomplice’ who agreed to pull them out of the NWP once their mission was complete.

Rei hadn’t been counting on that at the start, they had no idea somebody would be willing to cooperate with them when they got close enough to infiltrate the Neo World; But SPEAK had saved their life twice now. First by getting them out of the game, second by rescuing them from their shuttle moments before it went up in flames. So they now found themself here, sitting on one of the couches in the fairly extensive lounge area, when a thin young man walked into the room and exclaimed in surprise, “Whoa! Uh, hey, _who_, are… You?”

“Could ask the same thing about you, candy-ass, my being here makes more narrative sense than yours does.” Rei rolled their eyes and sat up to face him over the back of the couch. “It’s still just you, huh? Speak told me that the process of fixing up your brain’s a lil on the slow side.”

“It is, but… It’s quick enough that I came to expect who else would be waking up, and you’re definitely not one of them,” Renji said, “So how did you get here? And again, who are you? My name’s Renji.”

“Mhm, Renji. Rennn-ji. Solid name. I like R-names. Mine’s Rei. Rei _Kaguya_ so you know. Cause you neglected to give me a surname, but you don’t gotta, I won’t call you it ever, Renji my man. I came here on a smaller space shuttle cause I was on a very important mission. And I did that mission, and now I’m here, same as you, just vibin’. Just existin’. In space.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m vibing, necessarily, I’ve actually been working really hard to confront some super fucked up trauma stuff, and you’re a child so maybe I shouldn’t have said fuck in front of you, sorry, I’ll probably do it again.”

“How dare you say the fuck word in front of me? I’m only _thirteen_. Well then. Space vibes are totally cancelled, out of respect for you and your total lack of vibes. You ever played minecraft?”

“I have not ever played minecraft, no,” Renji said, “You don’t have to cancel your space vibes on account of me, just for the record, I’m not vibing. Though, uh, I might no longer want to vibe anyway. Vibes might just be off the table for me as a person.”

“How can vibes be off the table for a whole person? I mean. Well, by one definition, I guess… Ah! That makes sense. I do know who you are.” Rei hopped up from the couch and put their hands on their hips. “You’re Renji, yeah. That’s who you are, and you can swear off vibes for all eternity, you’ve _earned_ it. And I’m Rei and I wanna play minecraft with you-”

“I do not have a way to allow you to play minecraft here,” Speak said, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I do not. I have a limited amount of entertainment data available and it mostly holds games that my allies prefer. The closest thing to Minecraft I can offer you would be Terraria.”

“That lacks the memetic power! Why do I hear boss music is not nearly as S-tier as Creeper, Aw Man,” Rei said, “I’m not really bored or anything. Just wanted to try out mining with my new pal Renji.”

“Am I your pal?” Renji asked, scrunching part of his face. “I mean, respect for the memetic value, but we did just meet. You hardly know me, I don’t think that you’d really want to be my friend. Also, you’re a kid?”

“Have you never been friends with a kid before?”

“No, never, why would I be?” Renji asked, “That’s weird. People would think I’m weird.”

“It’s not weird if you’re not a weird person! It’s alienating for kids to never know adults who share in their passions and interests, so if a kid wants to get along with you, you should give it a shot so they don’t feel alone in this world!”

“Sharing in passions and interests, huh? I…” Renji hesitated, then looked down at the floor. “Oh. I’ve never really been friends with anyone my age before either. And… People older than me, hasn’t worked out too well?”

“Yeah, I gathered as much by looking at you. You’re pathetic. With just your appearance, this level of deduction is possible for Rei Kaguya.” Rei rushed over then and grabbed at Renji’s wrist with both of their hands. They hesitated a second as they started to pull him along, blinking as they noticed something… Then kept going. “But you won’t be pathetic for long, okay? We’re gonna find some video game to play together, and it’ll be fun as shit. We’ll have fun and you won’t have to think about all that tough stuff for a little while.”

So Renji let himself be pulled along. Neither he nor the kid had anything better to do, right? And maybe it was pitiful of him, to need a middle-schooler to drag him into a reluctant friendship to have anything like that at all… But then again, right now. He was okay with being a pitiful, pathetic person. It was no different than he’d ever been. The kindness of a brat might be just what he needed to start being less so-called pathetic.


	192. Daily Life: Day Nine (Internal Conflict)

**Location: Neo World Island**   
**Date: September 8th, 2128**   
**Time: 1000 Hours**

Yosuke was in Everett’s lab with him- Unlike the others, he had made indications, silently, that he would prefer not to be alone while his motive was active. Yosuke had come along but stayed out of Veronica’s view- Just to be there as emotional support and, perhaps, as a witness to what he considered insane ramblings on her part. When the monitor finally retracted back into the ground, Everett heaved a sigh of relief and also dropped himself to the ground, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“Are you okay?” Yosuke asked, approaching from where he’d stood at the other end of the room. He’d been the one to come along for a few reasons. One was that Everett’s closest friend here, Irarako, seemed to have been badly shaken by Veronica’s words to her. The other was that Yosuke was just willing and ready to volunteer. Helping others was a good way to keep his mind off his own problems, after all.

“I’m… Yeah. Okay enough. Dealing with Mother, that’s… The reason I exist,” Everett said, “So that isn’t all that hard on me. I’m sorry to you guys, though. You had to hear how she really is, and hear the way I need to speak to her, and what she said to Ebizakaya was just… She can be very cruel. It’s as if there is only love enough in her heart for one person at a time, and that’s me.”

“The reason you exist… Well, in some ways,” Yosuke said, “Maybe that’s technically true, but I don’t think that’s _all_.”

“It isn’t all, of course not. But it’s the reason I’m out _here_. I am the worst equipped for this. For the Killing Game. Evie is good at having friends and Snow is good at strategies and I am good at Mother and I am _not_ good at those things and I wish they would just come back but. Mother is watching. And you saw how she talked about them! She hates them both, no wonder they won’t come out when she can see!” Everett brought his other hand to join the first one on his forehead. “I’m supposed to protect the other two from Mother. That’s why I’m here, so that’s what I’m doing, even though I just want to… hide.”

“Can’t you talk to them?” Yosuke asked, “Maybe try to work something out so that you can actually, you know. Be okay? I gotta say that I don’t really know a whole lot about this type of thing… But isn’t the whole idea of being multiple people so that each of you can handle whatever you’re able to? Like, the stuff in your life is too overwhelming for one person, but if one of you is still being overwhelmed…”

“Yeah, I mean. At least Snow was willing to show up during the trial and all, but Evie…” Everett looked away. “He misses you guys. Those of you who are his friends, he does. That much is clear. At the same time, well. Evie doesn’t like me very much, so the idea of avoiding Mother is more important than relieving me or seeing his friends.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Evie dislikes me, and Snow as well. He’s the ‘host’ after all. The person who ‘should have’ existed if not for everything that happened… That’s the way he thinks, even if it’s not quite right. He resents us for keeping memories of those things secret from him.” He sighed and dropped his hands from his face. “But that’s just it. Maybe Evie is the person who is ‘supposed’ to exist, that’s exactly _why_ we need to protect him from things that should never have happened to us. He gets to be that person… And we hold the weight of anything else.”

“So it’s like… You’ve got a communication issue, huh? He doesn’t really understand what the point of you two is,” Yosuke noted, “Because without _having_ those memories, he must not understand the scope of the issue? Or something like that?”

“...You might be right,” Everett admitted, “As far as Evie sees it… Me and Snow, we’re just another thing that makes him ‘strange’. He’s already got so many medical issues to begin with, and then having DID as well. It must be alienating in some ways, and… He really doesn’t know, exactly. He can kind of guess at why I exist, how somebody else needs to face the brunt of Mother’s behavior. Snow’s even more secretive, though, and he was first.”

“I hope that the three of you are able to figure something out,” Yosuke said.

“Maybe,” Everett mumbled, “Or maybe Mother’s right, in a way. Maybe we’re being unfair to Evie… And one of us should just go ahead and kill someone so he can be disqualified. Though she would prefer I wasn’t the one who did that. She… Wants me back. As far as she’s concerned, since I’m the one who’s obedient to her, _I’m_ the person who was always meant to exist.”

“Maybe all three of you were always meant to exist.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I said it before and I’ll say it again, ‘what if’ situations just make you fucking feel bad. There isn’t a big point in imagining what sort of shit could be different if things worked out differently, because they didn’t and they can’t. As far as it matters to anybody, bad things happened to a child. That child became three distinct people because they couldn’t handle those things all on their own. The bad things were always going to happen and these three people were always going to exist- It doesn’t matter if maybe, something different could have happened, because it didn’t.”

“I… Wow, I never really thought of it that way before,” Everett admitted, “I don’t think I’ve… Ever heard anybody say that all three of us deserve to exist, just the way we are. Evie wants to be the only one, and Mother wants me to be the only one.”

“Maybe if you told him,” Yosuke said, “If both of you told him just a _little_ bit about the memories you hold onto? If he could understand you’re really keeping him safe, not holding information hostage. Then you could all get along and be friends, right?”

“Friends…”

“You said yourself, friendship is the main skill that Evie has over the two of you. So I think you should consider that. If he’s good at having friends, then you two need to do what you can for him to think of you as friends.”

“Are you sure that you don’t understand these types of things? That sounds like suspiciously solid advice.”

“I mean, why would I really need to understand DID to offer you advice? It’s just the same as trying to resolve an issue between three friends of mine, the only difference is that those three friends exist in one body.” Yosuke shrugged. “I dunno how good it’ll _really_ be, as advice in practice. But I hope that it can help you in some way.”


	193. Daily Life: Day Nine (Concept of Happiness)

** 11:00 AM / 1100 Hours **

With Yosuke’s advice in mind, Everett asked if he could leave him to his own devices. If he was going to make an attempt to openly communicate with Evie and Snow, he figured that would be weird to do with an outside party in the room. Yosuke agreed of course, shutting the door of the lab behind him. He went downstairs, intending to go outside, but along the way he passed by Shin’s lab and spotted Yume in there. He stopped in the hallway for a moment, starting walking again, then turned back around and knocked on the side of the archway into the room. “Hey. Yume?”

“Ehh? What?” Yume turned toward him, and he could see that there were some streaks on her skin. She wasn’t currently crying, but she had been.

“Are you okay?” He asked, taking a step into the room.

“Why’s that any of your goddamn business if I’m not?”

“I guess it’s not,” Yosuke said, “But I mean, it can be? If you’d wanna talk to somebody like. I mean. I know how it feels, sort of. In a way. I mean, I’ve been getting along with Ayano pretty well, since we both lost Jun, but you did too, right? You considered him your friend.”

“Probably ain’t about to ‘get along’ with you. No offense,” Yume said, “But maybe you’re right, sort of. We did both care about the same guy who just died. But I’unno if… Hah. My twin brother bit it first, remember? Ain’t like I’m about to be over that just because someone else I care about got killed too. It’s pretty fucked up, that bit, you know? After everything we had to fucking deal with together he’s just gone.”

“I can’t really say that I understand how you feel,” Yosuke said, “So I won’t. But I understand a little bit more than you’re giving me credit for. I… Don’t really remember most of my childhood, but I know that way, way back. Before foster care at all, I had a baby brother. I probably won’t ever know what happened to him, I don’t remember anything about him, but I know he did exist.”

“Pft. So I guess you do got the slightest taste of understanding how it feels. Not like that’s really comparable, but hey. We both lost brothers, huh? That’s something. It’s kinda just a tiny bit of something.”

“That tiny bit of something enough that you’ll tell me how you’re actually feeling, or what?”

“...I feel like I’m just a person composed one hundred percent of guilt,” Yume admitted, sitting herself on top of the workbench. “You really wanna hear why the fuck I got that going on? If you’re gonna _cry_ when I tell you about _my_ issues then you should just up and bail right now because feeling shit for making you feel shit is the last thing that I fucking need right now.”

“Don’t worry,” Yosuke said, “I’ve been crying enough about my own stuff lately that I’ve got an emotional barrier up when it comes to other people’s problems. Come on, just distract me from my woes with your woes.”

“Honesty really is the best policy.” Yume chuckled. “Thanks for letting me know the ulterior motive here, that makes me feel like you actually wanna hear me gripe and you ain’t just trying to front like you’re some universal friend dude. Well, anyway, right into the griping, eh? I feel guilty cause two people I cared about are dead and I feel guilty because I’m no fucking good and it’s probably because of me that Nanjo ended up in this game in the first place cause it’s _always_ my fucking bullshit that ever hurt Nanjo and it ended up with him dead, and I also feel guilty because I should feel real goddamn happy to be like, officially Saya’s girlfriend and all but I just can’t feel as happy as I oughta because D all of the above.”

“I mean… You’d feel guilty either way,” Yosuke said.

“Huh?”

“I was really happy, I mean. Till he turned up dead. That I was going to date Jun, right? But then I felt guilty for feeling happy about it, in this situation. So you’d feel guilty either way. Does knowing that help at all?”

“I… Guess it does a little bit. Doesn’t really make it fair to Saya, though.”

“I mean, this might sound weird, but does it matter anyway? Why should it matter to Saya if you’re as happy to be with her as you ‘should’ be, long as you both like each other?” Yosuke shrugged. “I dunno, like… I’m not some sort of love guru or anything but at least as far as I’ve seen it, one person ‘not being happy enough’ doesn’t make too big a difference till you get really in it. Like, months deep.”

“As far as you’ve seen it?”

“It isn’t like I haven’t dated people in my life, I’m eighteen. Sure I’m a mess of a person, even more so before I figured this shit out, doesn’t mean that I just lived in a hole. I had… Three? Serious boyfriends, I’d figure. Ones that lasted more than one date or a week and that kind of shit. What about you?”

“I’ve only dated one person before Saya, serious or not,” Yume said, “I have an abrasive personality, after all! His name was Shouto, we got together around the start of middle school, things ended between us just about graduation time. Nanjo and I never applied to high schools since we planned to self-study, and he was going… Somewhere better. So things fell apart there.”

“Wow, I can’t say I really took you for the middle-school-sweethearts type.”

“I didn’t take you for the three boyfriends in your teenagerhood type either, so I guess we’re even!” Yume threw her hands up. “How did. I mean. You were a trembling waif, objectively, that was the type of person that you set forth-”

“Some men _like_ trembling waifs, you know. And some men _really_ like trembling waifs who could kill them with their bare hands.” Yosuke folded his hands under his chin. “And I _like_ men. So it’s a pretty easy conclusion there, that oblivious boys thought I was cute and I figured I should take the opportunities presented to me.”

“Damn. Good for… You?”

“Nice question mark. I’m not sure if it was a good idea either. But hey, it happened. And I mean, I still like men, so I can’t regret it nearly as much as you regret _your_ boyfriend-having days.”

“I mean that’s. Fair. I still _like_ men! I just don’t want to be with them, there’s a difference!”

“Is it regrets? Or are you still hung up on this Shouto guy?”

“It’s somewhere in the middle of-”

“Hey.” Shin suddenly walked in the door. “Is there a _reason_ you’re both just sitting around in my lab? I thought the incident which occurred here would be more of a deterrent, frankly…”

“No real reason,” Yume said, “But hey, look who my brother was. I guess I just like to be around the vibes of death or some bullshit like that.”

“It isn’t that I mind. I’m just a bit surprised.”


	194. Daily Life: Day Nine (Mafia Dads)

** 12:00 PM / 1200 Hours **

“Yeah, you _shouldn’t_ mind, it ain’t like a place having your talent attached to it means it’s _yours_. You got a dorm room for th…” Yume started to harshly defend herself, only to trail off into silence when, from the floor, one of the motive monitors ascended. “Aw, who the fuck’s-”

And just as soon as she started talking again, she was once more stunned into silence when the monitor flickered to life. After all, no individual person had been listed on the VIP list for Yume. She wasn’t expecting this motive would have any method through which to relate to her. She had been informed that many people in her hometown of Kobe were ‘honorary’ VIP list members, being made to watch on somewhat less forceful terms than the others; But that still wasn’t the list, and everyone else so far had been on the list, but here they were in front of her.

“Yume…” Akihiko Yamaguchi groaned. “This is uncomfortably familiar for me. Let me _guess_. You’ve got a crush on some girl?”

“Wh!” Yume vocalized.

“I thought so. Deja-vu… That was exactly what I found out when I talked to Sayaka through one of these things.”

“It isn’t familiar for me,” Shoyu Kyosuke said, “Last time, the conversations were tied to people’s rooms and my son didn’t see fit to come and talk to me at all, eheh… Well. Not to say I’m glad it’s happening this time.”

“It’s not like I’m your daughter.” Yume crossed her arms and looked away from the screen on which a yakuza boss and his husband currently sat at a kotatsu. “Don’t even know why they’re having me talk to you…”

“Well, you might not be our daughter,” Shoyu said, “But you and Nanjo were our, er… Dependents? Currently. So it’s not like you were _our kids_ but you’re still our kids enough that it feels like we had more of our children taken for a Killing Game. And one of you already died. That’s not great! Not great. Feels pretty bad.”

“I feel like this is somehow my fault,” Akihiko said, “I mean. Every single child I ever took care of ended up in a Killing Game.”

“Damn, yeah, why the fuck did you screw me over like this?”

“I mean, I never officially adopted you!” Akihiko protested, “I thought for sure, if I was just funding your lives… It’s different, right? I never claimed you were my kids either. But somebody decided that you were, I suppose.”

“...I know,” Yume admitted, and clicked her tongue a few times before she spoke again. “It ain’t like I can be ungrateful to you, you stepped in when our parents stepped out and shit. We would’ve been real fucked without you guys… Worth getting caught up in a Killing Game a few years later than starve to death at thirteen, yeah?”

“I hope you feel that way, anyhow,” Shoyu said, “I know that I do prefer that you kids lived four more years, even if you end up both dying here o-or something… Uh. Sorry if that’s too sappy, Yume-”

“It’s okay,” She cut him off, “I mean, fuck, if I don’t let you be sappy now of all times, what sort of fucking monster am I? If you wanna say you love me or some lame shit like that, now’s the time, yknow? This might be the last time you ever speak to me.”

“...We do love you,” Shoyu admitted, “And Nanjo, too, uh. We. Really wanted to keep you safe, and happy, and everything-”

“Shoyu,” Akihiko interrupted, “Now _that’s_ talking like they’re both already dead. I’ve got faith in Yume to make it out alive. She’s a strong one.”

“...I’m trying,” Yume said, then flushed red as she looked away once more. “A-Actually, the girl I’ve got a crush on, I’m sort of dating her. So if I wasn’t gonna try real hard to make it through this thing before, I got that as motivation now too. So try not to worry too much, right?”

“I-I have to worry!” Shoyu protested, “You know I’m a worrier. Er, but. Sorry to change the topic again. That kid…”

“Which one?” Yume asked, reaching out to pull both Yosuke and Shin further into frame.

“You!” Shoyu pointed. “The blonde one… What’s your name?”

“You don’t know?” Yume questioned.

“Shoyu has been avoiding the game as much as he can manage, understand. It isn’t good for his anxiety,” Akihiko said, “The boy’s name is Shin Tsubasa. Why?”

“You look really familiar,” Shoyu said, “Have we met before?”

“Uhh… You ever been to Tottori City?” Shin asked, shrugging. “Or make it a habit to frequent high-class networking parties?”

“Um, no. Neither of those.” Shoyu shook his head. “Do you, er… Have any relatives who look especially similar to you?”

Shin froze up. “Well. Yes. I have a younger sister.”

“I think… Yes, that’s right,” Shoyu said, “I imagine that… It must be the same person. A young lady who looked very much like you came to us a few months ago asking for our help. She said that she wanted to disappear, to go somewhere that she couldn’t be found. She seemed frightened and expressed that federal law enforcement may be after her for a crime she didn’t commit.”

“You saw Mika??” Shin’s voice cracked as he took a step towards the monitor.

“This is news to me,” Akihiko said, “But of course. Shoyu doesn’t inform me of _every_ individual he places under mob protection.”

“I sent her out to Nanako,” Shoyu explained, “She’s only… Can’t be older than fifteen, honestly. I didn’t think that she’d be able to take care of herself if we just assigned her some protection in an apartment, but she expressed willingness to put in hard work for the sake of our help. Harder work than anyone her age should really undertake, for that matter. So Nanako seemed to be the, er, correct choice?”

“Is she alive?” Shin asked, “Is Mika still alive, even with everything that’s happening out there??”

“Yes, Nanako was able to relay a message our way through her brother, since he’s within a failsafed building,” Akihiko said, “They’re doing okay out there, it’s off the grid enough, they’re safe.”

“Mika is safe… That’s good,” Shin said, and took another step backward with a hand pressed to his heart. “I’m glad that she, at least… Got out of there.”


	195. Reality 5: Nanako's Cabin

**Location: Nanako’s Cabin In The Woods **   
**Date: September 8th, 2128**   
**Time: 1400 Hours**

Mika Tsubasa was a fifteen year old girl. She currently took up residence in a cabin that on first glance seemed small, but turned out to have plenty of space, hand-built out here in the middle of nowhere by a woman named Nanako. It was built years ago, and it was evidently intended to double as a social space. In years past, it had probably served that purpose plenty of times- Mika could tell from the phone calls that Nanako had plenty of friends, and just before this all started, one party had been thrown. Mika didn’t meet any of them hersellf, staying in the room she had graciously been granted, but she heard them, she knew they existed, that Nanako was quite the social butterfly for somebody who lived this much off the grid. Even for somebody who lived in the city, she’d be considered particularly extroverted.

Over time, she had come to understand the best way to describe Nanako and her cabin; That whoever she wanted to find her always could, and if there was anybody she didn’t, they never would. Anybody who would want to take Mika away from this place fell into the latter category, so over time she had grown to feel safe here. Even now, she felt on the safer side of things. Being this far away from the city, and being forewarned enough to disable their internet connections, Mika and Nanako were relatively safe from the terrors that raged out in the world at current. Just sitting here, waiting for the world to end… But that was alright with her. She would rather not die, it was really quite unpleasant that time when she came close. Even if the rest of the world was razed to the ground, she no longer minded being in it.

It wasn’t as if the cabin was completely safe. The dangers of the outside world still approached from time to time, but they were swiftly handled- Even moreso now that Nanako had exercised her nature as an extrovert once more. It wasn’t just Mika and Nanako here in this cabin, there were two others. A person who was strangely skilled with a sword, and their wife. Mika was the youngest among them, though; Both of the newcomers were in their forties, a discovery to which Nanako had replied ‘I guess technically speaking, so am I’. But Mika was only fifteen. She was a child seeking refuge…

And while Shoyu Kyosuke, who handled witness protection services for the yakuza, had needed at least a few details to offer her help… Nanako had never once asked Mika why she needed to be here, or if she planned to leave, or anything of the sort. In spite of this, Mika felt as if she was unwanted here. Nobody expressed such a thing- But it was the sort of thought that had always found its home in her heart, because she had always been unwanted everywhere she went, and compared to the skills of the three people she now lived with, she was awfully useless.

All three of them could fight, after all. Nanako’s combat prowess was the least of them, as she just had her woodworking muscles on her side while the pair seemed to have actual experience in using weaponry, but that was still something. Between them they could hunt, they could build, they had all sorts of useful skills while Mika just stayed around, cleaning the house, cooking, and trying to coax vegetable sprouts to transplant when Nanako finished repairing the greenhouse. She felt as if she wasn’t doing her part. Like she didn’t deserve to be here, didn’t deserve any of this, didn’t…

_Ouch._

In her thoughts, she had lost track of her task, and nicked her finger while cutting up potatoes. She pulled it away swiftly, dropped the knife, and went to bandage it before returning to where she had stood to investigate. She had gotten trace amounts of blood on… Three potatoes worth. She had to toss that much into the compost bin, three entire potatoes, three of them. She took a deep breath though, and just got back to work. She had a curry ready by the time that everyone returned home, and served them three bowls before turning to go back to her room.

“Mika?” Nanako asked after her, “Aren’t you going to eat with us?”

“No I, er…” She looked down at the floor. “I messed up while I was cooking and, well. I had to throw out about three potatoes. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“What??” The samurai’s wife asked, “Why does _that_ matter? Come on, sit down.”

“B-because…” Mika brought her hands up to her face. “Bad children who make mistakes don’t deserve dinner. Especially since I made the mistake _about_ dinner I wasted food s-so I’m sacrificing the portion that would have been mine that’s fine, right? That’s equal punishment? I’m really so, so sorry and I’ll just. Go to my room.”

“Mika, you made plenty of food. Three potatoes isn’t a huge difference, just come and eat, okay?” Nanako said, “You don’t need to be punished at all. You’re not a bad child, you’re a young adult, and when adults make small mistakes like that we don’t get punished! We just fix it and move on!”

“You’re sure…?” Mika took a breath and glanced around the table. Nobody looked angry or upset with her, just worried. That kind of concern… She hadn’t really seen it from adults. That was the look that her brother had when she made mistakes and he knew she was going to get punished for it, and he wished she wouldn’t. So these people wished she wouldn’t. Somehow, the people she had wronged with her mistake, wished she wouldn’t be punished for it?

She sat down next to Nanako, across from the samurai, and served herself a bowl of curry. It was quite good, of course it was, she was used to this. She could make a tasty meal out of whatever she was given to cook with, even though she often never got to taste it herself. One piece of chicken and one vegetable, with seasonings, could still become something to drool over. She learned to garden from growing herbs for that very purpose, though it was restrained to window boxes. The sandy soil where she grew up wasn’t particularly arable, if she had even gone outside much to start.

Often in her life, she needed to go unseen, indoors for long stretches of time. At least here, there was nobody around. She could step out into the sun when she liked. Maybe she wasn’t very useful, but these adults didn’t want to punish her. These adults didn’t mind that she was useless. There was nowhere they could go to abandon her, either. Not like Shin, who vanished from her life about a year ago. She didn’t blame him for that, even though she wished it hadn’t turned out that way. Somehow, maybe, Mika Tsubasa was safe right now. That was all she ever really wanted.


	196. Daily Life: Day Nine (Biggest Mistake)

** 5:00 PM / 1700 Hours **

Yosuke had ended up going back to his room for a bit; Though other people were a good distraction, so was, and he was loathe to admit it, napping. Taking a nap seemed counterintuitive to his intentions to keep busy as much as possible, but it did help to shut his brain off for a few hours. After Shoyu had confirmed that Shin’s sister was alive, they’d left Yume to speak with her benefactors in private for the remaining ninety minutes she had at that point.

He napped to kill a few hours, then grabbed a shower when he knew that the motive wasn’t about to go shifting to him. He’d foregone one this morning due to his father’s presence, after all, and when he slept in the middle of the day it just made him need one even more, so he’d done so when he woke up. Cleaned and refreshed, then, he wandered back out into the relative world at large. It was closing in on dinnertime, so he made his way to the dining hall. Homura was there, setting out the food on the buffet tables.

Where Ayano was sitting at a table, a monitor had appeared again. Yosuke was a bit surprised to see the repetition, but he approached to sit at the same table as her and see who it was. As it turned out, it wasn’t a repeat of her parents… Rather, there was Amai Oishi on the screen, bathroom as a backdrop. Not just any bathroom, a familiar one- So she had been locked into the pub, huh? That must have been difficult on her. Yosuke knew that Tsumugi intentionally stayed away from that place, for… Evident reasons. So they were separated from each other even when one wasn’t currently stuck in a bathroom.

“Hey. Oishi, right?” Yosuke decided to greet her as he sat down.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out, kid,” Amai said, “Ayano’s filled me in on the whole thing, so you don’t gotta explain anything. I must admit, it doesn’t surprise me at all that Jun could see right through that bullshit denial of yours. Couldn’t see through his own, sure, but yours. Uhh, you would’ve been so goddamn cute, you know.”

“O-Oh uh. Thanks…?” Yosuke furrowed his brow as he looked away.

“Hah, sorry bout that. I guess I kinda want to see you cry,” Amai said, “So I can feel like it’s fine how much _I’m_ going to when this call is done. I mean you, still falling for my son after everything that happened, it’s… He should’ve lived. Shouldn’t’ve died before proving that, I mean. Fuck. Your parents may hate me and all I stand for, Yosuke, would’ve been some real fuckin’ awkward holidays. But you proved it. Jun was good. He was…”

“I don’t know why my parents don’t get along with you guys,” Yosuke admitted, “But I do think that Jun was good, I really do, um. Whatever happened back then… It can’t have been his fault. I know I saw the real him, beyond any ‘reprogramming’ that happened or anything. I’m sure of it, and he wouldn’t have killed anybody…”

“I don’t know how many people here would agree with you,” Amai admitted, “At first… Well, nobody really thought that what happened with Doromo was anything other than an accident. It was only after the other incident that people retroactively assumed that it was him after all. You might think differently if you had been allowed to remember…”

“Would I?” Yosuke asked, “I mean, well. Now? In this situation? Maybe back there in Dome City, whatever happened might have been so horrifying that I couldn’t even imagine letting it slide. But now I’ve seen firsthand, what sort of circumstances can happen… I’ve felt it myself, even. I think we’ve all felt it at least a little bit, what if we _did_ kill somebody. So if I remembered now, I wouldn’t hold it against him, whatever it was. I promise.”

“That’s… nice of you to say,” Amai said, “I can understand how you’d end up reaching that conclusion. I mean. Not to say it’s good that you’re in the situation where you end up feeling this way, obviously that. Really fucking sucks. This whole thing does! But it’s a silver lining that you got that perspective for him. Even if he really did do the things that people think… I forgive him. He was only ever trying his best, after everything that we allowed to happen…”

“...Yeah.” Ayano nodded. “He was.”

“Jesus Christ, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were one of our kids, you’re just as bad as Tsukune was when he was your age,” Amai griped, leaning on her palm. “You’re _not_ one of the people who allowed that to happen. The onus is on us, you might say. You were just another person wrapped up in it, while we… Fucked up a lot of different ways. So. Many different ways.”

“Being wrapped up in it doesn’t exempt me from responsibility,” Ayano said, “It does not. Yes, I was wrapped up in it, but the parts involving Jun? I did allow that to happen. As his friend, I could have seen what was happening and offered better support, helped him somehow. Just the same as you could have, so I’m just as much to blame.”

“God, must you be such an upstanding little idiot?” Amai questioned, “I’m telling you. It doesn’t… You don’t have to feel bad about any of it. I mean, fuck. If you feel bad, feel bad about what happened to _you_ and get some support for it. Deflecting like you didn’t also get hurt can’t be good for you.”

“On the other hand, I think that it might be most prudent of me to deflect like I didn’t get hurt, at a time like this.” Ayano pressed a finger to her cheek. “Killing Games are not really the best time to start confronting problems from the past.”

“I can attest to that,” Yosuke said, “I’ve been trying my best not too think too much about that kind of stuff, but I’m having a tough time…”

“These things have a way of dredging up thoughts and feelings that you thought you left behind…” Amai looked away from the screen. “Are you both forgetting that I’ve experienced this before? How braindead can you get? Pushing this stuff down… That’s how Riko ended up dead, just for starters. It’s a bad idea. Trust me.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Ayano asked, “Just come right out and say it, out of nowhere? Announce our traumas to the group? That seems cruel, frankly. Too much to put on them all at once.”

“You could-” And the monitor turned off. Ayano blinked, then pulled out her Monopad. She had lost track of time, and thus was unable even to say goodbye before Amai was cut off.


	197. Daily Life: Day Nine (Another Repeat Target)

** 6:00 PM / 1800 Hours **

With the monitor having left Ayano behind, it was time for the next shift. Yosuke had his fingers crossed that it wouldn’t be as bad as the last two mealtime motives- Though his heart sunk when he saw it rise over towards Everett and Irarako’s table. Maybe it could be Rifa again, but there was the chance it could be Veronica. Then it lit up, and his fears were somewhat assuaged- It was neither of those people. Instead, it was a handsome young man with dark skin, and contrastingly light hair and eyes.

“Ah, hello. Everett, yes?” The man asked, “Be a dear and put my boyfriend on the phone, won’t you?”

“I don’t know if…” Everett mumbled.

“You tell him that if he doesn’t come talk to me _right_ now, that he’s got something in common with chicken little. Go on. I’ll give you a few minutes.”

And, after a few minutes passed, Evie removed the hairties and looked to the screen. “Come on, Demi. I’m not a _coward_.”

“Oh is that so? You’re not? Could have fooled me. You make all these new friends and just fuck off to your inner world because it turns out that Ronnie’s in the audience? Seriously? Me and Poppy, we’re out here in the audience too. We don’t want to see the poor kid stumbling through shit that you should really be handling for yourself.” Demi Ross adjusted his glasses and grimaced. “You claim that you want to integrate and get your memories back, but you can’t even be brave enough to face new memories related to your mother. Babe, do not take this the wrong way, but those are the pathetic acts of a hypocrite.”

“What there makes you think can talk to Evie so? Right way to take that, what’sit??” Irarako put an arm out in front of her friend.

“No, Ira, don’t worry.” Evie reached out and lowered her arm with a laugh. “This is just how he talks, I promise. I mean, he’s right… But wow. Demi, you two are really _that_ worried about me? That’s gay.”

“What- Obviously it’s gay!” Demi raised his hands in frustration. “That’s not- That’s not the point, Evie! I mean. Why wouldn’t we be worried? Poppy and I are both Ultimates as well. We could have just as easily been selected for this game, but they took you. Are we just supposed to sit back and _not_ be incredibly concerned for your safety? Are you expecting us to behave in ‘het’ ways, Evie?”

“Well, no, I wasn’t expecting that,” Evie said.

“Good, because I’m not about to. I apologize to this ‘Ira’ friend of yours if I sound particularly abrasive, though, I did not intend to. Rather, I am very much, incredibly, on edge.” He adjusted his glasses again with a sigh. “My boyfriend is in a Killing Game, and I’m stuck in the Towa Rec Center. That game is following me around everywhere I go, so I can’t even blow off steam with anybody. Oh, and the living person I hate most on this Earth is stuck in the building too.”

“Wait. That’s where Mom is?” Evie asked, “Why is she in there? Why isn’t she back at home?”

“Veronica Snow and Rifa Kiriyaga,” Demi elaborated, “Two VIPs in Towa City, besides Poppy and I. They were both invited to stay at the rec center in order to ‘restrain’ the broadcast to this physical location. Kiriyaga seems… Well, to circle back around, she seems heterosexual, but a nice enough person. I pity her, for sharing a room with Veronica.”

“I can see how you’re doing,” Evie said, “But what about Poppy? Is she holding up any better? I mean. Her coping mechanisms are not as, uh. Privacy-required as yours…”

“Drag me in front of all of your new friends, why don’t you? Though you’re correct. Poppy is more or less the same as always, you know. She’ll keep all of her feelings right there and then one day she’ll die, that hasn’t changed even a little bit. Maybe we’re both managing to function a bit less than we normally would, but that hasn’t done much. We’ve been exempted from the chore list for the time being out of some attempt to keep our stress levels down. Shirayuki’s idea.”

“Shirayuki always keeps an eye out for you guys.” Evie chuckled. “It’s good to hear that you’re muddling through it. You’ll be okay, right?”

“Be okay?” Demi raised an eyebrow. “_Darling_, what do you mean?”

“If I don’t make it out,” Evie said.

“What sort of a question is that?” Demi scoffed. “It isn’t as if we’re planning to kill ourselves if you die, if that’s the sort of thing you’re getting at! But all the same, we’ll both be mourning a _lover_, and you need to consider that we didn’t exactly have a baseline of ‘okay’ to go from in the first place. But yes, we will _live_ without you. Difficult as that may be. Since when did you get such an inflated ego?”

“Since I somehow ended up with two people in love with me, I guess,” Evie admitted.

“There’s the deflation already… Somehow. As if people like us could ever truly connect with anybody else. It’s only natural we would fall in love with you, when the world at large stands no chance to understand me, or Poppy, or you.”

“Still.. Snow’s the one who remembers it. He’s the one who shared that experience with you.” Evie dipped his head. “You say things like that, and it doesn’t make sense. If I did remember, then it would be true… But…”

“You are the way you are because of what happened. Snow and Everett and _you_ yourself existing,” Demi said, “Is just the same as Poppy failing to exist. Just the same as the empty validation I seek out. It all goes back to the same thing…”

Demi took a deep breath before continuing. “But of course, I shouldn’t get into all of that in front of these people, should I? Ah… I got a bit carried away, hearing you say that we ‘somehow’ love you when the answer’s so obvious to me. I apologize, folks.”

“No big,” Irarako said, “Got a few questions to make up for it, though?”

“I’ll answer to the best of my ability.”

“Whyfor you talkin’ Japanese anyway? Couldn’tcha just chat Evie in English and bunches us couldn’t understan’ anyhow?”

“If I spoke in a way you couldn’t understand, you may become suspicious. Evie needs the practice anyway, too. Everett was homeschooled by Veronica, so he has the best grasp of the language… Poppy and I learned it sooner than Evie, so we agreed to communicate using it as a way to help him learn faster.”

“Oh! Makin’ sense. Then, next question. Evie never what mentioned boyfriend! You for serious?”

“Um. Well, I just don’t think it ever came up…” Evie pressed his fingers together with his eyes to the floor. “Though ‘boyfriend’ isn’t the most accurate term. Demi and Poppy are both my datefriends. He’s not a boy, and she’s not a girl.”

“Oh! Get.” Irarako gave an understanding nod, then pointed at the monitor. “Last question. What were that about bein’ Ultimates also?”

“I cannot imagine why Evie was selected for this game over myself or Poppy. Or why we were not selected _alongside_ him, in place of one of you. I’m considered the Ultimate Mathematician, and Poppy, the Ultimate Technical Engineer. We’ve held these titles since childhood.”

“Under…” Shin butted in, “What circumstances would a _child_ discover their talent for complex mechanical maintenance??”

“Ah, so you’re familiar with the nature of her passion. We were specifically scouted as participants for an educational television show. The idea was that child experts would be able to get concepts across in ways that children could better understand. Our titles were granted as a… reward, for agreeing to do the show. So it’s less that she discovered her talent as a child, and rather that she had her talent for tinkering directed and nurtured into its specificity. In any case, I would prefer not to speak much more on this topic. You’d have to get me in bed to unlock my tragic backstory, pretty boy.”

“I… Huh-?” Shin blinked.

“Don’t worry about him.” Evie waved his hands. “I mean, he’s being serious, but that’s my Demi for you. Poppy and I are both asexual, and he’s really _not_, so he’s got permission. Though, I think flirting with my fellow Killing Game participant is a little bit useless…”

“You’re allowed to _look_ at the items in the locked case at the store.” Demi shrugged. “Who knows how many humans left on earth to be a good lay when this blows over, I wanna spread my roots where I can.”

“I… I see,” Shin said, “Well. Thank you for the compliment, I, guess?”

“Easily flustered, I see.” Demi chuckled. “Well, I’ll be seeing you. Evie, I _would_ appreciate the opportunity to not mince my words in front of people who’ve just met me, and I’m sure some of them do understand english. Speaking a 'secret language' in front of others is always considered more suspicious than just wanting to talk alone. Can you go somewhere more private?”

“Yes, of course!” Evie agreed, and got up to crutch his way back to his room.


	198. Daily Life: Day Nine (Chuuni Incident)

**7:00 PM / 1900 Hours **

As people began to file out of the dining hall, something peculiar caught Yosuke’s eye. He noticed that Hiyoko seemed… On edge. More than usual, anyhow. As she left the room, she was looking around as if she was worried that somebody would see her leaving. Well, he did see her leaving, but upon another look around he noted that Ayano and Yuji were both still milling about in here; And those two were closest to Hiyoko, right? So it was pretty simple to conclude that she might be coming up against one of those again- If Yuji was to be believed, an episode in which she became worried that those close to her would suddenly cause her harm, right?

Yosuke wasn’t sure if this was the best idea, but he stood from the table he’d still been sitting around at and made his own way out, keeping it casual until he was in the hallway. He caught a glimpse of Hiyoko’s skirt as she rounded a corner, and stepped quick to catch up with her. When they were in the same hallway, he called out. “Hiyoko!”

She stopped where she stood, tapped the toes of her shoes against the floor with force three times, then pivoted. When she locked eyes with him, there was no light to be seen in them, and none in her voice either. “Yosuke.”

“You’re…” Yosuke started, then took a moment to think. “Are you okay?”

“Do you think I am?”

“Well, no, not really at all.” He shook his head.

“I don’t think you are either, so I guess we’re even.” She smirked and raised a finger to her chin. “But I suppose it only makes sense, doesn’t it? That you would seek such a rotten truth from me to obscure your own. The darkness lurking in your soul. For now, it fuels your warrior spirit, but how long can you continue to exorcise it through your knuckles?”

“That doesn’t matter right now. Why were you looking around the dining hall like you didn’t want Yuji to notice you?”

“Isn’t that obvious? I didn’t want him to see me leaving. It’s reasonable, isn’t it? To seek time away from the person you love. Especially when that person you love fails to understand his role to weave the cosmic threads between us.”

Yosuke was kind of lost, but he couldn’t let a little bit of language keep him from reaching out for the most open Hiyoko was likely going to be with him. “That’s reasonable. But you should be able to tell him that. Why did you seem scared?”

“Too long around me…” The smirk split its way into a misplaced grin. “And my beloved is sure to recognize it. He’s got a talent for that sort of thing, my Rosen Apostle! Throughout each and every incarnation, we will fall in love. But it always ends up the same way. He has light in his heart, and me? Only an accursed darkness. Yet, selfishly, I pray he doesn’t see it. I cannot _allow_ him to see it, it will lead to ruin.”

“What sort of accursed darkness?” Yosuke asked, “I don’t think… You don’t strike me as the type to kill somebody or anything like that. And he’s fine with you being a vampire, obviously. So it’s not that. What is it?”

“The curse of my bloodline. You understand it too, don’t you? It doesn’t matter what we try to do. People like you and I. The black blood of our fathers, it seeps throughout us, it turns us into nothing good at all.”

“My… No, both of my dads are perfectly fine people! Their biggest mistake with me was just playing into the society we were in, I can’t blame them for-”

“I’m not talking about either of them. I can see it reflected on your soul. In the way you look at me. We’re one and the same. It isn’t just blood, is it?” She took a step towards him and tilted her head, all without breaking eye contact. “Ah, well. Perhaps this is a result of my own, particular, skill. What you have sealed away under demon contract, I can see plain as day. The men who conceived of us, their tendrils remain. Maybe… Your beloved had enough of his own darkness to fall to Hell with you. Not mine. A hero of light will eventually realize my darkness and leave me to languish in it as I deserve.”

“Is that so?” Yosuke asked. He didn’t want to try to interpret what she was saying about _him_ right now, that wasn’t important. He just wanted to make an attempt to help her. “How do you know that?”

“It’s happened before.”

“In another life, right? Who’s to say he didn’t spend the rest of that life in regret, wishing he hadn’t left you, and is taking this life to make things right?”

“...It’s happened before.” The smile dropped, as did the eye contact as she turned her blank stare toward the floor. “He’s seen through it all to my true nature. To a darkness he wants nothing to do with. To the disgusting person that lurks in my soul. He can love me as long as he never looks too hard. I was granted a second chance, to hide this part of myself. Thus, I will continue to do so as long as I am able.”

“But it’s hard, isn’t it?” Yosuke had noticed it, not actively at the time. “What with that father showing up on the screen. If I think about it… Yuji didn’t say anything then, did he? We jumped in to defend you, but he was just silent.”

“Were he to view my father as a true enemy… Being the hero, of course he would realize. The stem of the enemy is an enemy as well. The result, myself… If he were to try defending me, then the result would be the same. The monster that is my father would reveal to him my nature. So I told him myself… Not to speak a word to him, should the opportunity arise. That I would prefer he remain silent, and not to fight the battle which would end in him turning his blade on me. And isn’t it, the very fact I would think to do such a thing? Proof enough that I am of a meaningless, rotten stock?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I also think. I don’t know. You should be able to talk these things out and reach a solution together. If you’re this afraid of him hating you for one thing in the grand scheme of it all, then I hate to say it, but maybe he isn’t actually good for you.”

“Yuji’s good for anybody. I’m the one who’s bad.” Hiyoko took a deep breath and stood up straight. “But I’ll be okay. I have to be. Ayano wanted us to paint each other’s nails, tonight, so I need to be a normal person again, for that. Thank you, though. Kindred spirits as we are, Yosuke… I could speak with you of things I don’t often. I’m grateful. Have a good night.”


	199. Daily Life: Day Nine (Waiting for Tomorrow)

** 8:00 PM / 2000 Hours **

_Was it going to happen again?_

As soon as Yosuke watched Hiyoko walk away from him, he was struck with a very particular concern. The last time that he let somebody he was worried about walk away… They had turned up dead the next morning. He tried not to put that blame on himself. Just as he’d tried to comfort Yuji at one point, there wasn’t a point to consider ‘what ifs’ because for all they knew, doing that thing could have led not to a better outcome, but to a worse one. There wasn’t any way to know that, so there was no point to blame oneself for failing to take what in retrospect might seem like a better path.

Still, he felt it, right now. He tried to chase after Hiyoko again, but this time, she’d already disappeared somewhere. There was no glimpse of her around a corner to be had, he’d spent whatever chance he had on talking to her just now. And there was Yuji to consider, who he’d just thought of again, what _was_ he supposed to think of him now?

Hiyoko’s words had meaning behind them, that much was obvious. But she obscured them so much in archaic, fantasy language that Yosuke had a hard time evaluating the actual situation. Had Yuji done something wrong, or not? Was Hiyoko talking about hypotheticals, or the truth? And if she was, just how serious was that truth anyhow? Was it a misunderstanding, or something that should honestly cloud Yosuke’s opinion of somebody that he did consider a friend?

Well, it wasn’t as if he could actually do anything about this right now. His chance at understanding had walked away and disappeared from view entirely; Dwelling on these things would just serve to give him yet another stressful evening. He really had a lot of those lately, didn’t he? He decided to take matters into his own hands tonight to not do that. And by take matters into his own hands, he meant go to sleep especially early so that the night didn’t even have a ghost of a chance at replicating his previous experiences. That was healthy. Definitely.

So, he returned to his room. Syoko wasn’t back yet, but that made sense, it was only eight. He wondered who the motive was shifting to now… All that really mattered was that it didn’t come to him, because he clearly wouldn’t have gone to sleep with somebody on the line. At first he’d thought he would be in the clear for a while after this morning, but had since been proven wrong, that the motive didn’t seem to be going in any particular order. It had already visited the same person twice, on two occasions. He wondered if it really was just randomly generated.

At least, from Yume’s conversation, it could be observed that somebody may be included in this motive even if they weren’t explicitly on the VIP list. That made him feel a bit better; Not for himself, because he really had nothing to worry about, but going back to Hiyoko. She had expressed concern that the only person who would appear for her to talk to was Kenta, and that had already gone badly once. But if nothing else, it seemed that her older sister was still alive, and she’d never expressed any negativity towards her. There was a chance that if Hiyoko repeated the motive, she might be able to see somebody else after all.

Yosuke also found himself wondering about people who lacked anybody ‘for them’ on the list. Amai wasn’t exactly for Ayano, but it could be understood why those two would be permitted to talk. As far as he knew, though, Shin lacked anybody to communicate with him in this motive whatsoever. His mother was dead, and his sister couldn’t be found by the people who organized the game. Then again, he supposed he had no idea who certain names on that list actually related to. One or more could easily have a connection to Shin that he was unaware of. They were friends, sure, but not to the extent that Shin had ever really opened up about _any_ troubles of his.

Well, whatever the case, the motives may not even continue for too long. Not to say that Yosuke hoped for that outcome- But he knew that they would stop happening once a murder occurred, and he was having trouble believing that another murder outright wouldn’t. He knew firsthand that several people were not doing well- And he couldn’t even necessarily trust himself. Where would the line be drawn, between breaking down and harming himself in a daze, against breaking down and harming somebody else in a daze? He didn’t _want_ to think he was capable of that, but he had to face the reality that he could. Anybody could. That was the point.

And somebody might. But, that wasn’t anything to actually concern himself with right this second. He had to look out for himself first of all, and that meant going to bed. He changed into pajamas, set his alarm, then found a piece of paper and a pencil in the junk drawer to write a note for when Syoko did get back- Pointing out that he definitely wanted his alarm to go off this morning, so leave it set please. If he was going to bed this early, it only made sense he’d want to wake up early as well. He’d ‘slept in’ two mornings in a row now, so he didn’t want to do it again.

With that settled, he shut off most of the lights, excluding the one in Syoko’s bathroom which threw just enough light to see around the room for her when she got back. Yosuke luckily wasn’t especially light-sensitive when it came to sleeping, or to anything at all really. Sleep was something which tended to come easily for him, although that didn’t always mean he slept soundly. Bad dreams, or just sleeping in a weird position, could still lead to him waking up not feeling particularly rested- But in general, he slept like a normal person. No insomnia, and no other kinds of sleep disorders or anything of the like.

And no need to think about difficult things. What Hiyoko had said about him, how Hiyoko was doing in general really. His own troubles. Yesterday’s events, in general. Evie’s return for the first time in several days due to a partner that nobody was aware of. Yume’s guilt, the potential of distrusting Yuji… None of that mattered until tomorrow.


	200. Daily Life: Day Ten (Practicing Self-Awareness)

** 6:00 AM / 0600 Hours **

Yosuke’s alarm went off, and he got out of bed just about immediately. He fell asleep easily, which also meant waking up easily- So he got to it with his morning stretches and exercises. There wasn’t much space to do anything of real impact, but it was something. Though he got to the alarm quickly, it woke Syoko anyhow. She seemed to be a relatively light sleeper, _most_ mornings- She didn’t say anything before getting up and joining him. This was how it had been for the first few days that they were here- Waking up and doing this in silence, together as friends.

It felt almost like a return to normalcy, in a way, but… Then again, it might not be. This felt normal, like the sort of thing that he and Syoko might do in the event that they really were roommates at a summer camp, and not here in a Killing Game. She stopped early to get ready for the day as she usually did, while Yosuke waited it out until six, just to be sure that the motive wouldn’t suddenly shift to him when he was showering. Mono did have the sensibilities, apparently, to cut her observation for nudity and sexual scenarios- But that didn’t mean that Mercury wouldn’t push a motive through during such times anyway. Not that the latter was about to be happening, for Yosuke.

He did understand why it had happened, though. When it came to others here, he meant. Like Nanjo and Itadai- It was high stress, in general, and that sort of thing was stress relief. And it was a lot like a high school trip, too. Close quarters with a bunch of people at similar ages. Despite the relative small size of Dome City, Yosuke had still achieved those high school experiences. The adults made an effort to ensure these types of things, high school experiences like trips. There were smaller domes established around the planet for travel purposes, including camping away from the bustle of the city. He had fond memories of sneaking away during what was supposed to be a kayaking activity to have sex in the woods with his boyfriend at the time, so really, he _understood_ it. Though it was still weird to think about how, apparently, Mercury Mars didn’t have the same qualms as Mono.

Not that Yosuke thought that implied Mercury made a _habit_ of looking in on those times, but that she didn’t express hesitance to do so in the event that there was something suspicious to double-check in relation, it kind of grossed him out if he was going to be completely honest, but then again. Being in a Killing Game in the first place was a large enough violation of bodily autonomy that a lack of privacy was the sort of human rights violation that paled in comparison. Complaining about it, even just to himself, was kind of counterproductive.

He finished showering fairly quickly and started to get dressed, but hesitated at the last step when he went to pull his gloves on. He didn’t always wear them- For example, he’d left them out of the equation when he was swimming, and nobody really made any comments. Maybe that was because his muscles were distracting enough, but… Why did he bother to hide ‘normally’ anyway? Did it really matter if people saw his hands? It’s not like they’d care.

The person most likely to express any worry, any concern… Already had. Two had, now that he thought about it, Syoko and Irarako both seemed to be aware of this issue that he had. Anybody else, he felt, wouldn’t want to broach the subject with him at all. In some ways, he wondered… Syoko had acted like he was unaware of it, himself. She did that often. Trying to help Jun without stating outright, his alcoholism. Trying to guide Yosuke himself earlier, with his gender issues, without pressing the issue in any explicit terms. She’d done the same for Hiyoko…

So it wasn’t surprising that she’d speak so vaguely, when she imagined that he might… When it was clear… Of course, he was aware of it. He had to be. Maybe he didn’t feel like he was in control, in the moment, but he knew what he was doing. He was just lying, when he told Syoko that he ‘wasn’t going to’. He knew that too. All of the scars that could be seen here were plenty old, old enough that one might even think that he’d kicked the habit. But that was another thing that he and Itadai had in common. He wasn’t sure how to refer to it, for himself, though. For Itadai it was obvious. He sliced himself open because he thought he deserved the suffering that came with it, but…

Yosuke, if he got to the state that blood was needed over tears, to get his feelings out? Was numb to it already. He was so dazed, he hardly registered until he was cleaning the scratches later, and even then. It wasn’t as if they really hurt. Maybe Hiyoko was on to something, with what she said to him. That it wasn’t some sort of punishment, or desire to feel a certain way, but a way to get something ‘out’ of himself that wasn’t supposed to be here. Like tearing open his hands released the static that built up whenever he tried to think too hard about what could possibly be lurking in his past, forgotten but for the echos that it had on him?

It wasn’t like it was something to be ashamed of, or some big secret, or any of that. Yosuke kind of felt like noticing the scars would make people uncomfortable, he worried about causing that sort of reaction, but that was it, wasn’t it? He hid them because he was under the impression that he ought to, not because it really mattered to him if people knew. Maybe he’d feel differently, if this was something he actually considered a problem.

As it was… It didn’t impact him either way. It was just something that happened when he wasn’t doing well. Just something that happened to him? Something he did, he knew that he did it. It was a compulsion that he couldn’t exactly resist, but then, he never tried to resist much either. He didn’t know how it started, he couldn’t even really explain why. It didn’t hurt. So he wouldn’t bother, acting like it was supposed to be a secret, that he had scars like these.

He stuffed the gloves into his pocket, around the scissors which were often, though not always, the culprit of the object of his thoughts- And carried on to face the day.


	201. Daily Life: Day Ten (Checking in With Friends)

** 7:00 AM / 0700 Hours **

After Yosuke had left the shower, Syoko was still in the main room. Neither of them had the motive it seemed, so it was time to move on. Both of them just went right along to the dining hall, where it seemed that Saya had taken up the mantle of cooking breakfast again. She was already starting to set plates out on the tables when Yosuke and Syoko walked in. Most people were already present, but he couldn’t see anybody with a monitor.

Well, that made sense, he figured. Breakfast’s mandatory attendance time was considered to be eight, so really, whoever got the motive early this morning could well be isolating to avoid sharing their conversation with everybody else. He took a better look around to try and figure out who it might be. Shin, Evie (Or was Everett back? Yosuke wouldn’t know.), Ayano, and Hiyoko were all absent. He could imagine reasons that any of them would prefer not to share their motive with the group, so it didn’t strike him as odd that one of them might not be here yet for that reason. As for the others, well, he was only just now arriving. They could have been in the same boat as him, holding off on taking a shower until it was certain that this motive block wouldn’t surprise them.

So he wasn’t all too concerned, and just got himself a plate. There was plenty of food, and he was too hungry to wait for anybody who would be arriving later, at least to take an initial helping. Saya had made french toast, along with other things of course. Cooking for this many people while keeping in mind dietary restrictions wasn’t easy, so he admired her for volunteering her time to do it so comparatively often. Especially considering he kind of dropped the ball on it himself, the other night.

He wasn’t really doing too well lately, but that’s fine, he was muddling through, making it through in spite of everything. Sure, he’d lost his boyfriend. Sure. But, there were other things he still had. His dolls, his scissors, his friends. Not necessarily in that order of importance, though all that was really important was that he still had those things on his side despite his recent losses of a boyfriend and of a degree of mental stability.

He sat down at a table where Yuji was sitting with Irarako. Two of his friends at a table, seemed a good bet. The table they’d decided on was also a good distance away from where Homura was sitting, which Yosuke considered… A good idea. He still felt bad about their encounter the other day. He _had_ been rude, even though he still didn’t feel like he had been in the wrong. It was just an incompatibility between them, now that he thought about it with a clear head. Yosuke couldn’t handle being told to believe things that he had no reason to, or being guilt-tripped. Homura couldn’t handle people outright refuting him on issues that were important to him. So Yosuke felt bad for how it ended up, but also didnt want to apologize.

That would prove that he _could_ be guilt-tripped, if he said sorry after all of what Homura had told him. Homura would need to apologize first, otherwise, Yosuke would just keep his distance. Luckily, he got along with other people just fine. “Morning, Irarako. Yuji.”

“Ey, sure is the morning!” Irarako laughed, and waved from across the table. “How the Hella you been keepin’, then? We ain’t really talked much since saw you get bad ways night ‘fore last…”

“I was fine yesterday,” Yosuke said, “But what about you? It kind of seemed like what Evie’s mom said kind of got to you, I was worried, but I wanted to be there for him and I couldn’t find you later on…”

“Awe, that? Nah nah.” She waved both hands. “Just some bitch makin’ assumptions bout my life, what’s that gonna do to a self-determination gal like me? Kinda sad what people look at me an’ think they know whole lots of my life? An’ maybe sometimes it’s kinda fair, true, but it ain’t really. Ain’t really at all. So why’s it matter to me?”

“Good on you, green-bean,” Yuji said, “You can’t let the things that people say get you down. There’s always bound to be people who think they know you, but don’t actually know a thing about how your life’s been or what you think about or any of that. Judging you based on things that they know nothing about… All you can do is move on. Best revenge is a life well-lived, and all that!”

“My life ain’t specially well-lived right now. Kinda stuck in here,” Irarako said, “But I’m gettin’ up what you’re throwin’ to the ground here. Thanks!”

“I agree,” Yosuke said, “Uh, what’s that cheesey quote? Everyone you know is fighting a battle you know nothing about, so be kind? I admit I’m kinda not the best at always being super ‘nice’ but I’m not just going to attack somebody the way that she did… I’m just not good enough at speaking to avoid saying mean shit sometimes, but not like that.”

“Sometimes people jus’ think, awe, look at the hick girl what can’t talk right. Bet she never got good school. Bet nobody never loved her. Bet she’s got a dead end life what ahead? An’ it can be a shock but eh, used to.”

“Used to??” Yosuke questioned, “Wait, people say shit like that to you _often_?”

“Not always so many’s words. But gotta stand up for myself an’ my own brainsmarts all the time. Ain’t dumb, but folks assume. Even Jun assumed… Had to tell him off way back when we were first up’n the game starts.” She leaned over to hit the side of her head against the table. “Just annoyin’. Nothing big deal from nobody.”

“Uh. If it helps, I never thought that at all?” Yosuke offered, “I don’t… Think that would. But, so you know?”

“I be knowin’. We kindred spirits who can lift refriggers.” She gave a thumb’s up, then glanced to Yuji. “You never thought I was dumb, neither. An’ I know Syoko didn’t. So it’s still points to my corner! Specially with you, dude.”

“Specially with me?” Yuji cocked an eyebrow.

“Don’t seem too much like you bother lookin’ past first impressions.” She sat back up and grinned. “Where I can be smart, what’s tellin’ this stuff bout people, yanno? So the fact what you never thought I’m just a dumb hick what can’t think, can’t talk right. When you ain’t the sort to consider the nuance bout a person after what you first think, means your first think ‘bout me is more accurate than some.”

“Ehh… I mean… Thanks?” Yuji looked away. “I guess…?”


	202. Daily Life: Day Ten (Three Unaccounted)

** 8:00 AM / 0800 Hours **

Yuji seemed especially put off by what Irarako had said to him- Though, Yosuke thought it was pretty accurate, as far as he’d seen. He didn’t consider himself too good at reading people, but even he could see that Yuji did have a tendency to form his opinions on others quite quickly. Yosuke had yet to see any of those opinions actually be inaccurate, though, so he didn’t think it was necessarily a bad thing. Maybe that was what Hiyoko meant last night, and that would be something to be talked out between them- If Yuji had decided that his girlfriend was a certain way, and she felt he wasn’t seeing her genuinely… Well, that checked out.

What didn’t check out was why Yuji looked so uncomfortable to be told this fact. So, Yosuke decided to give it a shot to alleviate that discomfort, “Well, Yuji, it’s not that unusual to base your opinions of people on first impressions… I’ve been guilty of that from time to time myself, you know? I mean. Until I was sharing a room with her and got to know how she actually was, I kinda disliked Syoko, remember?”

“Yes, I seem to recall that Itadai assumed having Syoko as your roommate would be a nightmare.” He scratched idly at a spot on his shirt. “Doll, it ain’t stuff like that which Ebizakaya’s calling me out on, right now. It _is_ a mite rotten, I’ve got to work on. I’ve a habit of assuming the worst… Were I in your position, with the opinion you had of Saihara, I doubt I ever would have gone on to open my heart enough to understand her true nature. I’d have made up my mind, and allowed that to color my thoughts of anything she carried on to do.”

“Oh. Well, but you don’t have such a bad impression of any of us here, do you?” Yosuke furrowed his brow.

“Mm… I can’t say that I’m fond of Yume, admittedly. And as for Saihara, I doubt I admire her nearly as much as she’s accustomed to, though I have no ill will for her.” He sighed and leaned against the table. “It isn’t as though it matters what I think, though, does it? These sorts of assumptions help nobody.”

“I don’t know,” Yosuke said, “I mean. You might just have good instincts?”

“Rarely does my assumption of a person line up with their true nature.” Yuji stood up from the table. “Which is why it’s a problem. Doll, I appreciate it, but there isn’t any use to convincing me something that I know is a flaw in my own judgment is anything good at all. If I feel guilt over thinking these ways, it’s because I need to work to change them, not because I need you to assure me that they’re fine.”

“...Right.” Yosuke nodded. “That makes sense. Sorry, I guess I’m projecting a little bit? You saying that you feel bad for assuming things about people is kind of making me feel bad for the extent I do the same thing, so I wanna make excuses for the both of us?”

“On the nose!” Irarako said, “You boys both gotta work on those. Assuming makes asses outta both of y’all.”

Yosuke couldn’t help but agree- Was that it? Was he just assuming things about Homura, and that was why they’d ended up clashing? In a way, at least at the time, he was. He assumed that Homura’s self-deprecation was an effort to guilt him into agreeing to humor him, but with the distance of a day between the argument and now, he _was_ able to acknowledge that it   
was probably not his intention.

“Yosuke’s better at tackling that sort of thing than I am, already.” Yuji chuckled, and this time scratched at the back of his neck. “Already said he did it with Saihara. Noticing that your idea of a person’s incorrect, and actually puttin’ in the work to move forward from that in a productive way? Doll, I really admire that about you.”

“Mm. When you put it that way, yeah, at least I’m able to tackle my assumptions like a reasonable person,” Yosuke said.

Yuji flinched slightly. “Yes, like a reasonable person indeed…”

“...Say, it’s eight, isn’t it?” Yosuke noticed what he’d done and decided to change the subject. Looking around, he noticed that Shin had arrived, but... “This is the mandatory time for breakfast, but three people still aren’t here. The motive hasn’t shifted either.”

“Now that you mention it, that is strange…” Yuji noted.

“Hiyoko. Evie. Ueda.” Irarako counted off on her fingers. “Three folks what aren’t here…”

“Monokuma?” Yosuke asked, and Mono appeared on the table. “Hey. Isn’t breakfast attendance mandatory?”

“Well, technically, I can only have people teleported here if I have an official announcement to make at eight,” Mono said, “But I said it’s always mandatory because I want you kids to eat healthily and all of that!”

“Okay,” Yosuke said, “So the three people who aren’t here… There’s nothing particular that says you _failed_ to bring them to breakfast. Right?”

“Right,” Mono said, “I have not, and am not capable of attempting that. Though, I’m not completely sure where those three are right now, myself…”

“You’re not sure?” Yosuke frowned and crossed his arms. “How is _that_ possible??”

“Hey! I’m really not as omnipotent as you might expect! I’m just _one_ moderator, Mercury’s an admin too!” Mono stomped her feet. “I just have a general idea of where you are, and I can watch certain rooms… I get the details of a murder uploaded to my brain when you guys find a body, even! I’m not even allowed to give you a warning if that happens!”

“Oh. Huh, I wouldn’t have expected that,” Yosuke admitted, “Well. I guess we have to go looking for them, right?”

“I guess so. I _can_ let you know that none of those three are currently in their rooms, or in the lab building,” Mono said, “I’m aware of that much.”

“Thanks…” Yosuke muttered almost like an afterthought as he walked away, out of the dining hall. He had an idea of where to look, with that statement in mind, and reached into the pocket of his coat. He produced a piece of paper- He’d picked it up the other day just because he wanted something to hold onto as a reminder of Jun, but it might actually be of some use right now. The floor-plan that, unlike the maps in the Monopads, included the hidden rooms upstairs.

He made his way up there, and found himself starting with the one where he and Jun had their last conversation- It was empty, but that didn’t mean that his idea was a bust, because on the fourth room that he checked he did find somebody. Sitting there on the floor, by herself, was Hiyoko. Yosuke had a split second of extreme panic, which gave way only to serious panic when she looked up at him. She was alive, sure, but she looked particularly worse for wear, bruised up, with dried blood caked on her cheek and her clothing. He ran forward and crouched in front of her.

“Hiyoko!” He exclaimed, and reached towards her shoulders, but didn’t grab at them. He didn’t want to scare her, or hurt an injury that he might not be able to see. “What… What happened? Did somebody try to kill you?”

“...Yes,” She whispered, flat, “But I couldn’t tell you who.”


	203. Daily Life: Day Ten (You Knew.)

“Couldn’t say who?” Yosuke asked, “What do you mean? It’s not like we’d let them try it again-”

“I don’t mean that I can’t tell you. I mean that I don’t know for sure who it was. It might have even just been me. I don’t know. Somehow, these things are always my fault…” Hiyoko reached out and pressed her hand against the top of Yosuke’s shoulder, using him to push herself up to her feet. She wobbled a moment, then fixed her posture. “I’ve just been hiding here, in case it was somebody. If some knight had tried to slay me, not just my own curse. Well. There’s nothing to utilize the curse in this room either, is there?”

“I… Guess,” Yosuke said, “So you were hiding here to be safe, even though you don’t know who you needed to be safe from?”

“Correct.” Hiyoko practically slapped her own arms. “Ah, well, I don’t even know if you’re who I need to be safe from, do I?”

“Do you not remember what happened?”

“I have a memory, but obviously I can’t count on that…” Hiyoko shook her head. “I’m always wrong about these things, aren’t I? It’s always my fault, never anybody else’s. So if I think somebody is to blame, they probably aren’t. It might just be me. Or it might be you. Or someone… I don’t know. I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”

“Help me? I mean. If you tell me who it is, then that’s helping you, right? I don’t really have a stake in this besides wanting to make sure you’re safe.”

“I think you do.” Hiyoko started to walk towards the door back into the hallway, and Yosuke went after her. They were halfway back to the stairs when suddenly, the intercom flared to life.

“A body has been discovered! Please report to the infirmary outdoor exit!”

He froze where he stood, and whatever patience he had previously been exhibiting promptly ran right out.

“That’s why,” Hiyoko said, also stopping in her tracks.

“You knew… What do you know about this??”

“I had a feeling that whoever tried to kill me wouldn’t have just given up without succeeding to kill somebody.”

“But you just said that it might have been you, who tried to kill you!” Yosuke turned to face Hiyoko. “So you had better stop being so fucking cryptic about this and fess up to whatever the truth is!”

“I don’t know what the truth is. If I did, I would have already turned myself in.” She looked away, refusing to make eye contact. “As it is, I have no idea. I don’t want to confess to something I didn’t do. That’s as bad as trying to get away with something that I did do. Either way dooms the rest of you, right?”

“How the _Hell_ do you not know if you killed somebody??” Yosuke stepped forward and grabbed the edge of her jacket. “There’s ways, but fucking tell me, right? Were you drunk? Dissociating? Did you put poison in a bottle and have second thoughts!?”

“Stop it!” Hiyoko shouted, and pulled her jacket from his hand before dropping to her knees. “I wasn’t… I already told you! I remember what happened but I can’t trust that memory because it doesn’t make sense! Okay? It just doesn’t… I… I need to see what the evidence is before I can figure out if it was me! I don’t want to just. Assume one way or another.”

“Who is it?”

“Huh?”

“Who’s dead?”

“You’d know better than me, you’ve already seen who’s alive.”

“Ugh, fine, just come on. We’ll go find out.”

“You go on ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.” She clasped both hands to her chest. “I’m sure you want to move quickly, and I’m just not up for that. I’ll just walk.”

She did get to her feet, then, which Yosuke took as all the prompt he needed to tear off down the hall towards the stairs, back to the main part of the building. He wasn’t especially surprised at the announcement, but the fact that Hiyoko had predicted it aloud… She was really in a state right now, and he didn’t understand most of what she was saying. It didn’t make sense to him, so he suspected her. But she also claimed to suspect herself, and that was…

He didn’t really like that phraseology, because he knew it was the way that Jun had felt in the first case. But then, Jun was different; He was an alcoholic with denial literally programmed into him, it wasn’t any surprise that he just lost chunks of his life to either factor, or the combination of both. Hiyoko didn’t seem like she was drunk, or had been drinking. There wasn’t any smell of it on her, and Yosuke had already seen her both drunk and hungover once- Both reflected a tendency to overdrink only in social settings, that didn’t give him the impression of somebody who was drunk _especially_ often, or to an extent that she would black out and kill someone. She even said that she had a memory of what happened; Just that she couldn’t rely on that memory.

To Yosuke, that sounded almost like she was innocent, but other things were too suspicious to assume that either. Maybe, he thought, she had witnessed the murder- But something about the culprit’s identity was just so unlikely to her that she was considering herself a more likely culprit and denying the memory of the event. He could imagine that as a possible explanation for her predicting that someone would be dead, but being so noncommittal about pointing fingers anywhere on why that happened.

Rather than going to the actual infirmary door, Yosuke cut through the gift shop to outside. Somehow, he knew by the way the announcement phrased it that the body wasn’t inside the infirmary, but outside the door. From where he stood outside, he saw a few things immediately. Some people were standing out on the sand, the others looking out from the opened infirmary door. He froze in his tracks when he saw it. When he saw.

_The body-_

**The bodies.**

There were two, if they could even be called that at this point. He pressed his hands over his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut, taking a minute. He wasn’t squeamish, by any means, but this was just too much and if he didn’t brace himself against the sight then he would surely vomit upon opening his eyes again. When he looked, when he managed to look close enough to, somehow, identify the nature of those…

_Heaps._

It was restrained to identification of objects which belonged to them. A pair of glasses, a necklace with a cross. A cast and a military ribbon.

These were, he came to understand, the things which had _once_ been.

** Ayano Ueda and Evie Snow.**


	204. Deadly Life: Day Ten (Explanation of Heap)

**9:00 AM / 0900 Hours **

“As you can probably tell,” Mono spoke, and it seemed that everyone had been in a similar fugue state of shock in the instant that they all turned to look at her, to look at anything besides the gruesome scene here on the sand. “This is not entirely the work of a human. However, I will remind you, hazards are not permitted to kill, only to cause grievous harm. In this case, it’s prudent that I inform you that the hazards _were_ involved as a particularly creative method of body disposal.”

“Hoooow are we…” Tooru muttered, “How are we even s’posed to figure out the cause of death this way? Or anythin’ at all about how they were killed…”

“That’s a good question,” Mono said, “And lucky you, I’ve got an answer to it. To strike that balance between acknowledging the cleverness of this disposal, and keeping the mystery fair to you guys, the Monokuma Files will _not_ report what the actual cause of death is. However, they _will_ report every injury that was made by a human, and exclude those which were made by hazards. This won’t tell you if any particular injuries are post- or antemortem. This won’t tell you if injuries were sustained days prior to the murder, either.”

“It seems kind of distasteful to make a ‘compromise’ about something like this,” Shin said, “Especially since this is actually giving us _less_ of certain information, compared to past Monokuma Files…”

“Would you rather I just listed off every single injury in all its gruesome detail, hazard or human?” Mono asked, “Really, this is more generous than Mercury wanted to give you. She thought it was so ingenious to use the hazards to destroy the corpses this way, that it would be an affront to the culprit’s intellect if we ruined it for you in any way.”

“I guess if you put it that way,” Hiyoko spoke up, having just now arrived. “It makes sense. Well, thank you for that… We should start figuring out what happened here.”

Yosuke turned to look at Hiyoko standing there, and grimaced. The extent to which she was injured herself, struck him differently now that he’d seen what ended up happening to those who did end up dead. Of course, if she had escaped from a culprit who planned to obscure their crime in this way, there would have been no hesitation to inflicting this many injuries in the attempt.

He took a deep breath, and pulled out his Monopad to begin inspecting what the extent of injuries really _were_... 

** Ayano Ueda **  
Closed Fracture of Left Femur  
Abdomen Puncture  
Bruised Right Wrist  
30243H1  
Dislocated Knee  
Laceration of Head  
Open Fracture of Right Middle Finger  
Abrasions of Left Forearm x3  
Puncture of Right Hand  
Minor Burns on Left Palm  
Bruised Right Leg, x2  
Bruised Left Leg, x6

**Evie Snow**  
Closed Greenstick Fracture of Right Fibula  
Open Fracture of Right Femur  
Open Fracture of Left Tibia  
Open Fracture of Left Fibula  
Closed Fracture of Right Radius  
Broken ribs x7  
Fracture of Skull  
Bruises x34 Across Body  
Closed Fracture of Multiple Fingers on Right Hand

...Those were quite a few injuries, but Yosuke kept in mind that Mono said ‘any injuries inflicted by a person’ would be listed, whether relevant or not, without any qualifiers on the matter. For example, the greenstick fracture listed for Evie was most certainly the one from several days ago, and not necessarily new. Yosuke also didn’t know what the string of characters in the middle of Ayano’s list was supposed to mean, but he guessed that didn’t matter so much at the moment. Maybe it was just a mistake- The important part was that it did seem like he assumed correctly, that the others were also beaten before they were killed, just as Hiyoko almost was.

Evie’s list of injuries didn’t have any likely individual causes of death which stood out, so it was probably some sort of combination… While with Ayano, the laceration or the puncture were likelier. That was what he assumed, anyway. It wasn’t like he was well-versed in the ways that people could end up dead. Even with the extensive list of injuries that had been sustained by human hands, the hazards had done a number on the bodies.

Yosuke took a deep breath and took a few steps closer. He wanted… Well, that wasn’t quite right, was it? He needed to compare the list he’d been given to the way that the corpses had eventually turned out. Surely, with closer inspection, he’d be able to find some indication that what was listed on the file lined up, right? He could at least, maybe, get some idea of just how serious certain injuries were…

It wasn’t exactly easy, though. These bodies had been, quite literally, torn apart. Torn apart by those creatures which were not quite animals, which made the island dangerous when night fell and which even Mercury wasn’t even completely in control of. Yosuke never would have even thought to utilize the mysterious beasts in a murder, but of course, somebody had, and now they needed to deal with the utter complication such a thing represented.

Even as far as wounds inflicted by humans went, Yosuke had no way of knowing just how large they were. When he saw the gaping hole in Ayano’s midsection, was that the puncture referred to in the file, or just something done by a hazard, and the ‘puncture’ was much smaller? Or was it a midsized wound in the first place, only to be grown to this even larger size through claws or teeth?

The compromise offered was hardly one that actually served him well. But then, that was the point of it being a compromise, right? Acknowledge the ingenuity of the killer, without leaving every single detail up to guesswork.

“Hey.” Syoko’s hand was on his shoulder. He turned to her, and noticed that while she was addressing him, she was turned as far from the bodies as she could get. “You know you don’t have to… Do this. We can’t even really figure things out from looking at them, so. You don’t need to step in for me this time, nobody needs to step into it at all.”

“Aw, how about this.” Homura walked over into Syoko’s field of view, inserting himself to the conversation. “Let Yosuke supervise me, checking out the bodies. I think you might be surprised, what sort of things I can still figure out.”


	205. Deadly Life: Day Ten (Homura's Findings)

“I guess that would work,” Syoko said, “Yosuke?”

“It’s fine with me as long as it’s fine with Shinku,” Yosuke said, “I mean, I did say some kind of shitty things that I have no intention of actually taking back, because I did mean them, I just didn’t mean them to necessarily be _hurtful_.”

“I gotcha,” Homura said, “Don’t worry about it, I mean. Just cause we had one little fight doesn’t mean we can’t work together in a civil way to solve a crime. Though I have no intention of taking back anything I said, either.”

“Good to see we’ve got an understanding,” Yosuke said, and took a step back from where the bodies were, with his eyes still on them. “Be my guest, then. If you think you can actually interpret what sort of shit happened here…”

“Through the power of your doubt, my powers will unlock!” Homura flashed a thumbs-up, then approached the bodies himself. He hesitated before them for just a moment before crouching, an inspection of detail that Yosuke had been unable to bring himself to do. He couldn’t say he knew Evie very well, but Irarako did, and Yosuke knew Irarako well- So he felt that kind of secondhand loss on top of relatively small amount that he _personally_ got to know Evie while he was alive. As for Ayano…

He’d just gotten closer to her, and here she was. Dead. They’d connected over their mutual grief towards Jun’s murder, and now he was left to grieve _her_ himself. But why was he thinking about this right now? That wasn’t productive, it really wasn’t, to be standing here with his eyes leaking out all over the sand while he was supposed to be making sure that Homura wasn’t getting up to any sort of tampering, somehow, with the corpses. Again, he couldn’t let himself actually sort through these emotions when there were more important things at hand!

Just. Ugh. Why did this have to include one of _his_ friends, really? He just wasn’t allowed to have anything to hold onto, was that it? Fucking Hell.

“So…” Homura spoke up, “The puncture that’s on Ueda’s hand, it’s really small. I can see it, though. It looks like a cannula mark to me, though.”

“How do you know what those look like?” Syoko asked.

“I’ve spent time in the hospital before,” Homura said, then turned to look at Yosuke. “It isn’t like the clinical trial I was in was flawless. I still needed regular medical treatment, along with it, back then.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Yosuke said, “But that’s more believable than what you told me before, so I’ll figure you’re right about what the mark is. Though, come here a second?”

“Yeah?” Homura came closer.

“This.” Yosuke pointed to a mark on his fingertip, which did look different from the other scars. “Does it look anything like this mark?”

“Mm, it does, actually?”

“So it’s not necessarily anything medical, which seems a little more likely to me,” Yosuke said, “The same type of mark can be made by poking yourself with a sewing needle.”

“Good point. I assumed a cannula because it’s right on the vein, but that really _could_ be coincidence, now that you say so.” Homura raised his hands in a shrug. “Either way, that ‘puncture’ is from _some_ variety of needle. The other one, it’s impossible to tell.”

“Would you assume that it’s the same?”

“No, actually, I really doubt it! Using a words as vague as ‘puncture’ twice is really off-putting, right? It could just as easily say something with more detail. That string of characters in the middle seems weird to me, too.”

“Yeah… I assumed it was a glitch,” Yosuke admitted, “Does it mean something to you?”

“It doesn’t! But, assuming that it doesn’t actually mean anything at all is kind of irresponsible of us? If it isn’t a glitch, it’s something left intentionally confusing. Like the use of the word puncture at all. The Monokuma File is, in itself, a puzzle that’s trying to obscure the truth. We just have to seek a way out of it.”

“Okay,” Yosuke said, “Is there anything else that strikes you as odd about the bodies, Homura?”

“Not particularly. Let’s see. Both of them have their Monopads on them… Whatever three abrasions were on Ueda’s arm, two of them got covered up by hazard damage. The third one’s visible though, and it looks like something relatively thin was dragged down her arm. As for Evie… Nothing too odd, but I can tell you that the injuries to his hand make me thing somebody put their whole weight on it. Probably stomped, or something.”

“And how do you know _this_ information to conject, exactly?” Yosuke raised his eyebrows.

“That one should be obvious, good grief. You think a fan of true crime like me wouldn’t research legitimate forensics?? I can tell _that_ much about how wounds are made. You make it sound like I’m telling you exactly how many pieces the bone broke into, just by looking. I dunno if anybody in the world could do a thing like that.”

“That seems unlikely,” Syoko said from where she still stood, refusing to look at the corpses herself. “Hey, I was thinking. It kind of seems like these were both the same culprit… With the injuries, and the bodies being in the same place, but. What if it _was_ two different people who committed these murders? What would happen then? Monokuma?”

“Oh, yeah, huh. Good point.” Homura stepped up next to her. “Well, a lot of the time, only one of the culprits is slated for punishment, though it depends on different factors. Sometimes only the first or second. Sometimes, it’s a vote. Sometimes, like in the last game, it’s as complicated as saying both culprits will appear to be killed, but one will secretly be kept alive and returned to the participants at a later date!”

“Nothing so complex this time around, I’m afraid,” Mono answered, as she had been called to do before Homura interrupted, “Both culprits would be executed, in the event that there were two. You would need to accurately find them both. If you got one culprit wrong, the remaining culprit can decide their two to escape before the correct culprit is executed, so they could technically save the other. If both are wrong, both can choose two to escape.”

“Ah! Terrible,” Homura said, “That’s really unfair! Especially if the culprit was banking on the possibility of letting the other get away with it, without sentencing the rest of us to die! Hey, one of Jun’s moms did _just_ that in her first game, didja know?”

“I can’t say I did,” Yosuke said, “But then again, I guess I never really pried into the lives of Jun’s parents… It was Shirogane who did that, right? Not Amai?”

“Mm.” Homura nodded. “Well, technically speaking, I think that _everyone_ in that family has committed a murder, whether the deed stuck or not!”

“You’re correct,” Mono confirmed, “Tsumugi Shirogane, Amai Oishi, and Tsukune Madara all took on the role of ‘culprit’ in one Killing Game or another.”

“And Jun is rumored to have murdered his… Ex,” Syoko noted, hesitating before deciding to keep with the neutral term. Especially now that Ayano was dead, nobody in the game had any way to actually know what the ‘deal’ was with one Koyuki Doromo, though Yosuke felt like he had a general idea. “So there’s that, too. Jeeze, talk about a bad seed. Even if he didn’t actually do it, getting those types of rumors spread has to tell you _something_ about a person.” She glanced at Yosuke. “I say that as somebody who’s experienced rumors of a sort, myself.”

“Who would wanna spread bad rumors about _you_, **Syoko**??” Homura questioned, “After all, you’re a shining star, lighting the way into the future, even for other Ultimates! Nobody could ever compare to you!”

“Ahaha… Thanks.” Syoko scratched at her cheek and looked away. “Well. We should keep investigating, right? We might have… Two enemies to seek out this time.”


	206. Deadly Life: Day Ten (Hiyoko's Intentions)

“We should,” Homura said, “But before we actually go anywhere else, I think that we should probably address the elephant in the room. It’s white with red eyes, and it’s standing right there.”

He pointed over to where Hiyoko was still just standing still in the sand. Everyone else had dispersed at this point- After all, nobody really wanted to keep looking at these kinds of bodies. Yume, Saya, and Shin had all gone to check out the lab building. Hiyoko, she was still just standing there, so Homura kind of had a point calling her the elephant in the room.

“Hiyoko.” Yosuke stepped toward her. “Do you have something that you want to say?”

“Well, yes,” She said, “And no. I intend to take blood samples to run a toxicology report as we did with the last case, but I was waiting until you moved on, because I would rather not need to defend the possibility that I would tamper with the results if I were the culprit.”

“Now you do need to,” Yosuke said.

“I know…” Hiyoko groaned and rolled her eyes. “I mean, you already finished looking at the bodies, right? I just want to run some tests on the blood, that won’t impact anything else about the investigation. And you have no need to trust the results if they happen to absolve me. I mostly just want to answer my own curiosity. Is that answer acceptable to you?”

“Oh. I mean, yeah, I guess that checks out.” Yosuke took a step back and scratched the back of his neck. “Sorry, I mean. You’re right, it’s not like you could meaningfully tamper with anything even if you wanted to. We wouldn’t accept the blood results if they somehow completely absolved you anyway.”

“Precisely. Since I was waiting until you were finished anyway… The options are that you have no bloodwork, or unreliable bloodwork. It isn’t like I can actually make anything tilt in my favor specifically.”

“While we’ve got you here,” Homura butted in, “Hiyoko. Have you looked at the Monokuma File yet?”

“No, I don’t have my Monopad with me.”

“Well, here, look at mine! Does the weird string of characters in the middle of Ueda’s list of injuries mean anything to you? We’re trying to figure it out.”

“No, I can’t say that it does, I’m sorry. If it were only numbers, I might have an idea, but the letters throw me off pretty badly. I have no idea what that’s referring to.” She shook her head and sighed, then stepped past the boys toward the bodies. “I’m sorry that I’m not being of very much help, really. I wish that there was more I could do or say, but I’m just… Pretty useless right now. I wish I could just… Trust what I thought I saw. But I can’t.”

“What you thought you saw?” Syoko questioned, joining the conversation now where she hadn’t seen the need to before. “What do you mean? Wait. You’re…”

“Injured, yes. I am. I was most certainly present at one of last night’s crime scenes, but I couldn’t possibly tell you any details about it. I’m not lacking any memories, but I can’t trust the memory that I do seem to have. Therefore, I would only obscure things if I tried to give my witness account.” She sighed and brought a hand up to her cheek. “For all I know, I could have done it. These types of things are always my fault. So, please, don’t bother me much more about this. Aren’t there plenty of things you could be investigating right now?”

“There are, but…” Syoko moved to block Hiyoko’s movement toward the bodies. “I want to make sure you’re alright first, you know. I’m not going to badger you to tell us what you saw or, maybe didn’t see? But I do want to, er. Check in with you?”

“I understand why you might be concerned for my well-being… I assure you, I’m doing terribly, but that doesn’t actually matter right now.” Hiyoko brought her hands up and pushed Syoko’s shoulders out of the way. “I want to know who killed my friend just as much as everyone else, so please. Find the truth, and then maybe we can stop and think about how not ‘alright’ I am.”

“Right.” Syoko sighed and wrapped an arm across herself. Yosuke was already bad enough to have around, as somebody who would push these things off one hundred percent until the moment when he absolutely broke down. And from where he stood, there was even more to worry about with Hiyoko than Syoko might be aware of. He’d seen her completely break down in two entirely different ways, and he was closer with her _boyfriend_ than he was with her directly.

“Hey, she’s got a point,” Yosuke said, “I mean, maybe because I do the same thing, but this isn’t the time to make sure that people are okay. It’s the time for us to figure out-”

“I’m worried,” Syoko interrupted him, “If… If the culprit, or _one_ of the culprits already tried to attack her once, who’s to say that they won’t do it again? Huh? How am I supposed to just let her walk around like this, she’s so… Out of it. She escaped once, but. If they come back for her…”

“If it’s a single culprit, they’re limited, right? Killing a third person gets them executed on the spot,” Homura assured her, “If it’s two different culprits, well. That rule’s still comforting, cause they’re not gonna just kill another person and confirm that it _is_ two people. As long as one culprit thinks they can hide behind the idea that the other culprit did both the murders, then we’ve got nothing to worry about with a third body showing up.”

“Are you sure?” Syoko asked.

“With the way the double jeopardy’s working this time, I’m absolutely certain. The times of death are eleven for Ueda, a little over half past for Evie, so even if it was somebody getting caught up in the moment, that moment’s passed.” Homura nodded, raising a finger in front of himself. “So. If it was an impulsive act, the impulse is gone by now. If it was planned, any planner intelligent enough to do this with the corpses is intelligent enough not to confirm that it was two different culprits, instead of just the one.”

“Okay.” Syoko took a deep breath, then blinked a few times before she looked to Homura again. “Hey, don’t you usually handle room checks?”

“I do, but, you know. Given that there may be two culprits, it takes three to be accountable! I figured I’d investigate the main stuff with you, and we’d also look at the rooms together. If that’s alright?”

“It is,” Syoko said, “Really, I imagine that the rooms are probably an important part in this investigation anyhow… But first, the gift shop and infirmary, right? Just in case there’s something there.”


	207. Deadly Life: Day Ten (Infirm Hazard)

The door that went directly into the infirmary was, of course, uncomfortably close to the bodies. So instead, they entered the gift shop first to investigate if there was anything strange about it. With a high degree of scrutiny, the three looked over the room, but there wasn’t anything that stood out. The trash seemed perfectly normal, and nothing conspicuous was missing or scuffed. There hadn’t been any additional liquor taken off the shelves since the previous trial ended.

There were a few odd cans or bottles taken from the cold case, but that wasn’t particularly noteworthy. Homura admitted that he’d taken a few of the cans himself, and shot both Yosuke and Syoko a withering glare against making any comment. With that admittance in mind, what remained wasn’t substantial- It could be readily assumed that **alcohol had nothing to do with this murder**, for once in this game. That was the only information to be gleaned from the gift shop, so they moved along to the infirmary.

“So,” Yosuke noted, “If nothing else, we know that the culprit tossed the bodies outside from this door, so there’s got to be some...th…” He couldn’t really keep his thought going when he saw that thing on the floor there. What thing? Well, it had gotten in while the door was open, after all. It resembled a… salamander? Well, something like that.

“Huh. So one of the hazards is an axolotl…” Homura put a name to it. “That makes sense. It’s already got those tendrils on its face and all…”

It was those tendrils specifically which bore the brunt of the creature being ‘like an axolotl’ rather than being one outright. It was a good amount larger than the amphibians normally were, as well, but primarily the nature of its face tendrils resembling not the normal, innocuous kind, but instead that same grey and pink of the ones with which Mercury had intended to murder Rei…

Of course, it wasn’t there in the infirmary _alive_. Yosuke assured himself, it was quite dead. No matter how twisted the creature, nothing could really survive this kind of physical damage, that being the thing was bisected at the midsection. Sitting in that midsection was what appeared to be a large tooth, covered in blood, that had just been dropped there. The blood of the creature trailed all the way to the door... 

“I can’t look at this,” Syoko muttered and turned around, covering her face. “I know it’s not a human, it’s an axo… whatever. It’s still really gross!”

“Nobody’s telling you that you have to be a-okay with looking at dead stuff, don’t worry,” Homura assured her, “Anyway, this thing… Hm. Well, It was definitely killed inside here, but the tooth is weird, right? Um. Monokuma?”

“Yes?” Mono arrived.

“I have a question. These creatures are considered ‘outdoor hazards’, right? So what exactly is in place to keep them from actually getting inside, even if a door is open?”

“This here is the aftermath of that, yes. When a doorway detects one of the hazards, it activates a shield which, in this case, seems to have cut the thing in half.”

“Right. So it’s reasonable to say if this creature were jumping through the doorway, and something more threatening was coming up close behind, the shield could activate at a time that both pieces of this hazard made it in here, but the other one only lost a tooth,” Homura said, “Physics-wise, that checks out, though I’m not totally sure that’s what happened. At least, we have an explanation for this which doesn’t involve the culprit managing to kill one of _these_ things. Most of the file’s injuries were blunt force.”

“They were, weren’t they?” Yosuke nodded along. “Now that you mention it, _none_ of Evie’s injuries seemed like they would have been inflicted with any sort of blade or anything.”

“If Ayano’s abdomen puncture was just needle-sized originally like the one I saw on her hand,” Homura extrapolated, “Then it’s the same for her. Both of them would have been beaten to death…”

“Don’t make assumptions yet,” Syoko said, “There’s a lot of things we might not be able to know. I mean, for everything Hiyoko said about it being unreliable… There might even be poison in their systems that we haven’t been alerted to, right? Mono did say that the file listed every injury, postmortem and antemortem, relevant or not. If a person, and not a hazard, inflicted them and they were still present on the body.”

“That’s a good point…” Yosuke agreed, “‘Beaten to death’ might just be what the culprit wants us to take away from the injuries, if they predicted we might still be given this level of guidance. But any of the breaks and bruises could well be done by attacking a corpse… But would we really not be given any indication if poison’s involved?”

“Not when we have a Phlebotomist here to run bloodwork. Just like how we wouldn’t receive times of death, if Nanjo were alive. As long as somebody among us is able to determine and share the information that we’d need to solve a case, the file has no obligation to give it to us so easily,” Homura said, “Though there is an indication, as much as they might be able to give us. The punctures, that could easily be an injected poison of some variety! Though, Evie doesn’t have any, so I’m not sure how much that lines up.”

“Can we just finish up in this room?” Syoko asked, “Again. These conjectures are more useful in the courtroom, than in a room with a dead amphibian. I have a fondness for those, you know. I have a pet hermit crab.”

“Awe, lemme guess.” Homura came around on her side. “His name starts with K, doesn’t it?”

“Mhm. It’s Kaneki. How did you figure that out?”

“Pft.” Homura waved a hand and stuck out his tongue. “I just thought it’d be really funny if you had Kermit the Hermit. It was a stab in the dark!”

“Oh.” Syoko chuckled, glancing up at the ceiling. “That is pretty funny… Thank you, I needed that. Well. I suppose it’s likely we’ll find clues over in the dorms, so. Shall we be on our way?”


	208. Deadly Life: Day Ten (The Bloodied Room)

At Syoko’s further prompting, they got out of the infirmary and made their way over to the dorms, checking the hallways for hints along the way, but nothing turned up. There weren’t even blood smudges on the ground or anything. Well, that was a little significant, right? It did mean that whoever moved those corpses outside was able to lift them, not drag them. Or that they were killed outside, Yosuke guessed, but that line of thought was cut short just as soon as the group arrived on what was evidently one of the actual crime scenes.

Ayano Ueda’s dorm room.

It was evident from the instant that they walked in, that something had happened here, not least of all by the amount of blood in the room. Frankly, it was an _absurd_ amount of blood, it didn’t seem realistic that this much could have even come from any person. Even if both of the victims had been killed here, and this was where Hiyoko sustained her injuries, none of the injuries were actually of the sort which would result in this kind of gruesomely stained scene.

“What the… fuck?” Yosuke voiced his confusion, “This doesn’t… Uh. Where did all of this blood _come_ from?”

“Well, obviously somebody was killed-” Syoko started.

“Nope!” Homura cut her off. “That’s not what Yosuke means. Yeah, somebody got killed in this room, but this looks like somebody _exploded_. There’s at least an entire person’s worth of blood all over the carpet, and did anyone’s injuries really seem to line up with completely bleeding out?”

“Why would I know what sort of injuries would lead to that?” Syoko asked, then crossed her arms. “Well, then I’m just as confused as Yosuke. Where _did_ it come from?”

“Right?” Yosuke stepped further into the room, trying to take a look around beyond the initial confusion at the sheer volume of blood that existed in the center of it. The coffee table that would usually be there had been placed onto the bed which had belonged to Hikari, leaving some open space in the middle of the room. The dresser, meanwhile, had been rotated such that from a seated position on Ayano’s bed it could be, if awkwardly, used as a desk- which appeared to be her intention, given the pieces of fancy parchment and calligraphy pens which sat on it. She must have retrieved those from her lab. At first the parchments looked blank, but Syoko approached and turned them over.

“Huh.”

“What is it, Syoko?” Homura asked.

“These are… The things that Ayano was making, she was writing down people’s names in calligraphy after they’d died. But there’s something different from when she showed me, she added a red drop shadow to the ones that she already made. And…” She lifted one of the papers and turned it towards them. “There’s this one. ‘Katsue’, in katakana. No last name, and it isn’t the name of somebody who’s here, as far as I know.”

“Don’t tell me Evie had another one?” Yosuke groaned.

“Well, that would explain it in a few ways, but I’m not sure. According to the file, Ayano was the one who got killed first. And this is definitely _her_ work, this type of quality isn’t all too imitable. Definitely not by anyone here. How would she have known he was going to die, to make this? We’ll have to think harder about this when the trial comes around than you might assume.”

“Mm, I agree,” Homura said, “It’s suspicious! Anyway, I figured out where all this blood came from, check it.”

He held up some empty plastic bags that he’d found under one of the beds.

“Are those blood bags?” Yosuke wondered, furrowing his brow.

“Would I have said that it’s where the blood came from if they weren’t? They’re labeled and everything. Hiyoko definitely never took this much as samples, though. I bet that the people who already died got some of their blood put in the infirmary fridge.” He shook them up and down just once. “Nanjo, Itadai, and Jun’s are all here. Huh. I guess he got to have real blood here, since he thought he was a human and all...”

“Hiyoko did mention that she was at one of the crime scenes,” Yosuke noted, “And she told me last night that she was going to spend some time with Ayano, but that was before eight. Do you think those are why she was in here?”

“The red accents on these…” Syoko realized, “Are you telling me that they’re blood? That Ayano was adding their blood to the tributes she made for them?”

“Nobody’s telling you that, you came to the conclusion all on your own. Yes, I do think that’s the case.” Homura set the bags back on the floor, and snapped a picture with his Monopad. “Don’t need to be carrying those around. Whatever scuffle gave Ueda all those injuries must have broken these bags, too, and they got their contents all over the floor.”

“Why would Ayano do something like this?” Syoko asked.

“I mean.” Yosuke raised his arms in a shrug. “I don’t think it’s that weird. It’s a lot like making somebody’s ashes into a piece of jewelry. Hiyoko probably mentioned that the blood was in the infirmary fridge, and Ayano asked for her help to use it for the tribute calligraphy. It’s a little bit macabre, sure, but not ‘why would somebody do this’ levels.”

“Mm!” Homura nodded along. “She’s just honoring the dead, you know.”

Syoko flinched away at the criticism, but in moving, seemed to take note of something. The worried look gave way to curiosity as she set the parchments back on the dresser, crouched down, and pulled one more out from under it. Then, that curious look one more dissipated into one of… Worse than worry this time, but a borderline-horrified shock.

“What is it?” Homura asked, taking a step towards her.

“She knew…” Syoko whispered.

“What?” Yosuke was the one who questioned it this time.

“She knew that she was going to die.” She flipped the parchment around so that both of them could see, clear as day and with those same red accents on it…

‘Ayano Ueda’.


	209. Deadly Life: Day Ten (New 3DS)

“You’re kidding me,” Yosuke said, and reached out to snatch the paper from Syoko’s hand. “You’ve got to be fucking _kidding_ me. She… How could she have known that she was going to get killed? Why would she make this? And, the…”

“A calligraphy pen could have made the one abrasion I was able to see on her arm,” Homura said, “So that would answer where she, uh. Got the blood?”

“That answers exactly _one_ of the many questions about this,” Syoko said, “Could somebody have forged this? Is it possible? If Ayano was injured badly enough she thought she’d die, why would she have used the time she had left to make this, instead of getting help? What is… What is going _on_ here?”

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Yosuke reminded her, “It doesn’t have to make sense yet. Everybody’s brainpower together, that’s how we end up figuring the truth.”

“I know. I know.” She took a few deep breaths. “I just. Usually, I can at least… Think that way. I have ideas and I’ll verify them at trial, but here, I don’t even. I can’t imagine any possible explanation, I don’t have any theory to think about _verifying_.”

“You don’t have to,” Homura said, “Really, nobody’s asking that of you!”

“_I’m_ asking that of me,” Syoko clarified, “It’s so much easier to investigate when I feel like I already know at least part of it! Looking for clues when you have an idea of what types of things might be the clues you need, isn’t nearly as difficult as blindly guessing whether something is relevant to a crime or not!”

“Sure. But that’s the word, isn’t it? Difficult? It’s not like you could have expected this to be _easy_ every time.” Homura reached up and poked at the back of Syoko’s shoulder. “You’re just finally getting to experience the way that all us people with regular, non-shiny brains feel when dealing with this stuff. Anyway, we should take a look in Evie’s room, since this one was a crime scene, his might be too.”

“Right.” Syoko nodded, and immediately turned to reach for the door to leave. None of them said anything on the way to Evie’s room, but upon opening _that_ door it was evident, though not nearly as much, that this was also a crime scene. There was no great splash of blood over the entire room, but there were several stains- It made sense, since an ‘open fracture’ was the sort in which a bone pierced the skin. The room was in minor disarray, but was generally normal. No reorganization like Ayano’s room, and nothing that was _obviously_ added in from outside.

Syoko seemed to have different ideas, though, as Yosuke watched her approach the dresser and once again crouch down to examine underneath it. And like before, she produced an item, though this one instilled less immediate dread than the last one had- It was just a handheld game console, which Yosuke recognized as being a 3DS of some variety. Kind of vintage at this point, but it definitely wasn’t too old of a model among the console type. That was the extent of knowledge Yosuke had about those kinds of things- Again, he was not a nerd. Playing the occasional multiplayer game on an up-to-date console was his interaction with that world.

“...Oh yeah!” Yosuke realized, “Everett was actually mentioning before, that there was a 3DS in his hobby box, but that he didn’t play it that much himself. If it was out, then… Maybe he finally convinced Evie or Snow to come back for a more substantial amount of time. Oh. That’s actually kind of upsetting to think about, putting it that way.”

“Died as soon as he started to sort that stuff out,” Homura said, “But that doesn’t really have much bearing on this, right? No matter who was fronting, he was gonna get killed. Does it matter that he happened to be playing a video game at the time?”

“I think it might,” Syoko said, “I mean. The console is closed, and was level with the edge of the dresser. It didn’t fall and get knocked underneath, I think it was intentionally placed here.”

“I wouldn’t have even noticed something like that,” Yosuke admitted, “You have an eye for details, huh?”

“With my talent, of course I would!” Syoko chuckled. “So, let’s see…” She flipped the lid open of the console, and it was just a game of fire emblem, midway through a battle. She frowned. “This means nothing to me.”

“Hold on.” Homura reached out and took the console from her, pushing the button to return to the home menu before scrolling over to the gallery. As soon as he switched programs, he gave a triumphant smirk. “Yeah, there we go, I thought as much.”

“What?” Syoko leaned over. “That’s just a picture of a ring, though…”

“It’s a picture of _one silver ring_, on the carpet, taken last night at eleven-twenty-five,” Homura clarified, “The very fact that you couldn’t figure out what you were looking for when you opened the game, shows that… Whichever Evie it was, he had smart thinking. Photographing a suspicious item in his room with his Monopad might be found and deleted, but if he buried it in the video game console then hid the console for us to find, he’s able to communicate that he noticed this kind of thing here. It’s gone now, of course. The culprit would have noticed this kind of evidence was sitting here and removed it, but the photograph is still here.”

“And what’s that photograph supposed to say?” Yosuked asked.

“We’ll figure that out when we get there. I mean, I don’t know,” Homura said, “But I do think it’s important, so. Let’s hold onto this.”

“We should get its charger…” Syoko said, “I’ll check the closet.”

“I’ll check the junk drawer,” Homura said, “I mean, even now, the secrets of gender are mine to hold. So you can’t look!”

“Could there seriously be anyone left? That seems kind of, I don’t know, excessive,” Yosuke said.

“Hm, maybe. But then again, it’s obvious Mercury’s not working alone.” Syoko crossed her arms. “Jun and I were talking about this very thing, before… There are a _lot_ of candidates for a Killing Game. A lot of Ultimates around our age, on both planets, who suffered because of the way things turned out last time. Narrowing down who’ll actually participate might have been somebody else’s decision, and that person could have specifically picked people they thought would, well. Have weird mental stuff going on.”

“Maybe so…” Homura agreed, then turned toward the door. “Moving on, right? We definitely got some more evidence to find.”


	210. Deadly Life: Day Ten (Vampire's Bedroom)

Carrying on from there, the group made a further effort to investigate Evie’s room, but found nothing else of particular note. The charger was in his hobby box, and that was all they really needed at this point, so it was time to move forward with the investigation. Having checked both of the victims’s rooms, and determining that they both seemed to be crime scenes as well, that was it for what naturally needed the most scrutiny- But of course, they were going to go through all of the rooms. What sort of two-bit detectives would ignore investigating an area just because they already found evidence in a different one?

...The three of them absolutely _were_ two-bit detectives, given that they were teenagers with no meaningful experience in the field, but at least they had enough of an idea of best practices to know better than to stop upon discovery of _some_ information. There turned out to be nothing of consequence in Yosuke and Syoko’s own room, which they of course knew, but Homura had to peek around anyway. Their check of Homura’s room was just the same as before, so the next location that offered anything of particular interest turned out the be the room which was shared by Yuji and Hiyoko.

At first glance, it seemed just the same as the other rooms, but Yosuke was the one to pick up on what was off this time. “Hey, uh… Take a peek at that bed.”

“Mm?” Syoko stepped over and reached out to pull back the blankets, revealing in more clear light that it was technically bloodstained, though not to an extent which was at all comparable with what had been seen in the other two rooms. “Oh, that’s… Odd.”

“What about it?” Homura asked, “I mean, we all saw how Hiyoko was injured too, so it isn’t all that surprising there could be some bloodstains in her bed. These line up.”

“Do they, though?” Yosuke asked, “I found her in one of the hidden rooms up in the extra hallways this morning, is the thing. She was hiding. She said it was because she was scared somebody might try to hurt her, so I assumed she ran straight there after whatever happened last night… But if she slept in this room, then went to hide there this morning? Does _that_ check out to you? Also, look at the footboard. One of the legs is shorter than the others, that’s what drew my eyes over here in the first place.”

“Not if you put it that way!” Homura admitted, “Huh. Yeah, I gotta say that’s a strange one! Not the footboard thing, though. My bed’s the same way, it must be some sort of bug.”

“So this isn’t completely what we’d expect,” Yosuke said, “I don’t know what it might mean, but given that we’re in this position, I think that it’s probably the best course of action that we give this room some more scrutiny? What’s you guys’ thinking?”

“Obviously it needs some more. Same as last time, you guys check the closets and I’ll check the drawers, kay?” Homura offered, and the others nodded, dispersing to their assigned areas. Yosuke found himself in front of Yuji’s closet. The clothing present there was exactly what he’d expect, just more of the same cool ‘surfer flair’ attire that Yuji always wore, and the somewhat formal accents that got paired with it. He did have a cool sense of style, Yosuke thought. Beyond the clothing, he did take a look in the hobby box.

It was… A fishing rod, and tackle, and of course it was. Somebody who weaved for a living in Okinawa was unlikely to get away without being invited fishing at least a few times, and Yuji did strike him as the sort to actually enjoy it. He sighed and stood up straight. “Nothing interesting here, except that, big surprise, the boy from the fishing village likes to fish.”

“Fishing is fun!” Syoko expressed, “I mean, I only catch and release. I’d never debone a fish myself, but I do like it. It’s an excuse to spend the day outside.”

“I think it’s boring,” Yosuke admitted, “And you totally didn’t take me for the type to enjoy fishing… Isn’t it kind of a tacky activity for somebody who’s so, uh, cool for a living?”

“_Look_, it’s a guilty pleasure.” She rolled her eyes, then turned away from the closet she’d been checking. “Well, there isn’t anything weird here either. A little bit surprising, though. Hiyoko’s hobby box has got a guitar.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that she could play,” Homura said, “I never really took her as the musical sort. Maybe after all of this blows over, we could get her to play for us?”

“Maybe, but then again, if she hasn’t offered yet…” Yosuke said, “Maybe she just wouldn’t want to? I know plenty of people who only play instruments for themselves and don’t actually want others to hear, or who’ll play no problem in a group but be mortified to do it alone.”

“More in the latter category for me. A lot of the band kids at our school seemed like that, right?” Syoko asked, and Yosuke gave a nod of agreement. “Mm. So, it’s probably better if we let Hiyoko offer, than if we ask her. Assuming that she isn’t a culprit and actually… Ever gets the chance to potentially make that offer, and all.”

“It does seem pretty suspicious that she wasn’t hiding in that room all night long,” Homura noted, “So I gotta say, I can’t really imagine that she’s a hundred percent innocent right now.”

“Sure… But there are still a lot of other things to think about,” Syoko said, “It doesn’t all line up to me. We can’t just jump to conclusions because one person seems particularly suspicious, that might well be the intention of the actual culprit! And… I don’t exactly want to distrust her now, if it turns out she’s not the culprit, she really has been through a lot.”

“The last thing she needs right now is for people to be assuming that she did it,” Yosuke said, “Come on. There’s still a few rooms that we should take a look at. I also think, I mean. I found Hiyoko this morning in one of the hidden rooms, so it’s probably smart if we give all of them a once-over, yeah?”

“I agree!” Homura concurred. With that, they finished checking this room- The bathrooms, under the beds, but nothing stood out about those. Thus, it was time to move on once more. Yosuke didn’t know what to think about the evidence they’d found here. Really, it could go one way or another. Hiyoko was guilty, which he didn’t want to assume- Or he needed to once more consider the possibility that somebody he considered a friend was perhaps, less-than-upstanding. He didn’t like either option, really. Didn’t like this at all.


	211. Deadly Life: Day Ten (Man vs Truth)

There were only a few rooms remaining to check. There was Irarako’s, the one which belonged to Shin and Tooru, and the room of Yume and Saya. None of these revealed anything especially unusual. Yosuke did discover that Tooru had lied about the contents of his hobby box, though- He’d initially said that it just contained more of those bad romance novels that were available in the gift shop. The actual supplies here seemed to be for making candies, though, and Yosuke understood why Tooru would lie about that kind of thing. If people know Tooru could make homemade sweets, then he might be expected to _actually make some_, and that seemed like effort. Tooru Hanazaki hated effort.

Yosuke was barely checked in while looking through those remaining rooms, though. He couldn’t help it- He knew he should have been paying better attention, but there were only so many thoughts that he could shove off. By keeping away his full reaction to the deaths which had occurred, he was left without any storage space to close up the dilemma that he was now finding himself embroiled in. There were two options he could imagine, for why he found Hiyoko where she was. She was the culprit who was just trying to cover her own tracks, and that was falling short. That could be it, but what she said to him. _Somehow, these things are always her fault_\- It left him very reluctant to buy into that idea without further evidence.

But on the other hand, the other explanation made him feel even worse. Yuji was his friend- That much was something that he wouldn’t dispute, didn’t want to dispute. He got along well with the other guys here, pretty consistently. If he were asked who he’d become friends with most since arriving here, Syoko would top the list, followed by Irarako, but Yuji, Shin, and Tooru would all be on it too. He didn’t want to think he could misjudge somebody so badly, that any fear Hiyoko expressed about her boyfriend was justified after all. It was off-putting. He thought he was a pretty decent judge of character, right? He should have seen it coming, if that really was the case.

Then again, well, he might not have been the best judge after all, now that he considered the possibility he was wrong about Yuji. He and Itadai had been at each other’s throats from the start, and Yosuke had never even considered until Nanjo was dead, that there could have been a deeper reason for that besides ‘Itadai is a dumb bitch’. And as for Jun, well. He’d already made it clear, he would forgive Jun even in the event that he actually had killed somebody before. But then, if it was true, he definitely misjudged Jun’s _ability_ to do that kind of thing.

He was completely right about Hikari, though. At least there was that much to support his ability to see what kind of person somebody was.

“Yosuke?” Syoko waved a hand in front of his face. “Hey, don’t crap out on us yet! We still need your detective skills!”

“Wh- huh?” He blinked a few times. “Fuck, sorry, I’m just… There’s a lot to think about here, and there’s only so much that I can yell at my brain to ignore.”

“That’s understandable, but…” She sighed. “We really need all of the evidence we can get for this case, precisely _because_ there’s so much to think about, you know? Anyway. Since there wasn’t anything to find in this room, it’s time that we check the hidden rooms. You’re the one with the map to where those are, right?”

“Oh. Right, yeah.” He reached into his pocket and pulled the floorplan back out. “I took it from Jun’s lab as… A memento of him, I guess. It’s probably stupid, but I like to hold onto these kinds of things.”

“I don’t think that’s stupid,” Syoko said.

“It’s a little bit stupid,” Homura countered, “But people are allowed to do stupid things when they’re grieving. Be careful, though! A lifetime collecting ‘mementos’ like that and all you’re gonna have is a sad and cluttered home.”

“I would rather have a cluttered home than to not have things.” Yosuke frowned, then unfolded the floorplan. “I’ll lose this when we leave the NWP anyway so it’s not like I can even… Keep it.”

“W-Well…” Syoko set a hand on his shoulder. “You won’t need to, because when we get out, we’ll get Jun fixed right up! Yeah. We’ll do that. So you won’t need a memento of him at all.”

Yosuke took a deep breath. He couldn’t quite believe that was likely, but it was at least enough to keep him from getting worked up about losing this floorplan now, before it had even happened. He didn’t know why it was that he got _so_ attached to things, and it was disappointing to do anything in a virtual world with its impermanence. That too, was a bridge he should cross when he got to it, and not a moment sooner.

“Okay.” He started pointing to points on the floorplan. “So, I looked in these three rooms here before I found the one with Hiyoko, but since I was just looking for people, we should check them for evidence again anyway. I easily could have missed something if it wasn’t obvious at a glance. This here is where I found Hiyoko, and I didn’t look into any of these.”

“Thanks. Wow, there really are a lot of these… How did Jun even find all of them to include on the plan in the first place?” Syoko tilted her head to one side.

“Awe, are you really still underestimating him?” Homura asked, “Pft. My roomie _was_ the Ultimate Hall Monitor. That’s not just a filler talent. He noticed the flaws in the walls for the rooms the first time he ever walked past them! It’s not just the people in halls who need to be monitored, but the halls themselves. That’s what made him an Ultimate.”

“You’re right.” Syoko turned a bit red as she looked away. “It isn’t like I was thinking of him as being untalented! I just, didn’t quite realize what kind of extent- I mean-”

“I’m just teasing.” Homura winked. “I know what you mean. It’s pretty impressive, how far Jun’s talent actually went, right? But it’s such a weird talent, on such a normie, kinda takes some thinking to realize just how much it actually represented.”


	212. Deadly Life: Day Ten (Hidden Rooms)

The group began their investigation of the extra hallways, starting with the first room that Yosuke had checked for Hiyoko. As it turned out, none of the three he’d opened up before finding her actually had anything in them- Just the same as ever, small rooms that were either empty, or used for storage. Not that storage mattered in the neo world, everything was just computer models, but having random extra boxes of nothing did lend these rooms a reason to exist beyond just being there. One of them even had an armchair, just sitting in the center of the room.

The one where Hiyoko had been found was one of the completely empty ones, though. Yosuke walked in and pointed toward the far wall. “When I walked in, she was sitting on the floor over there. She had her head in her knees, and for a second I was even worried that she was dead.”

“Mm. Well, there’s no blood in here,” Homura noted, “Which does tell us something. The blood in Hiyoko’s room _might_ have been from a completely different incident altogether, and not imply she was there last night! But, well. If she came to hide right here, there’d be something. She didn’t come here right away, that’s my educated conclusion!”

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious, with those factors in mind,” Syoko said, “But, yeah, are you sure this is even the right room, Yosuke? There’s nothing in here to actually show that Hiyoko was around to begin with, you know…”

“I’m certain,” He confirmed, “I don’t think there needs to be anything physical to say this was the room she was in… I can’t really imagine what that would even be.”

“Right.” Homura laced his fingers together in front of himself. “She stopped bleeding before she got here, and she didn’t bring anything weird with her, of course she wouldn’t really leave a trace. There’s nothing to leave footprints in, or dust to be stirred up, or anything like that! Really, y’know, I can’t quite figure if adding in more details to the Neo World would make it easier or harder to solve these cases. There’s already so many things that might be evidence or just might mean nothing. I guess that’s how things are normally, though. Mud stirred up in a lake could be because somebody drowned, or because kids played rough. Witness accounts are just as unreliable, if not more, than what Hiyoko’s expressed so far. Watching somebody commit a crime with your own two eyes… Isn’t even a guarantee they’ll ever see the punishment they deserve.”

“...Cool it with the crime fetishism,” Yosuke said, “We get it. You’re obsessed with criminology. Is that seriously _not_ your talent?”

“I promise, it’s not!” Homura laughed. “I guess I kind of did go off on a tangent there, didn’t I? Sor-ry. I can be so annoying sometimes. My brain just goes wild! I can’t even trust it myself! None of us can, huh? Anyway. Nothing to be seen here, so even if Yosuke’s wrong about the room, we’re checking them all. If there’s gonna be a room that does seem like Hiyoko was there, more than this one, we’ll run into it along the way?”

“Good point.” Syoko blinked. “It _doesn’t_ actually matter that… Yeah. Mm. Thanks, Shinku.”

“Always happy to shake people outta their nonsense thoughts. Really, I dunno why folks don’t see it sometimes, but at least I can pick up when I oughta just come cut through the fog!” He bounced on his heels a bit before turning back around. “Yeah, let’s keep going then, right? Kinda in the swing of getting to the truth now.”

“You seem kind of enthusiastic, for two people being dead,” Yosuke said.

“What, I didn’t know ‘em?” Homura shrugged. “Just kidding. Obviously, it fucking sucks. If they’re really dead. Still not convinced.”

“Huh?” Syoko asked.

“Yosuke knows what I’m talking about. He’s a cynic who doesn’t believe me, though, so I guess I understand him being put off by my demeanor! How bout this for a different explanation? I’m not going to hold back the fact that I’m _interested_ in the question the culprit’s asking us, just because it’s murder. Murder mysteries are cool. It’s my interest. I won’t pretend I’m not having a good time investigating it, even if it’s just this awful after all.”

“I’m kind of lost,” Syoko said, “But I think it’s fine that you’re enjoying yourself, Shinku. It’s just another type of coping with what’s going on here. You’re allowed to have fun with the part of it that aligns with your interests.”

“_Thank_ you.” Homura put his hands on his hips and turned to Yosuke again. “See? That’s how you humor my weird bullshit. Syoko gets it.”

“I don’t want to humor you so that doesn’t matter to me.” Yosuke sighed as he pushed open the hidden door for yet another room off of the floorplan. “Oh.”

“Hm?” Syoko peered around him. “...Oh indeed. That’s strange.”

On the floor in this room, there were _three Monopads_. Even one would be odd, but this was particularly strange. Yosuke stepped forward and picked one up- The other two did similarly. “This one is… Hikari’s.”

“Nanjo’s what I grabbed,” Homura said.

“Hiyoko _did_ say she didn’t have her Monopad with her,” Syoko observed, “I guess that it was in here. Because, I have it in my hand right now. Huh.”

“These are important to find here!” Homura exclaimed, whipping his head up from the screen to look at the other two. “Hey, we have an idea of what’s going on now, that should be exciting to you, right, Syoko?”

“I’m not following.”

“These two, at least, belonged to the dead roommates of the people who got killed last night. So that means, well, we can kind of assume. Whoever the culprit was, this is how they got into those rooms, to kill the victims,” Homura said, “They let themselves in, with these. Ebizakaya was holding onto Itadai’s, we all knew this, but nobody ever said anything about having the other ones… Cause they were planning to use them for a time like this.”

“Do you think it’s actually that premeditated?” Yosuke asked, “Who would even, this late in the game…”

“Hey, I’m not saying that. It doesn’t need to be that they planned to kill people using these Monopads… But they held onto them just in case they _had_ to. Like insurance, right? And somehow, last night, they had to get reimbursed on it.”


	213. Deadly Life: Day Ten (Final Evidence)

“If that is the case,” Syoko said, “That really isn’t much better, you know! Planning to kill somebody, put up against holding onto tools with _which_ to kill somebody if the need arose? That’s still premeditated method, even if they didn’t have a motive yet! And where did they even get these Monopads from?”

“Ebizakaya said that Itadai’s just showed back up on his bed,” Homura noted, “I’d assume the other two were the same way, but obviously the culprit who dumped these here can’t be either of the victims, and I don’t know how they would’ve got ahold of them. Well, I guess Nanjo’s could’ve been taken from his body! I know I took Jun’s.”

“Can I-”

“You can’t have it, Yosuke. I took it for my own safety, you know, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t fall into anybody’s hands to do _exactly this_ with it. So the bigger question is how somebody other than Ueda ended up with Ruka’s Monopad.”

“What about how Hiyoko’s ended up here?” Yosuke wondered.

“We’d have to ask her how long it’s been missing, though she might lie,” Syoko said, “It could have been stolen a while ago.”

“Monopads _do_ get stolen! It happened in the Final Killing Game, you know, as part of the first case. Well, not exactly. The murder wasn’t directly related to the Monopad, but this absolute loose cannon of a participant did use it to break into somebody’s room and cause problems on purpose. That kinda _led_ to the first murder happening, but hey, it’s not like it was really his fault.”

“Are you really excusing somebody who did those kinds of things?” Syoko asked.

“What? I’m excusing Itadai, too. He got a fair punishment. This guy did too, eventually. He was the one who was randomly picked to survive his execution by the double jeopardy rule! Traumatized people do bad things sometimes, the important part is that they get justice, then everyone does what they can to move on. Find the truth, face the consequences, live your life the best you can.”

“So you must _really_ hate what happened in Dome City, right?” Syoko asked, “How a crime happened, but it was just erased from our memories, and Jun reprogrammed like that…”

“Fucking disgusting. That’s meaningless. It’s not a fair punishment, that. It’s the easy way out in a way that’s bad for everyone. Sounds to me like they gave up on finding the truth, erased all chance of consequences, and denied everyone the ability to live their lives the best they can. Jun included, obviously. I can’t believe they’d do that to you. Can’t believe they’d do that about a crime, even if it weren’t you guys. It absolutely boils my blood on every imaginable level!” He laughed. “That’s why we can’t be like that. Why we gotta do it all. Truth, consequences, and moving on.”

“I think so too! I know… One hundred percent, in my heart, I wouldn’t have _agreed_ to what happened. They just wouldn’t have given me any other choice, and I. If I ever can, I want to face that truth and those consequences, too,” Syoko said, “So we have to dig deeper with this investigation. Find everything we can. There are more of these rooms left, right, Yosuke?”

“Yeah,” He confirmed, “Since we already found some important evidence here, if there’s more, then it might still be in one of those. Though, what’s a little weird to me is how the culprit knew about all these…”

“The existence of the hidden rooms wasn’t a secret, and they didn’t _need_ to know about all these. They just had to know about the ones they used,” Syoko said, “I… Wonder. We can’t really find this out, because those three are all dead now, but I know Hiyoko woke up originally in one of those. If the one you found her in was that one, then that would make sense. And if she were hiding from the actual culprit, then the culprit _would_ have needed to check all of the rooms, if they actually knew about them all.”

“This one’s got a pretty obvious hinge-point, to boot.” Homura pointed at it. “Easy to find if you’re already searching. Gosh… Between disposing of stuff up here, and throwing the bodies outside, the culprit really seems to have their fingers crossed that we just straight-up wouldn’t _find_ the incriminating stuff. Don’t they know by now that Mono won’t even start the trial until we have enough evidence to point us towards the culprit?”

“Yeah, don’t they…” Syoko trailed off in thought as Yosuke stepped ahead of the group to navigate along to further rooms. Another two of them were empty of hints. The third seemed, at first glance, like there was nothing to be discovered. But this one was one of the ‘storage’ rooms, and Homura picked up a box off the top of the pile. He shook it, and breaking through the bottom of the cardboard, something came tumbling out. It clattered to the floor- A large wooden dowel, stained with blood.

“There we have it!” Yosuke realized, “That’s it. That’s our murder weapon, right?”

“Oh!” Syoko exclaimed, “I was just assuming this entire time that the beatings were caused by the culprit’s fists! That certainly is a blunt force weapon, though… Where did it _come_ from?”

“Not sure about that one,” Homura said, “But it’s definitely been used to hurt _somebody_, huh? Pretty important find. Good thing I decided to check inside a box. Now, that was such dumb luck that we honestly _might_ have been forced to go to trial without it, if we left this room assuming it was empty! It’s the bonus clue.”

“Mm. It’s very helpful, but not altogether _necessary_ to have proof of the murder weapon in this scenario,” Syoko confirmed, “So we very well might have been stuck muddling through without it, if not for your impulse.”

“Call that forensic intuition~” Homura knocked on his own forehead with his knuckles. “Well, something this _random_ for a person to do, I guess this is what my talent’s good for, isn’t it? I always come through in the clutch.”

“Is that so?” Yosuke asked, “When are you actually going to tell us what that talent is, since you obviously remembered it?”

“Well first I lied about my talent, then I got shot down, so I lied and said I don’t know my talent. There was nothing to remember when it was just a lie from the beginning.”

“Wh- Why I- You little-” Yosuke stammered, only to be startled out of it by the buzz of the intercom.

“Please report back to the dorm lobby! Evidence has been collected, and your third class trial is about to begin.”


	214. Trial 3: The Brief

The investigative trio scooped up the wooden dowel to take with them, took stock of their collected evidence, then followed Mono’s directive to head right down to the lobby. They weren’t the first to arrive, but they also weren’t the last, and the minutiae around that didn’t particularly matter. Soon enough, everybody was taking the elevator down, and was standing at their podiums. Yosuke had to sigh to see it- Six people were already dead, and it showed distinctly in the empty spots here, where everyone had to gather and see firsthand just how much their numbers were shrinking.

And unlike before, the even number might not keep. There were two dead in each case prior, total, but now there would be at least three. Well, nothing to be done about that fact right now. Let’s not cry. Let’s find the truth, _then_ face the consequences, just like Homura said.

**[Third Class Trial: START]**

“Today’s trial is to determine the killer, or killers, of Ayano Ueda and Everett Evie Snow,” Mono announced, “In the event that there are two culprits, both must be accurately found and both will be executed.”

“The times of death were 2301 for Ayano, and 2334 for Evie,” Syoko said, “Well. Whoever was fronting at the time… You know what I mean. The cause of death is undetermined at current, but can be presumed by the list of human-inflicted injuries that Evie was **beaten to death**, while Ueda’s is **entirely unclear**. Of course, that first one could be incorrect as well, but we’ll see.”

“Beaten to death…” Hiyoko shook her head where she stood at her podium. “It’s an awful way to die, and that does check out with the injuries, ah… Right. I should repeat myself from earlier, I’m sorry to say, I believe I witnessed one of the murders. However, I am not in a state to trust my own memory, so I would prefer the physical evidence speaks first before I even try to put my perspective in.”

“I understand that,” Shin said, “It’s responsible of you to hold off, then, if you’re unsure about your own testimony.”

“IIIII kinda think that sounds suspicious, but okay.” Tooru waved a hand. “I don’t claim to understand youuuu.”

“Moving onto the evidence!” Homura raised his hand. “Bodies. Hard to examine, but still found a few things. The puncture on Ueda’s hand was made by some type of needle. The abrasions on her arm, only one was left intact, but it appears as if a thin object was dragged down her arm. As for Evie, there’s nothing which isn’t straightforward in the Monokuma file. I would however, hazard the assumption that his hand was stepped on, to cause those types of breaks.”

“In the infirmary,” Yosuke picked up, “There was the body of a hazard, in half, as well as a tusk. Mono explained to us that this could have been the result of a forcefield. These hazards tried to get at the culprit while they tossed the bodies out of that door.” He reached into the messenger bag of evidence, only to furrow his brow in confusion. “The… We did pick up the tusk, right guys?”

“Certainly, why?” Syoko asked. Yosuke produced from the bag a much smaller fang. “Oh, that’s odd. It _was_ much larger when we found it in the infirmary. I wonder why that happened? Could it be some sort of reaction with the… fabric…?”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Yuji said, “But then, I suppose I don’t know much about these hazards. Generally, the fabric that bag is made out of shouldn’t have _any_ of those sorts of issues. Nonetheless, darlings, carry on. I’m sure that isn’t it for the evidence you’ve got.”

“Right, yes. Um… Just before we came down here, we were looking through the hidden rooms. The ones which aren’t on the Monopad’s map, that is. In one, we found a wooden dowel,” As Syoko spoke, Yosuke pulled out the respective evidence items, none of which had shrunk. “In another, we found three Monopads. Hikari’s, Nanjo’s, and Hiyoko’s.”

“Oh, thank you,” Hiyoko said, “I’d been looking for that…”

“I bet you weeere.” Tooru rolled his eyes. “Why are we bothering with this anyway? Isn’t it already obvious whooo the culprit is?”

“Because it isn’t obvious.” Syoko glared daggers across the courtroom.

“We’ll find the truth, don’t worry!” Homura butted in, “We saw a bit of blood in Hiyoko’s room, congruent with the injuries she has. Speaking of those injuries, no way they’re self-inflicted, _somebody_ attacked her. I can tell just by looking, don’t have to trust me though, obviously. Blood in Evie’s room too, and his 3DS was under his dresser. There’s a picture of a generic silver ring on his carpet, in its camera roll.”

“So you’re both leaving the worst of it to me, I see how it is.” Yosuke sighed. “Ayano’s room… There were a lot of weird things there. A lot of blood, more blood than one body holds, because, uh. There were bloodbags in there, too. Labeled with people who already died, uh, their blood. It was also already all over the room, but it looks like Ayano first used them to embellish the calligraphy pieces she made for dead people… Hikari excluded.”

“That’s,” Yosuke went on to admit, “Not the weirdest part, though. She made one of them with her own name, as if she knew that she was going to be killed that night…”

“But wait, it gets even _weirder_,” Homura interjected.

“Uh. Yeah, it does. Weirder even than Ayano predicting her own death, there’s one of the pieces that didn’t even have a name that belongs to anybody here, well. As far as we know,” Yosuke said, “It just says Katsue on it, in katakana. No other name, nothing else.”

“Hold all up. You say, right now,” Irarako said, “Ayano… She thought that… She knew, guess. That she were dyin’. Then also, she figured. Some other person what named ‘Katsue’ would die? Uh. Don’t think Evie Pals got a Katsue.”

“Evie was killed second, too, so it isn’t like Ueda killed him then planned to kill herself, and that’s why,” Homura said, “So I don’t _really_ think it’s that. But, it is in katakana. I’m pretty sure anyone here who knew english well enough to figure out if that’s obscure vocabulary in it is already dead…”

“I don’t know if it needs to mean anything,” Saya said, “I mean, I spell my name two different ways. There’s the one in kanji, which you see in my Monopad profile entry… 佐耶. With characters for ‘help’ and ‘question mark’. But, certain people will spell my name in katakana, because they don’t like that meaning. A name in katakana can be a name without any meaning.”

“I see…” Yosuke noted, “That still doesn’t answer who it could belong to, though…”

“If Ueda knew that she was gonna die,” Yume said, “Then this ‘Katsue’ would probably be the person who she thought was going to kill her. That much… seems pretty fuckin’ obvious to me.”


	215. Trial 3: Meaning of Katsue

“I’m sorry to say it, Yume…” Saya giggled a bit. “But it does not seem so obvious to me?”

“Oh?” Yume’s tone was particularly less harsh than usual, when she’d been told she was wrong. That must have been the power of girlfriend. “What do you think it could be?”

“All manner of things. Maybe this ‘Katsue’ is, as you think, the culprit who Ayano thought would kill her. And that Ayano somehow had the intention to honor her own killer’s memory, as that is what the calligraphy is for. Were it merely some dying message, she would have written it freehand, I believe.”

“I agree,” Hiyoko said, “It certainly seems to be the case, that she reserves these things for those she wants to be remembered. If it were the culprit, then somehow… Ayano must have been cooperating with them, right?”

“Potentially!” Saya raised her hands to clasp them below her chin. “Or, see, it’s not a culprit at all. She may have been, herself, intending to commit a murder and turn herself in, but something went wrong. And Katsue was her target. Or let’s even consider the possibility that ‘Katsue’ is a name belonging to somebody who has already died. What if it were somehow Itadai’s?”

“Can’t be,” Shin said, “I know that Ueda prepared one for him already, and it was his last name, with a space there for if she ever found out what his first name actually was. If it were meant to be his, then it would read ‘Katsue Itadai’. Er, besides… Does ‘Katsue’ not come across to you as a name which is feminine?”

“Perhaps it was the real name of Doromo-san,” Syoko offered, “If we’re going on the thought of somebody who already died.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that was ‘Koyuki’,” Yosuke said, “That’s the name Jun was rambling at me about, how his last relationship went badly because they were both drunk all the time and people think he killed her. They both start with K, sure, but they’re not so similar I think he’d actually get them mixed up that badly.”

“Plus,” Hiyoko observed, “That one also has the blood accents, doesn’t it?”

“...Oh, that’s right,” Saya said, “So it has to be the name of _somebody_ here, for their blood to be able to go on the card. You only found those three blood bags in the room?”

“Mhm, just those.” Syoko nodded. “And Shinku’s got a theory that Ayano’s arm abrasions were done with a calligraphy pen, to put her own blood down.”

“Well, you know what that means-” Homura started.

“You are not allowed to make everyone strip to see if they have matching cuts,” Mono cut him off. “Why. Why does this happen. Every single time??”

“Jeeze. It’s not like I _want_ to see any of these people naked, I’ve got a girlfriend for that back home.” Homura rolled his eyes. “It would just be the shortest path to the truth!”

Yosuke did a double take. Homura? Had a girlfriend?

“The shortest path to the truth is not allowed, take the long way around, isn’t that more interesting anyway?” Mono shrugged.

“Oh!” Irarako exclaimed, slapping her hands against her podium. “What if! Hey, what’s another invader? But what left before the trial started so they ain’t here now! An’, they just, wanted to. Uh. Hm.. Didn’t get that far.”

“There has been no invader since the departure of Rei Kaguya from this game,” Mono clarified, “Nobody else has broken in. Further, invaders become unable to leave the instant that somebody is killed, so it wouldn’t be possible for one to become a culprit then vanish.”

“What bout… Poisonin’ from an invader who what left before it took effect?”

“That did not happen. This theory has _no_ basis, therefore, I will not allow you to confuse yourselves trying to make it work,” Mono said.

“Awe, how sweet,” Yuji said, “Thank you kindly.”

“It’s not sweet, it’s fair play! If any old ‘culprit X’ could just waltz into the game, kill somebody, then waltz back out, then we could never actually be expected to figure out the truth!” Saya noted, “If Mono allows us to posit about a ‘culprit X’, then there’s no stopping us from also thinking of ‘undetectable toxin X’, or those types of things. Really, it’s the only responsible thing to do, reminding us to think within the constraints of that which we _know_ rather than that which is theoretically possible.”

“Uh… huh. Sure. I certainly understand what you’re getting at, butterfly. Does thinkin’ within the constraints of what we know mean I can’t be grateful to Mono for steering us true, anyway?” Yuji asked.

“Hey!” Yume snipped, “This is just the type of stuff that Saya knows about, you don’t need to be rude about it!”

“She’s right, too,” Homura said, “It might be the case, out in the normal world, that a crime can be caused at random, by an unknown person, and an unknown method. But not here. We’ve got a closed circle, and everything’s been presented to us. Someone or another has seen everything that can be used, on this island.”

“Everything that can be used… This wooden dowel that was probably a murder weapon, I don’t really know where it could have come from,” Yosuke noted, “I think I can figure where anything else involved in this case came from, but not that. Does anybody have any ideas on that one?”

“Uggggh, I know exactly where it came from,” Tooru said, “But shouldn’t we take things one step at a time? Naaaame first. Figure that out.”

“Well, we might not be able to, so just-” Shin started.

“Nahhh.” He shook his head. “Won’t just tell ya! I can barely keep track of the way y’all do these trials on a good day. Soooo, I wanna keep it on topic as much as I can right now. Name.”

“If the name ‘Katsue’ has to belong to somebody here, then it’s probably someone who hasn’t already picked out their own name,” Syoko said, “So that does narrow down the options for who it could be, right? Even if we don’t know what that would mean, for the name to belong to that person, at least we can trim down our suspects a bit.”


	216. Trial 3: Accomplicement

“Somebody what never picked their own name yet… Hah!” Irarako laughed, scratching at the back of her head as she did. “Guess that points strong to me in a way. Like I’d pick this sorta name all for myself! Not like I hate it or nothin’, but, y’know.”

“Don’t worry, Ira, you’re far from the only one!” Syoko assured her.

“As far as I am aware,” Saya said, “The list of potential ‘Katsues’ could be Irarako, Shin, Tooru, Yume, or Yuji. Technically, I had not picked my own name either. Mercury chose it when I told her of my identity.”

“I also didn’t choose my name,” Homura said, “I didn’t change it at all! I got lucky enough to figure my stuff out when I was real young, so it’s not like the name has any ‘wrong-gender’ baggage attached to it.”

“That’s interesting,” Syoko noted, “Well, in any case. I still doubt that either of you would have a reason to just change to a different name, I am… Assuming that-”

“Don’t,” Homura said, “Don’t assume that. Let me remind you that the secrets of gender are mine to hold, and it really isn’t reasonable right now to assume that whoever’s using this name is also a different gender than we currently think. So Saya and I aren’t exempt from the idea of ‘never picking a name before’ because the names we have were still picked by other people, even if in her case, it still changed.”

“I guess that checks out,” Syoko admitted, “So those are the people who could be ‘Katsue’ then… And even if that person isn’t the culprit, of course they don’t want to identify themselves and become open to suspicion. It’s either the culprit hiding their identity, or a non-culprit who doesn’t want to be falsely believed to be the culprit by admitting that much.”

“So, anybody, really,” Shin said, “That doesn’t actually help us or narrow things down much at all then, does it? For that matter, I’m not sure why you even have the arbitrary category that it can’t be somebody who’s already chosen their own name. Perhaps somebody who chose a name while under the constraints of this game… So, Yosuke, I doubt would be changing to any other name so soon. Anybody else could be the owner of it.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Syoko admitted, “I guess I was trying to artificially trim down our suspect list, there. I just want us to be moving in a direction, and I feel like that name is important?”

“Even still, we’ve only determined the nature of one person who can be eliminated from the list,” Saya said, “In the end. Why don’t we try to figure out alibis?”

“Damn, good plan! But, uh. One-person alibis ain’t gonna be enough this time, right?” Yume asked, “Cause this could be two culprits, and with that kinda ‘double jeopardy’ rule in play, course they’d wanna cover for each other.”

“Right,” Syoko said, “Well, I’ll vouch for Yosuke anyhow, even though the name thing seems to exclude him. I got back to my room at about half past ten, and he was already asleep at that point. Of course, you have no way of knowing if I left again after that point. The trouble with nighttime murders like these really is the matter of alibis. If one person alibis aren’t valid, then we can’t even use the fact we have roommates as any type of cover.”

“That’s true! In fact, I think it might be _more_ likely for somebody to have their roommate as their accomplice, or for both to be culprits, than anything else!” Homura said.

“Yoooou’re just saying that because you don’t have a roommate anymore, like that’d clear you of suspicion,” Tooru said, “Though, guess there is one thing there. Neither of the aaaactual victims in the end had them. So your own usual fear, ain’t playin’ heeere.”

“Yeah, their own roommates couldn’t have murdered them,” Homura said, “Cause they didn’t have any. But think about it, anyone who does have roommates, they’d have to be in on it, right?”

“Somebody who didn’t have roommates could just as easily commit the murder without anybody needing to be in on it, of course,” Saya said, “Further, it isn’t entirely true that somebody would need to be ‘in on it’. If I had any intentions to kill, then Yume would never need to know. She’d sleep through my leaving the room and my return. Of course, leaving and returning alone isn’t enough to necessarily be suspicious either.”

“Mm. I did leave my room in the night,” Shin said, “But it was before either of the times of death. I returned to my room at eleven and fell asleep quickly. Tooru wasn’t quite back yet, but I have no way of knowing when he _did_ return, as I was sleeping.”

“Mmm, yeah. Conked out.” Tooru shrugged. “I got back aaaaat… Eleven-twenty.”

“So you don’t have even a _token_ alibi for the time of the first murder?” Yuji wondered.

“Suuuure, but I was gone well before the second person died, so it ain’t like I’m outing myself as a culprit. It’s the truuuuth, when I got back.”

“I actually don’t believe you to be lying.” Yuji raised a finger and shut one eye. “But the truth can still be an obscuring force, can it not? Cherie, there may well be two culprits in this case. Denying your presence at one crime scene does not imply you were not at the other!”

“If you were curious about at least this much,” Hiyoko spoke up, “The crime scene I was present at was the first. I was in Ayano’s room at the time of her death, I’m just still unsure if anybody else was there and how she died. Again, I apologize. Feel free to suspect me, of course.”

“With a staaaatement like that, should we even bother looking at anybody else for that murder?” Tooru asked, “Really, it seems straightforward to me. Whether she did it herself or nooot, she’s trying to protect the person who did. And when it comes to roommates who might be accomplices, isn’t it thaaaat easy?”

“No,” Yosuke spoke up, “I don’t think that it is. After all, if Ayano really saw her death coming, she wouldn’t have fought back. So _where_ would Hiyoko’s injuries have come from?”


	217. Trial 3: Culprit A (&) B

“...Self-inflicted,” Tooru said, “To make us take exaaactly that pause.”

“I already told you that’s not possible, come on, I know you said you had trouble keeping up, but that one’s easy!” Homura teased, “It’s easy just by looking. Placement and force, it’s not stuff she could have done to herself! If they were in different places, or weaker bruises in certain spots, maybe you’d have a leg to stand on. But these are _clearly_ from an outside force.”

“Ah… You think so?” Hiyoko asked, bringing a hand up to poke gingerly at one of her bruises. “Now that you put it that way… It doesn’t make sense… Really…”

“Shouldn’t you knooow that?” Tooru scoffed.

“Hey now.” Yume glared across the room. “The fuck is wrong with you? The girl’s been beaten before. Near-to-death, we know that’s a fact. Is it really that goddamn surprising that she might not have the clearest memory of somebody trying to put her through the same trauma all over again?”

“Certainly so!” Saya confirmed.

“But that doesn’t completely absolve her of suspicion, does it?” Shin asked, “After all. It’s entirely possible that the second culprit did that to her after she killed Ueda herself. Not that I consider that the likely outcome, but we do need to consider every angle.”

“Right, we can’t just assume anything here. We need to find both culprits in order to survive, after all, if there _are_ two,” Syoko said, “Rather, what I mean here is that we need to approach this as if there are two different culprits. It’s easier to revise to suit just one person later, rather… If we look at it like there’s two, then we’ll still find the truth even if those two are the same person after all.”

“That’s good thinking, Syoko,” Homura said, “Culprit A and Culprit B. Maybe it’s Culprit AB, but we won’t know until we get there, heh.”

“In that case, we should take a moment to break down what constituted each crime. Culprit A’s crime…” Syoko started, then looked at Yosuke pleadingly.

He sighed, but took the reins. “Culprit A’s crime. They killed Ayano Ueda through an unknown method, in her own room. In some struggle, the bags of blood which were in that room burst. Hiyoko Nageko was also present in this room, and has sustained wounds that could not have been self-inflicted.”

“And Culprit B’s crime,” Homura tagged in again, “They killed Evie Everett Snow in his own room by beating him with a large wooden dowel. At some point there was a generic silver ring on the carpet. Beyond the scope of ‘definitely A’ or ‘definitely B’, the bodies were tossed out of the infirmary door. The wooden dowel, as well as three Monopads, were placed into hidden rooms.”

“So regardless of if the culprits _are_ A and B,” Saya noted, “I’d assume that B would have been the one who disposed of the bodies and of the extra Monopads. However, that doesn’t line up, why they would not merely dispose of _Nanjo’s_ Monopad rather than the other two. If breaking into both rooms was considered to be evidence, that points to culprit AB quite a lot to me, don’t you think?”

“If Culprit A killed Ueda, then Culprit B broke into the room with Ruka’s Monopad,” Syoko said, “Then that would still line up. So it isn’t completely out of the question that one culprit committed a murder, then the other did everything else.”

“Mm…” Irarako looked down at her podium. “Sorry to say, an’ don’t take this what the wrong way cause I _ain’t_ tryin’ to say that I don’t _believe_ Hiyoko ain’t got solid memory… But that still sounds what lotta potential she’s Culprit A?”

“I don’t think it sounds that way at all,” Yuji said, “I mean, honestly. If there were a Culprit B, why would they have gone to kill somebody else instead?”

“Cooperation?” Tooru offered, “Heeey, y’know. Hiyoko mighta killed Ueda, then got Culprit B to beat her up so she’s got this excuuuse.”

“Could you just, for two seconds, _stop_ accusing her? That’s a real dick move to be pulling on someone, just relentlessly implying that it’s her own fault…” Yuji shook his head, and sighed. “Don’t you ever stop to think that if you’re accusing somebody of something that they didn’t do, you’re just making an actual victim’s pain worse?”

Hiyoko fidgeted at her podium. “Well. It isn’t as if that’s an easy thing for people to consider. And right now, it is important that we find the truth so I… Don’t mind being suspected for the reasons I _am_ suspicious. Nobody’s accusing me of anything truly absurd.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s absurd… I’m tired of accusing people of things without considering all of the options,” Yuji said, “I speak from experience, okay? It doesn’t end well, it’s frankly just cruel.”

“Oi.” Yume got their attention, “Sure, it’s fuckin’ cruel when it’s shit like what Ruka did. But you can’t just tell us not to suspect your girlfriend because it would be mean if it turns out it’s not her, that’s not how this works. That’s not how _any_ of this bullshit works.”

“Well what you’re doing right now isn’t how this bullshit works, either.” Yuji brought two fingers up to his temple and sighed. “Why not consider the physical evidence? We’ve already touched upon Hiyoko’s Monopad, but how would the culprit have acquired the other two that they supposedly used to break in? And how do we not know that the storage room in which you found them is not simply where they were meant to generate if lost and unclaimed for a period of time?”

“...Well, Itadai what generated on his bed after his eggs-cution.” Irarako said.

“I took Jun’s Monopad after the trial, because I didn’t want anybody else getting into my room. And it was taken off of his body,” Homura said, “So at least, that’s where Nanjo’s would have come from. Easily retrievable. The real question’s how the culprit would end up with Ruka’s Monopad!”

“Hm… Well, it doesn’t actually line up with what we had so far, that either culprit would take it from the crime scene,” Syoko said, “But it would have generated on Ayano’s bed. We were the first person in Ruka’s ‘lab’ so we know it wasn’t there, either.”

“That bit… Probably takes some understanding of Ayano as a person, you know,” Hiyoko spoke up, “I think she probably would have put Ruka’s Monopad in the trash. The one in the gift shop seems likely, given its relation to the last case. When it comes to an accursed object like Ruka’s Monopad, that’s the only suitable disposal.”


	218. Trial 3: Blinding Light

“...So if Ayano threw out the Monopad,” Yosuke said, “Anybody could have noticed and taken it before Mono emptied the trash cans. But what are the odds that _same_ person took Nanjo’s Monopad back then too?”

“Actually, I do think it checks out,” Syoko said, “Because if somebody had already collected one Monopad and had this idea, they’d be keeping an eye out for another one, right? Or, of course, there’s the possibility that it wasn’t the same person at all. Culprit A broke into Ueda’s room and killed her. Then, Culprit B… Somehow, or another, entered the scene. They disposed of Ueda’s body as well as the Monopad, with the intention of making it _appear_ like there could be only one culprit.”

“Both of those options do seem plausible to me,” Shin noted, “Good thinking about those possibilities. I think that we can readily assume that whatever is going on with these culprits… Either it really is one person, or it’s two people working together to make us assume that it’s only one so that they can get away with it.”

“What if it were some other variation on that idea?” Hiyoko asked, “If there were, say. Two culprits and one more accomplice…”

“Are you tryyyyying to get us to look at you as a culprit again?” Tooru asked.

“Not necessarily. I mean, accomplices… Don’t get officially punished, right? I’m just trying to get a handle on what might have happened in that room. You can’t sincerely blame me for wanting to part the black fog which descended upon my mind…”

“Then allow me to dispel it in an instant,” Yuji said, “Believe me, dear. There isn’t a chance at all that you’re responsible for anything that happened last night. It’s just not something that you would ever do… That you _could_ ever do. For all you claim to be filled with darkness, there’s just no way-”

“And what do you know about the darkness in my heart?” Hiyoko cut him off, “Empty words to say I’d never do a thing. What then, if I did? What would you think of me? Wouldn’t you feel betrayed? Wouldn’t you just hate me instead? I’ve told you before and I’m telling you again, now, anything you think I’d never do. Imagine that I would. Would you still care to defend me then?”

“Hiyoko-”

“And if I can convince you that I _would_, would you believe me when I said I _didn’t_? I don’t know if you would, Yuji. So cut it with the blind devotion stuff, like you’re defending me just because of the ideal version of me you have in your mind, as if that hasn’t already been shattered. I very well could have been involved. I am unaware, as is everyone else. It’s meaningless for you to say it’s impossible each time I wonder if it could be the truth.”

“Awwwe, you really think your boyfriend giiives a shit about the truth?” Tooru asked, “If you did it, obviously he’d want you to get awaaaay with it. So you could both just go and fuuuuck right off out of this game together and get back to your oh-so-happy liiives you keep reminding us you have.”

“Is that what you think?” Hiyoko asked.

“I would say that lines up, but Tooru. Do recall that Yuji has expressed exactly the same feelings in each previous case. It seems to me as if he simply refuses to believe, outright, that Hiyoko might be capable of causing harm this way. Am I correct?” Shin said.

“I mean, I…” Yuji started, then groaned and looked down at the floor. “Yeh, that’s how it’s been anyway. But lately, I guess, maybe I didn’t necessarily have the right… Idea of you in my brain, eh, dear? But it isn’t like I’d want to leave you behind if you did do it. I just have trouble imagining that you would, and perhaps that idea is so… Shocking, that I failed to consider everything about the situation. Of course I would still defend you no matter what, I love you. But to understand you, I suppose I sometimes need a bit more time to think, than you deserve.”

“...Of all times to finally admit that, it has to be now?” Her voice was dark, but she had the hint of a smile on her face. “Good grief, you may be a hero of light, but you’re pretty darn blind sometimes. Nonetheless, thank you. Now we really must consider the possibility that I was involved in the crime, mustn’t we?”

“Even if you were at the crime scene, I don’t believe it was you,” Yuji said, “I think it was somebody else.”

“Perhaps,” Saya spoke up, “Now would be the prudent time for Hiyoko to inform us of what she thought occurred at the crime scene.”

“I’m afraid I just can’t yet.” Hiyoko shook her head. “See, I’m waiting on the results of some bloodwork from Ayano’s body. Once I see that, I’ll know if it was reality, or a nightmare.”

“Mono’s only gonna show us that bloodwork at all if we keep discussing important shit though, right?” Yume asked, “So, Hanazaki. If you’re ever gonna tell us where the fuck you think the murder weapon came from, now is the time!”

“I don’t thiiiink it came from anywhere. I know its origins exactly.” Tooru pressed a hand to his cheek and sighed. “Well, I can’t imagine this will actually be of much use, buuut…”

“Just spit it out already, dipshit!” Yume snapped, “You do realize how suspicious it is that you were waffling on about telling us in the first place, right!? That makes me think that where it came from is gonna point right the fuck at you!”

“Ohhh, it’s not gonna point _right_ the fuck at anyone. But it’ll imply somethin’ pretty bad. I can’t imagine why it is that Yooosuke claims not to know where the weapon came from, seein’ as I saw him using the saaame machine that made it before.” Tooru lifted his other hand to point lazily in Yosuke’s direction with a soft chuckle. “Makin’ dowels a lot smaller than this for those arrows I saw you in the process of. That machine oooobviously goes up several sizes. Made it there. In the workshop. Anyone could’ve done that, of course. I ain’t accusing you, but it does seem awfully _strange_.”


	219. Trial 3: Wooden Dowel

“Seeee why I wanted to hold off a while? I was looking out for you, Brosuke.” Tooru lifted both hands as if he was surrendering. “Caaause, it’s awful sketchy you pretended not to know about the dowel machine. Even if anybody _could_ use it. If there were a clear suspect already, then that wouldn’t be such a big deal, you get it?”

Yosuke grimaced. “So you were trying to protect me… You didn’t need to do that. If evidence points toward me, I should be able to be aware of it and defend myself.”

“So tell us, Yosuke,” Shin said, “Why _were_ you pretending not to know where the wooden dowel would have come from?”

“I wasn’t pretending!” Yosuke insisted, “I really didn’t know, and to be honest with you, I still don’t.”

“What?” Yume questioned, “How the fuck are you gonna say that after what we just heard!? Do you honestly think we’re _that_ dense?”

“I don’t think you’re dense at all, but I’m not either. I did think about the dowel-making tool in the workshop, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the murder weapon was made using it! That doesn’t change the fact that I don’t know where it _came_ from.”

“Huh?” Yume blinked.

“Please do elaborate on that statement, Yosuke!” Saya said.

“All of the woods available in _my_ lab are dark woods, except for one light wood, maple. That dowel is light, but it’s not maple. So I don’t know where it came from. I brought several chunks of wood from my lab down to the workshop for people to use, so even if it was from my lab it wouldn’t relate to me directly. But I don’t know where that came from, originally. Sure. It was made with that machine in the workshop. I don’t know where they got the wood to make it.”

“...And you didn’t explain this to begin with because?” Syoko asked.

“I ‘unno.” Yosuke shrugged. “I kinda assumed everyone would realize the dowel was related to the machine in the workshop? That’s not the part about it that’s confusing.”

“I ain’t never even been in the workshop,” Irarako said.

“Why… Not?” Yosuke tilted his head. “Wouldn’t everybody have taken a look at the new locations since they were added in? I think that’s on you. Why wouldn’t I assume that everyone’s familiar with the shit on this island?”

“I never looked there either,” Saya said, “So it isn’t like Ebizakaya is just trying to cover for herself. It did not seem interesting to me, so I never visited it.”

“I did visit,” Syoko noted, “But I didn’t notice the dowel machine. I’m pretty sure if it was actually that universal, Yosuke, we would have figured it out a lot sooner. Not to say I disbelieve you, that the wood isn’t from your lab. It very well could be from somewhere else-”

“Oh! Oh, oh!” Saya raised a hand. “I figured it out, I figured it out! It’s the floorboard!”

“Shit! You’re right.” Yume nodded along. “Me and Saya and Tsubasa were off checking out the lab building, but we didn’t think there was anything super weird about it… Except there was one board missing from Sato’s lab.”

“At the time we simply assumed it was part of the aesthetic, but it _is_ a light wood, and coarser than maple tends to be. However, before you start thinking we withheld important information anyway… Remember that all labs are accessible by anybody. The murder which occurred in my own lab had absolutely nothing to do with me. All this tells you is that Yosuke’s not _necessarily_ lying about not knowing where the dowel came from.”

“You guys… All threeee of you?” Tooru asked, “Didn’t think this worth mentioning? Whyyy was it your responsibility to check that building in the first place?”

“Hey! You ran into us in the hallway over there so if you doubted us you could have checked for yourself!” Yume shouted, “We told you as soon as we realized it could be relevant, and Tsubasa said it just now himself, we thought that board was supposed to be missing!”

“Were I involved, I would have noticed immediately, given it was _my_ lab,” Yuji said, “What’s done is done, but I do worry now about what else you might have missed in that building.”

“The important thing here doesn’t seem to me like the fact we originally missed the floorboard,” Saya said, “I mean, it had to have been ripped up sometime yesterday, or even sooner, to be used in a murder. Only somebody who had already seen the room with the floorboard present would notice it, but even then, it’s not that important. What is important is that, the murder weapon being a ripped up floorboard _repurposed_ into a large wooden dowel? My my, dear dear. That does seem quite premeditated.”

“Combiiiined with hoarding Monopads,” Tooru said, “Ah, what a chore! Seems the culprit is quite the planner. Me, even if I diiiid decide to kill somebody, it’d be way too much effort to even decide on a _victim_ ahead of time, let alone all this.”

“Lookin’ after every lil detail…” Irarako lifted her thumb to bite at the nail. “Ain’t to say I… think this, an’ sure don’t want it to be even a lick the truth, but. Syoko, ain’t you the perfectionist sort?”

“That’s true, I am. And I don’t have anybody to back up my alibi, as Yosuke didn’t seem to wake up when I got back to our room. In fact, I was tired enough to sleep through his alarm this morning, which would readily point to me as having returned to the room late and exhausted.” She folded her hands under her chin. “It’s perfectly reasonable to suspect me, yes? That logic does check out. Even though all I have to offer you is to say ‘it wasn’t me’, why _would_ I got to all that trouble to have that sort of murder weapon?”

“Ehhh?” Tooru asked.

“I get it!” Homura laughed. “I mean, talking like the dowel was made _only_ to be a murder weapon, that doesn’t make sense. There’s plenty of options to beat somebody to death, why go to that extra trouble? I bet it was _made_ for some other purpose. And I don’t think the Monopads were gathered with the intention of murdering either, but as a backup. This isn’t a meticulously planned murder- It’s a disaster masquerading as one.”


	220. Trial 3: Take A Closer Look At That [Wooden Dowel]

“So what _was_ the dowel being used for?” Saya wondered.

“Does its thickness seem familiar to you? I imagine that the idea,” Homura said, “Was to replace the too-short fourth leg of one of the dorm room beds, but the culprit hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Some of the beds had that problem. It’s a little awkward, but nothing that’s a big priority to fix. The culprit intended to get around to it, and made the dowel for that purpose, but didn’t end up doing so before the time came to use it as a weapon.”

“And the Monopads,” Syoko recalled an earlier line of thinking Homura had shared, “Were retrieved with the thinking that they _might_ be necessary of course, but not with the intention of using them. Whoever grabbed them did so not out of a malicious intent to later commit a murder, but rather, a paranoia that they might be necessary at some point, to get into or out of a room.”

“How many of these beds had the problem?” Shin asked, “I don’t believe either of the ones in my room do.”

“My bed, Hiyoko’s bed, and the bed that belonged to Itadai,” Homura said, “These three are the ones which had the defect, but even that. The person who intended to repair a bed could easily be somebody who wasn’t sleeping in one. For example, I know I mentioned the problem to _Ayano herself_ at one point. Her father was a carpenter, you know? So she would’ve been taught some basic skills, she did say she could maybe help me out. The dowel may have been there in her room.”

“Murdered with her own dowel?” Saya asked.

“Oh, I doubt she was murdered with it. But Culprit B could have taken it from her room. Then again, it’s kind of rude to rip up somebody else’s floorboard to make something. I don’t think even _she_ would lack the social etiquette to know that.” Homura raised both arms, shrugging. “But she and Hiyoko were friends, maybe she had permission.”

“How dooo you think Ueda was killed?” Tooru asked.

“I don’t know. It just doesn’t line up to me that she was also beaten to death. Could be wrong, I’m no expert. The blunt injuries aren’t as extensive, the head ones especially. I bet that the corpse was beaten to try and make it look like she died the same way, but since she wasn’t really as brittle as Evie, it didn’t quite take.”

“Brittle or not…” Syoko muttered, “Culprit B had to be strong enough to get the bodies out to the infirmary door without dragging them. We didn’t find any signs of blood or scuffing in the hallways.”

“It seems that I am once more safe from a level of suspicion,” Shin said, “Though of course, if Culprit A performed no such deadly beatings, then I’m not in the clear yet. However, on the matter of the corpse disposal… Who here _is_ strong enough?”

“Pfft. Evie pals an’ Aya?” Irarako waved a dismissive hand. “Anyone but you, real. Obviously me ‘n Yosuke could but I wager even Yume or Hiyoko could do it with some dedication. Those two were real short real skinny. Not moren’ a hundred ten pounds, either of ‘em. Maybe a struggle, but if ya put yer back into it… Anyone who’s muscles even ever got the right mount of growin’ in could muddle right on through it.”

“I did bring that phrasing on myself, didn’t I?” Shin sighed, rubbing at his arms. “The right amount. Well, I can’t complain too much, since I am the only person here partially excluded from suspicion.”

“Getting Culprit B toooo do this for you, though, seems a pretty deeecent way to cover your tracks. Just sayin’. But that woulda fallen through when they failed to convince ooooour resident crimes-guy on the matter of Ueda’s cause of death,” Tooru said.

“Let’s recount. The wooden dowel was used to kill Evie. It was made in the workshop using wood from Yuji’s lab, probably by Ayano, but perhaps not,” Saya said, “Is this correct?”

“Hiyoko, you did mention something to me about Ueda using my lab. Was this what you meant?” Yuji asked.

“It was. She asked if I knew where she could get a light wood that might match the beds, and I told her that she could use one of the boards if she also helped fix my bed. She went to get it at around nine last night and was careful to be back before nightfall… Yes. That’s how it happened. At nine. She left me alone, but only for a little while, and it was so she could help me, so it was okay.”

“You just now remembered that detail…” Yume observed, “Hey, Hiyoko. Could it be that… From eight to ten last night, you received the motive again?”

“That’s… Yes. That’s right. That sort of thing, I… I’m trying to remember what happened for real, but it’s hard. I don’t want to remember that… What Karine said to me. But I need to remember the _events_ of the night and it’s really, really hard.”

“Karine. Your mother, right?” Shin asked, “Is she as disgusting as your father?”

“My mother was… A good person, once. But it’s my fault. I made her husband disgusting, and so I take the blame. These types of things are always, somehow, my fault. This isn’t me fishing for pity, it’s just a fact. So I’m sorry. I really am trying to remember, but it’s hard to reconcile. It was like I was back there in her home, but I was also here. Separating them is…”

“We all understand those kinds of difficulties,” Shin said, “You should have simply told us that from the start, and we wouldn’t be assuming you’re a liar.”

“Siiiince you didn’t tell us, I’m still assuming you’re a liar.”

“Tooru. That’s unkind.” Shin chided him.

“I’m glad we have that settled, but really, my actual question,” Saya said, “I think we should do what we can to determine Ueda’s cause of death, if possible. We know full well how Evie was killed. Who that was can wait until we’ve at least answered the how in the other death we’ve seen. After all, if it were something that Evie himself was capable of… Then we _could_ only be looking for one culprit after all.”


	221. Trial 3: Culprit AB

“Given the punctures, it could be poison, couldn’t it?” Syoko asked, “Though, we wouldn’t be able to tell if it is until that bloodwork comes in, right?”

“I dunno about that,” Homura said, “I mean, it’s the kinda thing that might’ve been plausible, but when you really think about it, not at all. Have you _seen_ any poison anywhere?”

“Aaaaany medicine can be poison if you use enough of it,” Tooru said.

“Conceptually, that’s true, but in practice,” Saya said, “It’s really not that simple. I do believe that if it were poison, that would somehow be indicated as an injury ‘inflicted by a human’. To what extent that would be indicated, I’m unsure…”

“What about the mysterious string of characters?” Yume offered, “I noticed that weird shit, I’m sure you guys did too!”

“I thought it might just be a glitch,” Yosuke said, “But Homura seems convinced that it had some meaning… Hiyoko, sorry to call you out again, but you said earlier that you might have known what it meant if not for the letters, if it was just numbers. What did you mean?”

“Oh… I mean. I could be wrong, but it might be a medical code. Since I’ve only worked in labs and outpatient care, though, I’m only loosely familiar with the CPT codeset, and that one is only made up of numbers. I know that there _are_ letters in the ICD-PCS, but I couldn’t possibly tell you what it might mean even if it were a code,” Hiyoko explained, “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help, but… If the Monokuma File is revealing to us information in such a form, isn’t it to be assumed, off the ‘fair play’ Saya and Shinku keep mentioning… That one among us has the gift of sight to interpret its meaning?”

“Why did you clarify PCS?” Shin wondered.

“The ICD-CM is used universally, it’s diagnostic. I can’t say I know it especially well either, but I know those codes always _begin_ with a letter, not a number.” She rubbed her arms and looked down. “I’m sorry that I can’t be of more help here… And I could be entirely wrong about the nature of those characters, for that matter…”

“If that’s true,” Saya said, “If that’s how those codes work, then of course this can’t be poisoning. Poison is a diagnosis, isn’t it?”

“Oh! That’s right, it is. This didn’t seem like a diagnostic code to me at all, it has to be a procedural one.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Shin tapped his fingers against his podium. “It’s a blood transfusion.”

“Huh… What?” Yosuke did a double take. “How did you… Are you just guessing??”

“Of course I’m not- Well, I suppose I’m partially guessing. Didn’t we just say that somebody should be able to interpret it? That somebody happens to be me. I don’t know all of the qualifiers, I couldn’t tell you what each digit means except that ‘3’ as the first digit means ‘Administration’. My mother worked in human resources coordinating health insurance for employees at the company where she worked, so I suppose I picked up a few things living under the same roof. Not like that’s a reliable statement, but I don’t think I’m wrong.”

“Ehh? Your mom had a right-what respecting ability job like that one?” Irarako questioned, furrowing her brow. “Then, how’d you end up this way!?”

“My mother’s salary doesn’t matter if she had no intention of sharing it with her children,” Shin said, “But that certainly isn’t the part that’s important right now…”

“A blooood transfusion. So we’re back to you, Hiyoko. Still awful suspicious.” Tooru sighed and raised his hands in a shrug. “Whyyy we keep trying when it just circles back to you.”

“I… Yes.” Hiyoko looked down, and pulled back the sleeve of her shirt to point at a small mark. “I did give Ayano a small blood transfusion, of my blood specifically.”

“Why would you do that?” Yume asked, “I mean, I could be real fuckin’ wrong here, but I don’t think you got a compatible blood type…”

“Even further than that…” Syoko spoke up, “Hanazaki and I both have O-Positive blood. Ueda was the only person whose blood type was O-negative. No other blood type can be safely given to somebody with O-negative blood. Isn’t that right, Hiyoko?”

“It’s true. In the event that a blood transfusion is necessary, receiving the wrong type won’t help at all, and will certainly make it worse. If there’s too much given, the body will usually enter hemolytic shock within twenty-four hours of the transfusion, and this _can_ eventually prove fatal,” Hiyoko said, “And this… This is why I thought it might be possible that I… But I didn’t think that… I don’t… I don’t know what…”

“So why?” Yume questioned, still surprisingly not sounding all too angry- She was just asking. “Knowing this… Obviously you know it. Why’d you give her blood? Was she already injured, and you thought it might be better than nothin’?”

“You’re giving me too much credit. No, it wasn’t that at all. It was… She asked me to. After Karine was gone, Ayano asked me… To turn her into a vampire. I just don’t know if that would have, if that could have actually killed her, could I have done that? It seems… Not quite right…”

“...That’s because it’s not,” Yuji spoke up, “That’s not right at all.”

“Didn’t you juuuust say you’d stop blindly defending-” Tooru started.

“No! That’s not what this is, and that’s not what it’s been the entire time! I was hoping… I hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I should have been stronger, but I just can’t stand to see it any longer. Everybody ganging up on her, on my girlfriend. Making her question her own reality, hurting her like this, convincing her that it’s her fault! It’s never been like that, not now, and not before! These kinds of mistakes. She can’t endure them again, so I’ll tell you. You saw that ring on the floor in Evie’s camera roll, right? Who else could that belong to? If I got away with it… We could have lived happily, but my selfish desire to live domestically with her isn’t worth putting her through this pain now. That’s right. I’m confessing, I committed both of the murders.”


	222. Trial 3: Lovers and Liars

“Okay, yeah, both of them, right?” Homura asked, “Sure. How?”

“What?”

“We were on the topic of what Ueda’s cause of death was, so you need to tell us how you killed her. How’d she actually die, Yu-ji?” Homura leaned his elbows on his podium and folded his hands under his chin. “Surely, if you’re confessing, you can tell us that.”

“I _did_ beat her. You’re mistaken that the injuries aren’t extensive enough… And you know that there’s nothing distinguishing postmortem from antemortem there. Hiyoko is lying to you to cover for me, and you’re just tearing her to pieces. Enough is enough. Ueda never asked to receive an incorrect transfusion. Rather, she was trying to save her life with the only blood she had on hand, after the bloodbags were ruptured in the struggle.”

“What about the abdomen puncture?” Saya asked.

“I’m assuming that was an injury she managed to get on her own, in some misadventure… If one of her pens was sticking off of the desk when she sat down, she easily could have stabbed herself in the stomach with it accidentally. I know nothing of it myself.” He brushed his bangs from his face. “You’ve been misled by the Monokuma File, a fact which I would very much appreciate were I not now trying to own up to my actions. Hah… Really, it was foolish of me to even try. Imagine if I did succeed. Dear, you’d hardly be comfortable sharing a home with a murderer in the end, would you?”

“I… I mean…” She fidgeted where she stood. “If I didn’t want to live happily with you, why would I have bothered, um. Covering for you at all?

“Then please, forgive me for ruining your efforts.” He sighed. “I just couldn’t stand to see them accusing you further.”

“I dunno how much I buy it, honestly,” Yosuke said, “So you did both murders, just you. Why did you kill Ayano?”

“Because… My girlfriend was spending too much time around her. I found myself flying into a jealous rage, and by the time Hiyoko was able to calm me, Ueda was lying there, dying. This was when she attempted the transfusion, to no avail.” He crossed his arms. “Yeh, that’s how it happened. Why’d I be lying now? I’ve seen the way you lot have been looking at me lately, it can’t be a surprise… That I’d turn out to be prone to violence.”

“That’s how Hiyoko got injured?” Syoko questioned, “You bastard, you were so blinded by your anger that you hurt her too??”

“It is,” Yuji said.

“I don’t believe you.” Yosuke shook his head.

“Are you cutting him slack because he’s your friend, Yosuke? You’ve seen how Hiyoko gets! Obviously, she’s struggling because somebody who hurts her is still right here in the game. I mean, how do we even know… Think about what Kenta Nageko said, too. Both men, satisfied to see ‘Hiyoko’ come out of the closet again? What if ‘Ryota’ is the real person who’s being pressured to be this wa-”

“It’s not.” Hiyoko steeled her voice. “No matter what happens in this trial or what you think of the men in my life, Syoko, I am a girl, and nobody’s pressured me to be this way. My life would be infinitely easier if I could just remain ‘Ryota’, but I’m unable to do so. A soul can only take it for so long, being in an improper vessel.”

“Anyway,” Yosuke said, “I’m not cutting Yuji slack for being my friend, I just think that his claims are bullshit. For one thing, can somebody who’s in an open relationship really claim that he’d fly into a jealous rage over his girlfriend spending _platonic_ time with a person she’s not even attracted to?”

“Sex and connection are two very different things, Yosuke,” Yuji said.

“Fine, ignoring that unlikely bit,” Yosuke continued, “I just can’t see how it would make sense that you did both of the murders. Hiyoko managed to calm you down when you were killing Ayano, you claim? Then what the fuck led you to go and kill Evie too? There was nothing to be angry with him about. You were already calmed down. And going to Evie’s room, that took using Nanjo’s Monopad, you had to think about going there.”

“Are you saying you don’t think I killed Evie? I can tell you, I killed Evie. I used the Monopad, but he wasn’t there. I hid in the bathroom until he was back in the room, then beat him to death. I stomped on his hand and on his head, just as Homura thought-”

“I know you killed Evie,” Yosuke cut him off, “That’s not the part I doubt.”

“Huh?” Syoko blinked.

“But I don’t think it was really as easy for you as you’re making it out to be. You and Hiyoko both have a lot of physical responses when you’re nervous, fidgeting. When Evie wasn’t there, before you decided it was worth it to hide and wait, you ended up dropping one of your rings on the carpet. He was able to swipe a photograph of it before you came out and killed him and retrieved it. I had a feeling from the start, that it was you who killed Evie Snow. What I don’t believe is that you killed Ayano Ueda first.”

“Me neither!” Homura said, “Really now. You almost could have convinced me if you answered well, but you’re honestly a real shit liar. I don’t believe for a second you killed her. Jealous rage that you calmed down from, but it came back to kill again? Planning to go to that room to kill Ueda when you had to know Hiyoko would be there? And, what else, uh, the difference in details in each of your supposed kills. Nah, I’m not convinced…”

“You didn’t hurt Hiyoko, not the way you're saying anyhow,” Homura continued, “And you didn’t kill Ueda. Somebody else did that, and here you are, trying to take credit… And she’s not stopping you, because the truth is. You’re both still willing to put your own happiness together over all of our lives. How romantic, even still. You’re confessing here to save face! But let's not forsake us all, okay? Why don't we figure out what really happened?”

“The bloodwork results are in,” The girl in question spoke up, waving a piece of paper that Mono had just handed to her while the boys were speaking. “It reflects that at her time of death, if nothing else, Ayano was at least _beginning_ to experience hemolytic shock. And she ended up dead, so it must be… Yes. So that’s all I need to say… The only possible culprit, to have killed Ayano Ueda through an incorrect blood transfusion, is me. Katsue Nageko.”


	223. Trial 3: Bad End Option Third Encounter

“...Yes, I think I understand everything now,” Syoko said, “Er, most of everything, that is. If you’ll allow me…”

“I would kind of rather if it weren’t _you_ right now,” Katsue muttered, “But whatever. Go ahead.”

**[Syoko Saihara’s Second Closing Argument]**

Last night… Culprit A and Ayano Ueda were both in the latter’s room, and Culprit A received the motive, experiencing a conversation with her mother. Somewhere during the course of this call, Ayano left to retrieve and make a wooden dowel with which to repair the culprit’s bed, likely seeking a way to avoid the awkward talk which was currently occurring in her room. Upon returning to the room, I’m not sure what happened, but I assume that the talk concluded and Culprit A wasn’t coping with it very well.

Ayano had, since the previous trial, expressed ideas of her death being something which would benefit the group. Upon seeing her close friend experiencing a breakdown, and seeing firsthand what sort of parentage that person would be returning to at the end of the game, may have begun behaving differently. I don’t think it’s a lie, that Ayano did ask for the faulty blood transfusion… But before I continue, why don’t you clarify yourself? =

“Mm, that’s right. Once Karine was no longer on the monitor, Ayano tried to cheer me up, but it wasn’t going very well. I’ve… Never known anybody who’s actually able to handle it, when I break down over these types of things. She was no exception. At least most people. Most people just don’t know how to talk to me at those times, but it went badly here. She didn’t just not know how to bring me back to earth, she started playing into it.”

“Well. First, I guess she realized that, well. The name I’ve been using, Karine chose it for me, and Kenta’s always used it in ways that I didn’t like. She asked me what name I’d really use if it were up to me, and I told her. Still a fucking _girl’s_ name, just different, okay? Katsue… in katakana. It doesn’t mean anything either way. It starts with the same sound as both of their names, so it’s like I’m stealing it from them, I guess? I’m throwing out the name they wanted to give me, and taking part of theirs instead, and this one doesn’t mean anything that can hurt me. Once I told her, though. She wrote it, and her name, like you saw. Because we were both going to die, you know? She left my last name off because I couldn’t answer what that name should be, when I’m Katsue.”

“She told me…She asked me if I could make her a vampire, too. She told me she remembered I said it was impossible to create vampires because it was genetic, because vampiric blood would just be filtered out, but if she died when she _did_ have vampire blood in her body... She said that if I did that… Vampires can’t go to heaven or to hell, but are reborn through eternity. If she was one, too, then we could be friends again in the next life, and she could stop worrying about where she’d end up. So I did it, I. Gave her my blood. She said that this way, if we killed each _other_, it would be fine. Homura said that sometimes suicides don’t count towards real objectives, right? So we might not be able to get you to that alternate objective, but if we killed each other and it was still a mystery. But. Somehow…”

= Somehow, Ayano’s plan with Culprit A didn’t work out, and Culprit A remained alive. This is when Culprit B entered the scene. I imagine that he knew Culprit A was spending time in that room, but expected her back at a certain hour. Maybe at eleven, even. Culprit B had somehow acquired extra Monopads, including that of Hikari Ruka, which he used to enter the room after his knocks went unanswered. Upon seeing Ayano dead, he naturally realized Culprit A was responsible, and came up with a plan.

See, Homura Shinku has been spending this entire time dispensing Killing Game Trivia, and has probably told most of us here about the Double Jeopardy rules before any of them even came into effect at all. Shaken, Culprit B realized that the solution in this case was to take advantage of those rules and hope for the best option, the kind in which one culprit gets to live and the other is executed, without killing the rest of us. The intention from the start was to kill the easy target- Evie Snow, whose brittle nature combined with the other spare Monopad granting entry to his room, made him particularly vulnerable.

Though first, Culprit B roughed up Culprit A, resulting in the broken bloodbags in the room, and stole her Monopad as well to… Make her seem like a different culprit also targeted her?

Culprit B let himself into the room, but Evie wasn’t there. Since he didn’t really _want_ to commit a murder, he ended up nervously dropping a ring on the carpet before hiding in wait in the bathroom. Shortly after Evie returned, he used the dowel taken from Ayano’s room to beat him to death, and did retrieve his ring. Had the ring been left there, we may have assumed it belonged to Nanjo, but despite what Culprit B would like us to believe, he wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.

After that, Culprit B used the same dowel on Ayano’s corpse to make it seem as if they were both killed in the same way, then for good measure, tossed the bodies out of the infirmary door. Two hazards, one with a large tooth and one resembling an axolotl, tried to get inside but were cut up by the doorway protocol. After this, he returned and discarded the dowel in a box in one of the hidden rooms, and all three Monopads in another one. He had already let Culprit A back into the room that they shared, and he let her back out in the morning, at which time she ran off to hide upstairs rather than come to breakfast. Likely, she panicked at the thought of facing people after what she might have done the previous night.

So I’m… Not one hundred percent certain if I have that order of events right. Some of it still isn’t clear to me, but I think that we can readily say… Culprit B is Yuji Sato, and Culprit A is. Most likely, as she’s admitted it herself, _Katsue_ Nageko.


	224. Trial 3: The Chain of Tragedy

“That’s… What happened, you’re right,” Katsue said, “Mm. Ayano Ueda and I made a mutual murder pact, so that we might give up our lives in service of those who deserve it much more than us… And yet, somehow, she died too soon, and I survived. The fledgling vampire failed to bring me down. The rot in my heart survived and the hero of light fell to darkness in my name, pledging that somehow, he would make certain that I lived… That I could survive and live on in spite of everything.”

“Unfortunately, this Double Jeopardy rule. I… I never actually wanted anybody to die.” Yuji wrapped his arms around himself. “Even Evie, as you said. I could hardly steel myself to the deed, and were there no target as _convenient_ as him, I couldn’t have gone through with it, even for the sake of my beloved. Even for Katsue. I intended to confess readily and be executed, leaving her alive. Every bit of obscuring I did to the truth was intended to make it easy to believe that I was responsible in both murders. You’d never even need to know, until this rule which said that both culprits were to be found and executed. And I. Kept quiet instead.”

“I thought that,” Yuji continued, “I could let Katsue live, without forsaking anybody else. And even when it got to this point, I attempted to keep up the lie. Just because… I couldn’t possibly allow her to be killed without putting up a fight.”

“Yet, you lied badly,” Shin said, “Because you were torn, right? You wanted to save the person you love, but you didn’t want to kill more than one person. Well, not quite. It’s evident you didn’t _want_ to kill anybody, but saw it as a duty to your girlfriend, to protect her at any cost. Right?”

“Y-Yeah.” Yuji squeezed his eyes shut. “When I walked into that scene it was… Not unlike something else which happened. I remembered, and I realized, that I needed to make up for failing to protect her before. That no matter what, I would keep her safe. Yet, even now, again… I haven’t been able to succeed.”

Katsue called out, “It’s my fault. I should have… You shouldn’t have gotten wrapped up in this. Even when Ayano died early, when she somehow succumbed before getting the chance to kill me in return, I shouldn’t have just sat there in shock. The noble thing would have been to take my own life on the spot, and prevent this cavalcade of tragedy from ever occurring. I should have known… The Rosen Apostle, my hero of light, seeing me in that scene could have never ended well. He would have again taken up the blade which wounded me before, or else, he would fall to ruin in the honor of an accursed princess as I am.”

“The blade which wounded you before… All of that… What even happened?” Syoko asked, “If you do remember it. It’s statements like that which led me to worry it was possible that-”

“Once, my darkness became evident, splayed before his eyes as the true, bleak nature within my heart… And unable to bear that shadow on the shoulders of his heroism, I was abandoned to face my fate alone,” Katsue explained, in that obscured language, “When it seemed the shadow was so bleak that he had vanished it from his mind, I wished only to retain our happy days together, but the darkness remained within me… Eating away, controlling my actions, no matter how I tried… And I feared so very much he would remember, and leave me to the beast again.”

Syoko blinked a few times, then translated, her voice fraught with confusion, “You’re saying that… Something happened that he didn’t know how to deal with, so he broke up with you, but then he forgot that thing happened. But you were still traumatized by that thing, and it created tension between you even though you were both trying your best? It was… It was just a communication issue?? This whole time, something as simple as that?”

“If that is the lens by which you aim to view this tragedy,” Katsue said, “Then indeed, those are the events which transpired. As _simple_ as that, and certainly nothing like that nonsense you said earlier.”

“What did you guys _think_ happened?” Yuji asked, furrowing his brow.

“That… But she seemed afraid of you,” Yosuke said.

“I feared not my love, but that he might discover the truth…” Katsue said, “And that a hero of light lacks the ability to properly address the problems of those who belong to darkness. For most, a lover’s touch in a sour moment is comfort. For those such as myself, I can hardly see through the fog if that touch is a lover or a demon outright. Heroes of light know only of the reactions of most, and must take lengthy study to aid those who dwell in darkness.”

“When I did remember the truth, I also remembered what happened after it… How it was explained to me, what I was misunderstanding, and how I could help, but by then it was too late. Katsue was locked away from me, out of my reach, until we woke up here. And yet, because I lost those memories, I… Almost made the same mistake. Either way, I couldn’t defend her, and allowed her to fall into enough despair to agree with… Ueda’s plan.”

“And now it appears as if… All is lost, and we, the lovers, will simply die together. But such is our story. In the next life, it will be the same. We will love each other, but unable to bridge the gap between light and darkness… Hurt each other as well. There is no happy death for those such as us, through eternity.” Katsue sighed and looked down at the floor. “Though he would never… Intentionally bring me harm. It’s always been me, my darkness, and my lies.”

“He would never intentionally bring you harm?” Yosuke spoke slowly as he started to put it together, “Then… What about your current injuries?”

“E-Eh…?” Katsue blinked.

“Even if it was just to support your story, he injured you… Right? That’s what you’re both saying. But he never would, so you claim? So which part is true? He’d never raise a hand against you under any circumstances, or he injured you now and has injured you before?”

“He…” She raised both hands to her head and took several deep breaths. “Wouldn’t… You’re right, especially. Having remembered what happened. If he were going to harm me for the sake of a lie, it wouldn’t be like this, at all… It wouldn’t… He wouldn’t have used his fists he wouldn’t have he wouldn’t ever, never, do that to me...”

“That’s... right,” Yuji said, “I didn’t. She was already hurt by the time I walked into the room. I’ve been assuming that Ayano did that much, but died before she could finish the job.”

“I can’t imagine how…” Katsue muttered, “The curse of the changing, of vampire blood. It does not work so quickly. It may have been beginning to set in, but that… Quickly… I was so confused but I could only imagine that it really was my actions...”

“That’s because you didn’t kill Ayano. Something else did. Yuji, you realize it now that I’m saying it, don’t you?” Yosuke asked.

“The wound in Ayano’s stomach…” Yuji realized, “That was… No, of course it wasn’t. That doesn’t line up at all. It _was_ there from the time I walked in, but much larger than I claimed. So are you saying… That all of this...”

“Unable to rationalize the situation beyond knowing that she was _going_ to be responsible for Ayano’s death, and having been beat up, already dazed from her conversation, there’s so much going on here to say that Katsue’s memory is unreliable!” Saya realized, “So I think… I’m pretty sure, actually. Somebody else was responsible for the murder of Ayano Ueda.”


	225. Trial 3: But Where Was Tooth

“Are you telling me that… That I…” Yuji was shaking where he stood. “I killed somebody… For no reason? It was never Katsue to begin with? She didn’t…”

“Blind devotion of that sort…” Shin said, “You were so caught up in the idea of being there for her, of protecting her, that you failed to use the kind of critical thinking which would have readily informed you that you were both mistaken on the nature of the crime scene.”

“We… We were both mistaken…”

“That cannot be true,” Katsue said, “I inflicted hemolytic shock upon Ayano. Anything which occurred after that… Would still have been my fault, even if somebody… Somebody else…”

“It… Either way, I suppose that… I became a culprit,” Yuji said, “I’ll be executed either way. But even if it means that my actions were unnecessary, if it’s possible that Katsue isn’t a culprit at all, we have to figure that out! To prove that she’s innocent…”

“Uh, yeah, and to _not all of us end up dead,_” Yume said, “That part’s kinda important too, besides just one person getting to not be a murderer. It ain’t like she didn’t still _try_ to kill somebody.”

“I can’t say I hold that against her,” Syoko said, “I mean, she thought she was going to be dying too. It’s less murder, and more suicide with extra steps…”

“Not to mention, those extra steps weeeere intended to be for our benefit,” Tooru said, “But I’m still not sure why you think that she didn’t do it. She’s alreaaady confessed.”

“She may have confessed, but her recollection of events is inaccurate. Both of our supposed culprits are unaware of how Ueda acquired the puncture wound in her abdomen, and have noted that it was apparently much larger than the one in her hand. Neither of them can actually explain where Katsue’s injuries came from. Thus, we cannot imagine that this is the entire story, even if in the end the culprits still turn out to be them.”

“Indeed… I am not opposed to facing death, as it is just another spectre on the horizon of a rotten life. Nonetheless, I wish to know the truth. I have been satisfied that my beloved would do such a thing for me, but if it were not my own folly, I must know and smite whomever’s it was. And if it truly were mine, then I will bear that mantle.”

“Jesus chriiiist, can you just talk like a normal fucking person for once in your life?” Tooru asked.

“Somebody could say the same to you, Hanazaki. Watch your tongue,” Yuji chided, taking the opportunity when he saw it to externalize his bitterness rather than continuing to spiral out at his probable mistake. “She’s merely coping with the gravity of the situation. I’m _sorry_ if that isn’t to your personal fucking sensibilities, but people do that, you know. Some of us can’t just let tragedy roll off our backs like nothing in the universe matters!”

“Ahh, but, it doesn’t. Wouldn’t it be nicer for you if you could adopt that kind of worldviiiew, when no matter what happens next, you’re going to die?”

“No matter what happens next…” Katsue muttered, “Is that really so, Hanazaki?”

“H-huh?” Tooru took a step back, raising his arm. “Well, yeaaaah? Everyone knows he’s ‘Culprit B’ and that’s not about to change.”

“Hm. And here I thought…” Katsue chuckled, lifting her head to stare him in the eyes. “If one culprit gets away with it, they may select the two people who survive, before the properly decided culprit is executed. It’s only right that if somebody has caused me so much strife… They would take pity on me and allow my beloved to accompany them into a future of survival.”

“I guess that’s alwaaaays possible.” Tooru shrugged. “But after seeing what an idiot he’s been, who would ever want to show him that kind of sympathy? Somebody like Saihara who can do no wrong, that’s the kind of person who might get a pity-ticket outta this plaaaace. Or, maybe she did it. That’s still possible… right?”

“I… Guess’n that’s cause what I said before. You did try'n real hard to discredit even what Katsu said 'bout her own selfhood, an' point Yooj like he's real worse. Convincin’ somebody that they really did kill somebody that you killed, makin’ all this chain reaction happen. Someone’s gotta be real smart to pull that off?” Irarako said, “But, I ain’t thinkin’ it’s you. Cause if the stomach wound really were what that large to begin with… Then the murder weapon…”

“Hm, good question. How large _was_ it, Yuji?” Saya asked, “The size of a knife, or…”

“No, bigger. The size of the hole on the body… That’s how large it was to begin with, yeh,” Yuji noted, “I guess I never really thought about what could have actually caused that injury, I was so wrapped up in the things I’d suddenly remembered, and wanting to be a good boyfriend, wanting to sort things out…”

“How large was that tooth when you first found it?” Saya directed this question, instead, at the investigative team.

“Really big, almost more like a tusk.” Homura measured out the approximate diameter with his hands. “This size around, more or less? Ayano’s wound-sized, sure, but I thought that it came from a hazard…”

“It did… sort of. The axolotl creature whose corpse you found in the infirmary,” Yuji said, “When it was cut open, that fell out of it. Like it had swallowed it. It was about that size when I saw it, not that weird, small fang that it is now. Do you think, maybe…”

“But how did it change sizes? If it was something from a hazard, that might be explained just by how weird those things are,” Syoko said, “But if it was something that somebody actually used as a murder weapon, then I have trouble believing it. How could something available to us under normal circumstances… Shrink like that?”

“I don’t believe it actually shrunk. I believe that its nature was changed, midway through the investigation process. Though I must say, I’m really disappointed.” Saya groaned and pressed a hand to her cheek. “I didn’t think, out of everybody, that **you**… Would bother to do such a thing. Even so, you’re the only one who could think it up, right? To understand the full purpose of those things. I saw you in the lab building while we were investigating, but I assumed you were just wandering around while we did all of the work. That’s what’s typical of you. What could motivate you to do this, ah, this most recent motive did have an effect on several of us after all. Katsue, certainly. But you as well.”

“Right, Hanazaki?” Saya dropped her hands again and smiled. “Don’t try to defend yourself. I know exactly how you thought you’d pull this off.”


	226. Trial 3: Golden Argument

[Saya Yoshiro’s Culprit A Closing Argument.]

Did you think you could do something like this, and I wouldn’t be able to tell it was you?

Hah. Don’t make me laugh.

It seems quite unlike you, to go to all of these lengths to commit a murder and get away with it, but I can imagine it began several days ago. When you were allowed to speak to somebody on the outside, and that person is the only one who can encourage you to do anything. It’s interesting to me, that your scapegoat came under the heading of somebody who was trying to do better for their partner. After all, those are the words which inspired you to hatch this plan, weren’t they?

We’ve known each other too long for you to get away with this. Or did you forget? We’ve hardly spent time together since arriving in this place, despite agreeing at the start that with our preexisting connection to each other, it meant we each had one ally. Ah, or maybe you remembered after all, and you were planning, when you betrayed Katsue, to bring me with you. I’d be flattered if that were the case, but I consider you my enemy now nonetheless.

Your boyfriend… He said to you that he’d be better, and I imagine he did something to prove it to you. Knowing the way you both are, it must have been something crude, like leading you to climax with his words without touching himself?

That flinch, I’m right, aren’t I? Pathetic, how embarrassing, really! But that was always your problem, he was a selfish lover, so of course he could prove himself to you with something along those lines. You’d ask him to do that for you. And, enamored once more, you’d do whatever he asked in exchange. You wanted to see him again, and he wanted the same, and the way to do that… Of course it’s to get away with murder. And you, of course, always could have done that sort of thing.

Nobody would think that you… With such little intention as you’ve always had, would suddenly decide that you ought to kill somebody in a complicated manner. Yet, of course it was you, because you realized something right away regarding the holograms there in your lab. Natural History is a talent that doesn’t mean much here, but you found a way to utilize it. The things you could do if you applied yourself…

The superiority of those holograms over my own work, is that they are capable of change. Not only are they capable of change, they are geared toward it. But… Hah. That’s it. Just as my creations, they are accurate down to each detail, and just as my creations, you are able to touch them, feel them, and even, you know. Break them. Take a piece of one and use it as you will, and you did. Last night, you retrieved the fang of a saber-tooth tiger from your lab. Now imagine… You said it yourself, you’re far too lazy to choose a victim.

But a symptom of a faulty blood transfusion, so I've heard, is a ‘feeling of impending doom’. I’m sure this goes double for somebody who receives that transfusion as part of a plot to kill themself. Ayano Ueda opened the door out of worry when she heard your footsteps outside, and her fate was sealed. You saw her there, and you killed her, but Katsue was a witness. You couldn’t remove the fang from Ayano’s body quickly enough, so you attacked Katsue with your bare hands.

This triggered a meltdown for her, of course. Given her past. She probably begged you for her life, and you decided to take advantage of her current state. You pointed out the body, and accused her. Asking why she would do that, why she would kill her friend that way. How could she. But you wouldn’t tell anybody, if she did you a favor, and didn’t tell anybody that you came to the room. Oh, and if she began to think she didn’t do it, take the blame anyway, and maybe Yuji can get out of here with you. I would even go as far as to posit that, in the state she was in, she didn't even see you as you. Yes... If she were under the impression that 'Kenta Nageko killed Ayano', then of course she'd brush that off as her mind playing tricks and blame herself instead.

You retrieved the fang and tossed it out of the building, hoping that if it were discovered, we would consider it a piece that a hazard lost. The following day… By walking through the infirmary to see the bodies, you would have seen that the fang had made its way back inside. So, once the investigation began, you returned to your lab. You changed the model- Rather than a sabertooth tiger, something smaller. Something that had a much less conspicuous canine tooth than the one that you’d used to commit a murder. Obscuring the matter even further…

And this entire trial, you’ve put in far too much effort to point us in the direction of Katsue as the culprit, because that was what you convinced her of. You needed it to be the case, that Katsue was the culprit as far as Katsue was concerned. That when she confessed, we would believe her, and you would be able to get out of here. To return to a boyfriend who claims he’ll get better, but will he, really? Of course you believed him, I don’t doubt that. You would have never done this if you weren’t convinced you would get a spectacular reward for all of your hard work.

For somebody to be this diabolical, and yet so pathetic, it really is exactly what I would expect from you, Tooru Hanazaki. A liar who intends to go back on his word. Somebody who believes that anything done in the name of love cannot have a negative moral value, and who is to blame not just for this, but for many other tragedies over the course of his life. Should I have sat idly by and allowed you to bring ruin on us all? I, from the start, considered that it might be you. Thus, I applied myself to the solving of the thing.

We have two culprits here. We have a man who was blinded by lust, and a man who was blinded by love. One killed to see his lover, the other killed to save his lover’s life. I see neither of these men as honorable, myself. Both were idiots who couldn’t see what was right in front of their faces, and both caused harm which was thoroughly unnecessary. Yuji Sato couldn’t see that there was no way his girlfriend represented Culprit A… and Tooru Hanazaki couldn’t see that I would be able to recognize for the second time in my life, the evil lurking in his layabout heart.


	227. Trial 3: Anything for Love

“Are you fucking serious, Saya?” Tooru’s voice had lost most of its lazy, drawn-out quality. The accent was still present to an extent, but it was much less pronounced than usual with his syllables suddenly becoming so sharp. “You’d really rat me out like this, after everything I’ve done for you?”

“Would I really be able to determine what it was that you did with such absolute certainty that you can’t even refute a word I said…” She pressed a finger to her chin. “If I wasn’t speaking from experience? You’ve manipulated me in the past. As soon as that tooth became relevant, I was able to put all of that together. I can even tell what it was you said to Katsue to convince her that she really was responsible, and instruct her how to feel if she wasn’t.”

“You were right, you know. I would have brought you with me. Why would I bring Sato, when we’ve always been so close?” Tooru crossed his arms. “It ain’t like I’d ever kill you.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. As far as you believe, I’m of much more _use_ to you alive, aren’t I? You think you know me. You think you can come here and say that we’re such good friends, and cause the deaths of two people, and I won’t call you out? I’ll just nod along like always. Yes please, Hanazaki, please let me stick around in your house. Whatever you say, of course. Nothing’s as bad as going home. I have nowhere to go if not for your kindness. That’s when it was only _my_ well-being on the line. I won’t stand for you hurting others this way.”

“A-And so what if that is how things were!?” Tooru snapped, “Just because… Just because I wanted to get my fair share in return for all the help I gave you, doesn’t mean we were never friends too! I thought that you of all people… You understand me well enough to say how and why I did it, down to the smallest details, even the test I gave Adachi, how the fuck did you figure that out? You understand me that much and yet you can’t actually understand the intent behind my actions??”

“I do understand. That doesn’t mean I agree.” Saya folded her hands on her podium. “You’ve killed… Three. It’s three people who are or will be dead because of your actions. Four, if we count yourself. I cannot imagine a love in the world which is worth that.”

“An’ how exactly…” Tooru hissed, “Was I supposed to expect that Sato would be such a fucking fool about this? That I wasn’t the only person simpin' hard enough to commit a murder? You can’t put that on me.”

“You killed Ayano.” Katsue said, “You killed her, and you put the blame on me. Because… I planned to kill her. I did beg you not to kill me, I guess. I begged you not to kill me ‘like this’. You could have just let it go, and I would have told the truth. That I don’t know what happened. You could have gotten that fang, and killed me that way too. I’ll blame you until the day I die, for condemning my beloved to the darkness through me.”

“God, why don’t you just make that day today if you were planning to fucking kill yourself anyway? It’s not too _late_. The reason Ueda opened that door was because of what _you_ did to her. I was just going to kill Tsubasa if she hadn’t shown up! Fortuitous, that, I got to reunite her with her own beloved... By any stretch, you could still be considered the blackened. Take the fall and let me go. Like any of you could even cut it in the real world. Hell, I’ll uphold my deal after all. If Saya apparently hates me so much now, but Sato knows what I’m capable of. Could be useful. Maybe Adachi would like him…”

“What the fuck are you implying _there?_” Yuji questioned, “No. I’d kill myself before I’d leave with you, honestly. If you left you'd take yourself and nobody else for all I care at this point. I can’t allow myself or anybody to benefit from something like this.”

“We’re the _same_.” Tooru slammed a hand down on his podium. “Dress it up however you like, we both killed for love, manipulated for love, everything for the person that we _love_. And isn’t that fine? Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? You truly love somebody, you do anything for them. You kill for them, you die for them. Whatever they ask. Whenever they ask it. That’s what it means to be in love, and that’s what I did. That’s what Hikari did. That’s what you did, too. We’re all just the same, and it’s only loveless hypocrites who can hold that against us!”

“Maybe that’s true, to an extent. Maybe you and I did something similar… But for me, it was a mistake,” Yuji said, “And for me, I was trying to save somebody, not forsake others just to make it back to them sooner.”

“Of course you weren’t. Because the person you love is _here_,” Tooru gestured to Katsue. “But now, none of us… You and me and Evie, we can’t get back to our normal lives with the people who love us. Only Ayano gets to be with the person who loves her, and she was an ungrateful _snot_ from the beginning. What a bitch, who couldn’t even see Hikari’s love for her. She poured her heart into getting rid of a dangerous person, and everyone, even the person she did it for. Just thought that she was being cruel for no reason.”

“Jun wasn’t dangerous,” Yosuke said, “He wasn’t actually-”

“Oh, _hooooney_, he was.” Tooru chuckled. “Whether it was his fault or not, Hikari did you all a favor getting rid of him before you could learn that firsthand.”

“And what would you know about Jun? You grew up here on Earth,” Syoko said.

“Aaaactually,” His demeanor was softening again, and he raised his arms at his side. Unlike before, when it seemed like he spoke slowly and calmly in a show of utter laziness… It seemed more condescending now. Like he only needed to bother with speaking quickly when he lacked control of the situation. “Quite a bit. Nooot that I actually knew about him. But I know plenty bout the people who are respooonsible for this game. Ain’t that right, Saya?”

“Oh, Hanazaki. Fuck yourself.” She smiled.

“...Before we both get killed,” Yuji spoke up, “As we certainly both will, in short order. First of all. Katsue, you keep trying, okay? There’s somebody out there who’ll be able to help and understand you… Far better than I could. I’m sorry.” He turned his gaze away from her now. “There is one other thing I remembered. Shinku, you and I, we’ve met before. Haven’t we?”

“Eh?”

“Well, not face to face. But you were at the Kirisame home that day.” He scratched at the back of his head. “Weren’t you? I swear, I saw you, just for a minute.”

“...I probably was living there at the time, yeah,” Homura said, “Not like it really mattered. You and I never spoke.”

“You know Doctor Kirsame?? And you said nothing? You let us talk to you about her virtues as if you had no idea who she was!” Syoko blurted, “I know this isn’t really important right now, but it’s easier to be shocked about this than any of the other bad stuff happening!”

“I never said I _didn’t_ know her. Look, if you were staying with her, wouldn’t you wanna spy on what her students say about her when she’s not looking? Good grief.” Homura gestured toward Yuji, then Tooru. “Men are about to die here.”

“That’s right!” Mercury’s voice sounded out. Katsue reached out for Yuji suddenly, wrapping her arms around his neck to nuzzle into his chest, spending as much time close to him as she could until two of the tendrils appeared, one pushing her away from him and the other wrapping around his waist. One more grabbed at Tooru, and in an instant, both were whisked away. Katsue dropped to her knees, but wouldn’t be allowed to avert her eyes.

No one is permitted to look away from the conclusion of their own tragedy.


	228. Trial 3: An Execution of Chivalry

**[Yuji Sato and Tooru Hanazaki’s Execution: LOSER LOVERBOYS]**

The room for this execution resembled something more like a stadium, no… A coliseum, actually. Yuji was on one end of it, and Tooru on the other. The stands were filled in with paper cutouts, some of them resembling Katsue, and others resembling Adachi. At either end of the coliseum, by the boys, were racks of various weaponry. Between them both, a set of words flashed.

“By the blade, you made promises to the people that you love.”

“So in their name, you must not have hesitation to kill each other as well.”

“Should you refuse to fight, the person you love will instead be destroyed.”

“At the end, both will lie dead, but first you may prove whose heart burns stronger!”

A loud blaring noise sounded out, and the coliseum was bathed in a red light, indicating that the duel had just begun. Yuji didn’t even take a second to turn to the rows of weapons and pull one out. It wasn’t a sword, after all, he was far from actually being the usual archetypal knight. Rather, the weapon was one which reflected his heart- the heart which did, despite everything, belong to Katsue Nageko. A naginata with a twine of roses around its shaft, the blade curved and glinting with a dark metal. At the other end, it was capped off with a glittering diamond not unlike the one that he… Usually wore around his neck. That necklace was nowhere to be seen right now. The only sign that the weapon belonged to a hero of light at all was the way the jewel shone; because this hero had long since become a thrall of a dark princess.

The weapon that Tooru lifted, meanwhile, reflected himself just fine. Then again, maybe it reflected Adachi just the same, as they did work in the same field. A pair of shortswords, each with one smooth and one jagged edge to them. Rather than metal at all, these were composed of carved bone, with a dusty color to the pommels and tassels of fur coming off the ends. If Yuji’s was the way his light existed in service of a creature of darkness, Tooru’s was the way that he and Adachi were one and the same in their goals, motivations, and willingness to toss out integrity for the sake of their own desires.

The style of Yuji’s weapon had the natural advantage over Tooru’s, and it seemed that he knew well enough how to use it as he advanced. He hadn’t used this type of weapon before, but he’d been spearfishing. His technique was wobbly, being adapted from an entirely different polearm, but it served him well enough right now. Tooru, meanwhile, had not style whatsoever- He had no knowledge of any weaponry, but he had much more of a willingness to fight to kill, holding them both to his sides as he dashed forward.

Neither of them had taken even a second to be at each other’s throats with the explanation of the execution. Being tasked with the murder of the other was not something anyone would be inclined to do, but that was the point. Both of them were going to die, and neither of them was willing to forsake the person they loved. Blood would be on their hands, whichever choice they made, and it was merely a matter of whether they were willing to take that blood directly. For both of them, who had already made that decision once, it was no choice at all.

And for both of them, it was only a matter of moments. This wouldn’t be a long, drawn out battle; It would be over swiftly. Neither had a shield, nor any armor, nor _any hesitation_ at this point. Tooru was more wild, more willing, but Yuji had the expertise, and it was only a matter of one deciding blow. Upon reaching the center of the coliseum…

Somehow?

Somehow, despite the advantage of range and skill that Yuji had over him, both of Tooru’s shortswords were drawn by passion into Yuji’s stomach and out the other end, the same angle as Ayano’s wound from the sabertooth had been. The exact motion that had set this all in motion was ending it- But Yuji wouldn’t go down just like that. He chuckled, once, and blood fell from his lips. Then, he reached out and grabbed the front of Tooru’s sweater with one hand.

“Does it feel good? Did you enjoy getting to kill somebody like me?” Yuji questioned, drawing Tooru in closer. It drove the swords into himself yet more, but also pulled Tooru onto his own spear. “If you did… If I am, as Katsue says, a hero of light… Then that must make you the villain, doesn’t it, sweetheart?”

“G-uh!” Tooru hacked as he was drawn onto Yuji’s weapon, then looked up at his face with a grimace. “What about you? Killing me right now?”

“Of course the hero would kill the villain…” Yuji closed his eyes as he dragged Tooru as close as he could, the naginata breaking through his back just as his own swords did to Yuji. “Yet, I don’t enjoy it. It’s merely what I ought to do. Take revenge… Against the villain who stole away our happiness. You are not the one who did that first, but you have done it now, so you’ll have to be the substitute for my retribution…”

“And through becoming the villain in our story… Isn’t it right, Katsue? That Tooru Hanazaki will be reincarnated into his role…” He let go of Tooru’s shirt to hold the naginata with both hands, pushing it forward to drive Tooru’s body onto the weapon’s shaft and the blade into the dirt. “May your next life be one in which your villainy is created not of such selfish desires, but from a life of suffering.”

With the last line spoken in tribute to his beloved, Yuji released his weapon and fell over backwards, while Tooru remained slumped forward on the naginata, sputtering his life away for a few more moments before he succumbed. The red light grew stronger, illuminating the silhouettes of the corpses there in the coliseum as the paper cutouts fell to pieces, spreading over the arena like ash until they came to settle atop the two, forming an interrupted but recognizable shape of a heart before the screen went black entirely.


	229. Trial 3: Ayano Ueda's Monokuma Theater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warn this chapter for coercive relationship, transphobia, and homophobia

Ayano Ueda and Dawson Packard had met shortly after she turned eighteen. They hadn’t met before that; They might have seen each other in passing, and Dawson might have thought she looked cute, but it wasn’t like he’d just been biding her time until she was legal. For personal reasons, he actually tended to avoid the group she hung around with; Teenagers all a bit younger than her, but who she was close with nonetheless. One of them was somebody he didn’t want to be around, but luckily, by the time he actually realized she was friends with that person, he had already determined that she didn’t care for him to be around them either.

She hadn’t quite graduated from school yet, having approximately a year left. Dome City public schooling was a bit strange, after all. Though she was turning eighteen in April, she’d be graduated just about exactly one year later. Due to its focus on raising up ‘good human beings’, the curriculum was designed specifically to nurture the individual’s talents and abilities while preparing them for normal life, and that took a bit longer. It also, in timing, mimicked that of western schools more, with the year beginning in September after an extended summer break. Ayano’s summer break that year was about to begin when Dawson met her.

They ran into each other at a small scale convention; In Dome City, niche culture like that was pretty exclusively small scale. Ayano had gotten a booth to sell her calligraphy at, and Dawson ran a booth that was selling swords- Both replicas, and real sharp ones. Being next to each other, they got to talking, and Dawson couldn’t seem to stop expressing the matter of how cute he thought she was. He had decent Japanese, and she had decent English, so they pinged around speaking in an odd mix of both to overcome any barriers in their individual language.

The bigger barrier that stood between Dawson and Ayano was the fact that he was a solid twenty years older than her, a barrier that she had no hesitation to invoke when he asked her to dinner after the end of their first day hitting it off at the convention. He wasn’t the sort to take no as an answer easily- Rather, he was the sort of person who thought that yes meant yes and no meant maybe later. At the end of the second day, he asked again, and she once more turned him down.

On the third day of the convention, when it closed, he helped her to pack up all of her things in addition to his own. Fortunately for him, her father who had helped her set up had something come up and couldn’t help her tear down. When both of their booths were vanished from the site, he asked one more time. After helping her with all of that, the least she could do was humor him with a drink, right? She had reluctantly agreed, feeling bad.

This was well before Jun Shirogane would acquire his problem with alcohol, and that was a problem Ayano absolutely had no tendency toward. Her father had gambling issues when he was younger, but had long since overcome the problem, and it seemed that none of that had rubbed off on her. When she did take Dawson up on the drink offer out of something resembling pity, though she couldn’t place the feeling as naturally as somebody else might, she had just two drinks.

Dawson continued to buy her more drinks, but her father had always been close with Torimi. This wasn’t the only bar in Dome City, but it was the only one that was owned and run by Japanese people, so it was sort of the standard for that segment of the population. It took one look from Ayano for Torimi to pass on the memo to her husband that any further drinks for her that night should be made without alcohol.

Of course, Dawson didn’t know that, and as he got more drunk, he acted more like he expected Ayano to be drunk. Not much else in his demeanor changed. He got a bit whinier, slurred his words more, but generally remained in control of himself. He expected Ayano not to be, and was quite impressed when she informed him that she was fine. Rather than wonder if she was fooling him, he just grew even more enamored with the ‘traditional schoolgirl’ who could also ‘hold her booze’. He did manage to get her phone number out of her.

Then, they went back to their own homes, but that was just the beginning. As far as Dawson was concerned, it was meant to be, love at first sight. Their relationship went similarly to that, moving forward. He would whine and badger her over and over until she finally pitied him enough to indulge him in just one date, but then it would repeat. She showed no active interest in him, but she was too timid, and poor at showing her emotions, to show active disinterest either. Her soft denial came right up against his pathetic stubborn nature, and somehow, eventually…

He had somehow become her ‘boyfriend’. They were dating, she supposed, after indulging him in too many solitary dates to shut him up. He called her his girlfriend, and treated her as if she was. She started introducing him as her boyfriend, because it was easier than anything else. If she called him her friend, then he would start whining at her again, arguing in annoyance that it made him feel like she didn’t really care about him, and why would she embarrass him like that in front of other people? It was this that led her to keep him from her younger friends.

Her friends who were the same age as her, Hikari and Jun, she’d been with them as long as she could remember, and couldn’t avoid overlapping time spent with those two as with Dawson. And they seemed to have some understanding of the situation, as well. Failing to trust him from the start, making that known to Ayano, but not picking fights with him to his face. She never said that she didn’t want to date him in the first place, but she supposed her friends could tell.

Those other friends didn’t need to know that she had somehow acquired a troublesome person like this. It was convenient for him, because he never needed to see that person. It was convenient for her, because she never needed to explain herself. This isn’t to say that Dawson’s actions were able to go on forever; They did break up eventually, because she was provided with the perfect _excuse_ to shut him down in full.

Of course, it started off a bit absurd.

“Ayano!” He shouted out as he opened the door. She was sitting in his apartment at that moment. “Why didn’t you tell me that Shirogane’s got a dick!?”

She blinked. “What?”

“Don’t play dumb! Got that soft face, pink hair, obviously I was going to assume he’s one of _those_ types of guys. You know, the girl kind?” Dawson groaned and leaned against the doorframe. “He’s actually just a dude. Jesus Christ.”

“Er.” Ayano took a second to process what she’d just heard. “First off, please do not take the lord’s name in vain like that. Second off, are you saying you thought Jun was trans? Third off, are you saying you don’t think trans men are actually men? Finally. How did you find _this out_ and why is it _so distressing_?”

“Don’t act like you weren’t in on it, you bitch, he’s _your_ friend,” He scoffed, “This doesn’t make me fucking _gay_, you know.”

“I do not know what you’re talking about. Um. Regardless of what is in Jun’s pants, being attracted to him would make you bi, not gay… Cause you say you love me.”

“How am I supposed to keep loving somebody who sat there for months and let me get my dick sucked by a _guy_ because she didn’t want to put out?”

“I what now,” Ayano deadpanned, looking straight at him.

“Don’t play dumb.”

“I am not playing.”

“He told me that you told him that I’m too fuckin’ horny, and you don’t like how often I want to have sex, and I told him if it’s that big a problem he can help me out himself, but I _thought_ he was a girl! You let that keep going on for months and I had to find out he’s actually a guy when I grab his fucking balls?”

“I knew nothing of this. Why do you think I would know about that? I would have told Jun to stop because this was not his problem. It was mine.”

“Ah. Hah, really now. You’re hearing this for the first time and you’re not even surprised like I was cheating on you? Bullshit.”

“I am not surprised about that. I don’t care. I do care that Jun got involved. You pressured him into doing something like that for you? Just like you pressured me into dating you? And you say that you are the one who’s wronged here?”

“No actual man should look like that!” Dawson protested, “Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“Ah. Hm. I am supposed to… Tell you. That my friend who is man. That has only ever been referred to by everyone as a man. That he is specifically a cis man. Do you realize that sounds absurd?” She blinked up at him. “Even I can tell that’s ridiculous, Dawson. Aside from anything you may personally believe, it is ridiculous. How was this supposed to be some grand plan of ours when it was your idea to have him do that? We’re best friends. We’d do anything for each other. Of course if you told him that it would help me…”

Before Dawson Packard could say a word to defend himself, Ayano’s phone started ringing. She took a step backwards and pulled it out, held it to her ear to hear the bad news. Jun had been hospitalized, he’d be okay but he’d been stabbed in the side. Replicants sustained injuries just like humans did. Of course, the fact this incident occurred had to stay between them. As far as anyone else should hear, it was just an unfortunate accident.

“...Just you _try_ to ever fucking speak to me again.” Ayano returned her phone to her pocket and pushed past Dawson, out of his apartment. Where she wouldn’t stand up for her own well-being, she couldn’t sit idly while somebody hurt her friends. But of course, he did try. He kept trying, visiting Ayano at work and seeing Jun there too, for that matter. It bothered her, but she could tell it stressed him out even more. It was this stress which would, unbeknownst to her until too late, drive him to drink nearly as much as Dawson did. And it was _those_... Along with some other actions, which Dawson feared Hikari would expose enough that he would go on to take his life.

And Ayano did cry for him, you know.

Despite everything, it’s hard not to care at least a little bit about somebody you spent so much time with.


	230. Trial 3: Evie Snow's Monokuma Theater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra warning for Suicide

Evie Snow was a child living a particularly unusual life, and he was pretty well aware of this fact. However, he lacked the context at the time to comprehend that the unusual life he was living was one which could have been classified as ‘bad’. He was part of a childhood Ultimates program, after all, which still existed in spite of the fact that most had come to the correct conclusion that these kinds of things were in fact, incredibly awful ideas.

Evie was born in the UK, but currently lived in Japan. A loophole was being utilized at current. Ultimate Titles couldn’t be granted to anybody under sixteen in this country, but children under ten could no longer act on television in his own country, under labor laws. Thus, through complicated factors that he himself hardly had the scope to understand, several English children were granted Ultimate Titles in their home country, then went to Japan to film a television show which would then air across the English-speaking world over again. At first, Evie thought it was fun! He got to talk as long as he wanted about his interests and that was _the right thing to do_, not annoying to put up with.

He just talked as much as he could about his favorite thing- Which was strategy. Fire Emblem was the start of it, a game he picked up just as soon as he had the ability to. He learned to read from following its story, and once he had, he devoured every bit of the series he could, and then some. He read history books on strategy, he learned everything he could get his hands on about tactics, and put what he learned into practice in the games. All before he was six years old- Truly, a prodigy, and this didn’t go unnoticed by his mother. Veronica was incredibly fond of her child, and wanted him to have every opportunity in life.

But since his father had walked out on her two months before she gave birth… She hadn’t been able to do that nearly as much as she wished. Her income wasn’t much at all, it was barely enough to live on, and yet she tried very hard. Evie couldn’t understand at the time, what she was doing for him. He found something he loved so much, and Veronica had to provide that for him. She’d spend every bit of her food assistance on the things he liked to eat, and only fed herself on his leftovers. She scraped and saved and wore the same clothes over and over so she could give him the games and books he liked, and being a child who never knew anything else, he couldn’t perceive that anything was wrong.

She was glad for it. She didn’t want her son to worry about her and she didn’t need him to feel gratitude proportional to the sacrifices she was making. She just wanted him to be safe and happy, and it was difficult enough with his conditions. He was born with a form of osteoporosis, and several food allergies to animal products. Still, she would take care of him. She would love him to the best of her ability. Then when she heard about a new Childrens’ Ultimate Program, she saw that as a ticket to his happiness. She signed him up, he passed with flying colors. Then they were offered an all-expenses-paid life, if they would just move and he would participate on an educational television show.

At first it was great, it really was great at first. But Veronica didn’t get to see her son nearly as much as made her feel secure. He had long hours, and often stayed the night in a trailer on set. She was permitted to visit at lunchtime, bringing him food which matched his dietary needs, but the producers said that they found parents were often distracting to the kids, who would become self-conscious about their fixations. Veronica tried to insist that she was nothing but supportive of her child’s interests, but they wouldn’t hear it, so she sat at home worrying while her young child put food on the table.

Evie, to his credit, was making friends there. The kids who had unsupportive parents didn’t like him much, so he ended up falling in with kids who didn’t actually have parents involved at all. Several of the Ultimates had been picked from orphanages, his three close friends primarily. There was Demi, the Ultimate Mathematician. Poppy, the Ultimate Technical Engineer. And Luci Oscar Winger, they were the Ultimate Music Theorist. Their segment of the show was the most popular one, really, because even with topics being covered by other kids, some were more interesting than others.

They also had a fun gimmick on their side, even besides the especially interesting talent. They were, after all, ‘Luci and Oscar’. They had a plush toy dog, colored pink like their hair, which was either Luci or Oscar depending on which one they currently weren’t themselves. At this point in history, it was only the most uppity parents who’d kick up a fuss about an openly nonbinary person on children’s programming, and they played up the fun aspect of it enough that it skyrocketed them to more or less being the star of the show.

They didn’t let it get to their head, though. Oscar was just a great and fun person to be around, who invited Evie to sit with them and the others on his first day there. While he loved his mom, she wasn’t ‘fun to be around’ the way his friends here were, so he was having a great time spending this much time away from home. His skills were recognized and appreciated and he had friends who he got along with. So it was fun and it was good. Until of course. It wasn’t.

It started with Demi first. Evie noticed the bruises that he was turning up to shoot with- he explained that he had made an error in explaining an equation in his last segment, as if that was supposed to track to why he ended up injured. The others didn’t have such excuses, though. When Poppy started to become more despondent, she didn’t have an explanation to give. When Luci’s enthusiasm began to go from pleasant to grating, and strangely morbid things worked into their lines.

Evie couldn’t even come up with a reason for it, the first time that one of the producers broke his bones on purpose. There were two of them who were the most cruel. One was the local coordinator, a woman named Rumiko who had a child the same age as the show’s stars, but who was ‘much too talented for a small-time gig like this one’. She didn’t hesitate to hit or to kick, and Evie mostly faced her particular wrath. The other producer was a man who appeared kind and friendly at first, exactly the sort you expected to see working on educational programming. It seemed, though, that he was just as bad in other ways. He would break Evie’s bones too, sometimes, but never with the active malice Rumiko expressed…

Still, the way Poppy and Demi both flinched away from him was proof enough. He trusted his friends more than any adults, and these must be bad adults. Still, ‘any adults’ included his mother, so he didn’t tell her the truth about how he kept getting hurt, on the rare occasion that he saw her at all. She was getting worried. So worried. Even he could tell that. Things were getting worse, steadily worse, it just kept getting worse and he and his friends could only trust each other.

Until that day when ‘Evie Snow’ ceased to be. It wasn’t the pain which he experienced himself which led to the end of his current existence, it was the pain that he witnessed. It was when Oscar suddenly started rambling one day, about what had been going on behind the scenes of this show. It was the quarterly live special- One for each season, so it wasn’t like they could be readily censored. Of course, by the end…

“I’m sure by now you’ve cut the feed, but I’ve said enough.” Oscar lifted the rabbit as if to hide behind it. “But, you’ll brush over what I said… Unless I make it so that it’s a big enough scandal you can’t, right?”

The next moments were a blur. Oscar ripped open their stuffed rabbit, pulling something out from inside- It was, and how did they get that? Where the hell could Oscar, an eight-year-old kid, have gotten. A gun? It was small, just a tiny pistol that held a single bullet, but that was certainly what they’d pulled out of their stuffed toy just now. They moved quickly, before anybody could jump forward to stop them, and-

When his _friend_ who _everybody loved_ sent their own brain to pieces physically, his own followed suit in psychology. To see, at six (nearly seven), a dear friend’s sudden suicide following the exposure of people he used to trust, though he hadn’t for a while- A calculated decision in some ways and a tragedy in others and Evie? Evie??

_Evie_ would be fine. He wouldn’t remember the incident. It, and most of his time spent working, would be gone. The injuries he sustained from the producers, too. He’d remember just his good times with his friends, and that would be how he carried on.

_Snow_ would not be so fine, but he was equipped to handle it. He didn’t need to grow up. He was a six year old child actor with expertise in tactics, completely professional, and ‘understood’ that one might need to endure pain to succeed. Luci Oscar Winger was, to Snow, a weak person who was unwilling to succeed. He pitied them. He pitied Evie, too, but he wanted to protect him. Evie never needed to see the dark underbelly, he could be safe and have friends and remember a pitiful friend as somebody who was a bright and shining light, while Snow knew that they killed themself in front of anybody who’d watch.

This was just the first time that the person who had once been Evie Snow would splinter.


	231. Trial 3: Everett Evie Snow's Monokuma Theater

“Oh, good grief.” Demi rolled his eyes as he sat back in his seat. “You’re kidding, right? That’s a new one. You could always at least eat _white bread_ when we were kids.”

“Ahaha… I mean, well.” Evie shrugged where he sat with perfect posture. “It’s possible to develop celiac later on, so I guess I really am just that unlucky.”

“She’s lying to you at this point… I think she’s trying to control you.” Poppy, meanwhile, was leaning forward, her head practically down on the table. “If you’re allergic to everything in the world except her cooking, then you can’t come out to eat with us anymore.”

“Maybe, but it isn’t like I can actually figure out if she’s lying when I never talk to her myself,” Evie complained, “Everett never lets me. And he thinks that it would be too much trouble to find that sort of thing out, anyway. Standing up against Mother is just… Bound to go badly.”

“The least you could do is figure out if it’s real or not so you don’t have to live under her whims when you’re not _there_, right?” Demi asked.

“If she’s not lying, and I do get sick because of something I ate out with you guys, that’s the last excuse she needs to never even let us out of the house. I’d never actually be able to see you again, so what’s worse? That, or me having an inconvenient diet?” Evie asked.

“Evie…” Demi trailed off, “It’s not that it’s inconvenient for us, it’s that it can’t honestly be healthy for you. You already need to take so many nutritional supplements just to get by. If your mom’s making you eat even less than you already are…”

“Demi.” Poppy looked up to fix him with a stare. “Neither of us have to deal with anything like that. The folks at the rec center don’t care what we do as long as we behave and keep up with chore assignments. So we shouldn’t be treating Evie like he doesn’t know how to handle his home life. If he can’t test those boundaries, then he can’t. And I… I don’t want him to get forbidden from seeing us. Do you?”

“O-Obviously not!” Demi protested, and frantically fixed his glasses. “I’m just worried, you know!”

“It’s alright,” Evie said, “Really. You don’t have to worry about me! I hardly even know what goes on there, it’s all on Everett. He’s the one that Mom likes… Even though Snow is closer to the ‘version of me’ she knew before whatever happened with the show, that person doesn’t exist anymore. Everett does what he can to be a person who Mom will like, and deal with her so we don’t have to. But Mom’s just… trying to protect us.”

“Any parent would want to do everything to keep a child safe after that, yes,” Demi admitted, “Even still, I can’t reconcile wiith her methods. How badly do you need to mess up at protecting a kid that they’re so traumatized they need to split apart again?”

“It’s not quite… like that.” Evie offered up a nervous smile. “I know you’re worried about me, but really. Even if it ends up hurting, she’s trying her best and she has good intentions. If I wasn’t already plural, nothing Mom does could have made it happen. It’s… The things that you guys and Snow won’t tell me, something really bad. Once I was already at that point, it just came naturally that somebody else would handle _this_ level of distress for me too.”

“When will it end?” Demi snipped.

“H-huh?”

“When will it end, and how? It isn’t like she’s going to let you move out readily even once you’re an adult. If you keep making excuses for her, then how do you expect to ever escape from under her grasp?” He continued, standing up from his seat. “And how are _we_ supposed to sit by and listen to this bullshit, huh? Don’t you realize that we just want what’s best for you… For all of you? Did you ever consider somebody specialized to ‘deal with her’ might still be better off if he didn’t have to? Brushing the problem off because it only tangentially affects _you_ as an individual, it’s just going to get worse and affect you more as time goes on.”

“...Why should I care if _Everett_ might be better off?” Evie questioned, “Put yourself in my shoes, he’s just an unwelcome guest in my head who won’t even let me talk to my own mom. I can’t even try to make things better with her, because he’s always there bending to everything she asks. If I were in control… If he hadn’t come in to let things get this far, then maybe it could have been fine after all. If not for these stupid _fucks-_ and you guys, you won’t either, you won’t tell me what’s missing-”

“We’ve told you before,” Poppy mumbled, “Plenty of times. We told you. But it always goes away. You say you can’t believe that could ever happen and then the next day you’re right back to saying you wish you knew. I think you’ll only believe it if they tell you themselves.”

“Why…” Evie pressed his hands to his face. “Why couldn’t I have just been fucking _strong_ enough to handle it on my own? Why’d I have to end up like this? It’s so weird. Why couldn’t I just be normal. Why couldn’t me and Mom… Get along like we always did?”

“Get along. Yeah, right. The way she treats you… How could she have ever been anything but an abusive scumbag?” Demi turned away from the table. “I can’t deal with this right now. I’m… leaving. Sorry.”

And with that, he walked out of the cafe where they’d all met up.

“...Evie,” Poppy spoke up after a prolonged silence between them, “Why don’t you come to the rec center? You know the invitation’s always been there. I think it would be so much easier if-”

“Unlike you,” Evie said, “I don’t want to just roll over and accept that I’m broken.”

“...Mm.”

“I used to love my mom. Even if I can’t help but hate her now, I used to. So I don’t want to give up on maybe loving her again. I don’t want to give up on being okay and being normal… I’m sorry. I know that causes trouble for you guys, and I probably _would_ be happier if I just gave in and accepted that this is my life. I’m not ready to do that yet, though.”

“I understand,” Poppy said, “Just stay safe, okay? Even if you never come to the rec center. Make sure that you’ll always be able to come and see us. Right?”

“Right.”

And Evie would go home to see his mother- Everett would take over at the door. And shielded from Evie’s eyes, would Everett endure those slings and arrows as Veronica Snow berated his friends, berated Evie and Snow, and coddled her ‘precious child’ in every way she could, taking his already frail physical state and extrapolating it. The worse off he was, the more he’d always need her. The more he’d stay with her, where it was safe. The more she tried to get him to dress and act like a girl, the more those ailments would earn him pity. Making her child pitiable wasn’t something Veronica ever wanted to do, but she knew, she knew.

‘Capable’ wouldn’t cut it. Capable people got hurt. Talented people got used. Pity her child, and her child would receive only unearned sympathy. Kicking people while they were already down was an act of fools and there were only so many fools in the world. If she could make it so only fools would harm her child, and keep her child away from all fools, then finally, she would be a good mother. She wouldn’t have failed him back then, she wouldn’t have permitted her child to be abused and to witness a suicide that, thank God, he seemed to have completely blotted from his memory.

Veronica wanted to give her entire life for this child, but she was taking that child’s entire life for the sake of it as well. Not a single scrap was for her own benefit and yet, she wasn’t even a bit generous.

Evie still wanted to fix things, wanted things to be better. In fact, by the time he died, he wanted to be a better friend to Everett and Snow as well. They’d worked things out enough that at the time he died, he was co-con; He and Snow were both active and observing the world, they were playing a game together. It was Snow who thought to photograph the ring which probably wasn’t Nanjo’s. It was Evie who decided that he didn’t want to lay down and die. It was the both of them who tried anything they could to fight back and hold on despite the injuries that had been sustained. It was Snow who intended to strike the killing blow, because if they were going to die anyway, it should just be one of them. He wanted to save the others; He wouldn't have killed somebody otherwise, but when it came down to being killed all together, or killing somebody and being executed by himself... Yet, he failed.

Everett Evie Snow was an ‘easy target’. A fool had come to kill him, but he was also ‘capable’, so he wouldn’t allow himself to be killed that easily. In the end, he couldn’t hold his own- but he made his point. He didn’t want to die. It took a lot more effort than his killer had expected.

It was Everett who had the thought- _I’ve finally proven Mother wrong._


	232. Trial 3: Yuji Sato's Monokuma Theater

Yuji Sato was distraught.

Frankly, that was probably an understatement. He had started off distraught and betrayed, then become distraught and horrified at himself, and now he was distraught, panicked, and plummeting even deeper into a pit of self-loathing the likes of which he hadn’t seen in _years_, if ever. Even when he was younger and less confident in himself, when he conjured up things to dislike himself about- This was legitimate. This was something he felt incredibly justified in disliking himself about.

How fucking _stupid_ could he be, not to even think of that possibility? To jump to that kind of conclusion, to need to be told that he wasn’t considering all the options. Wasn’t he supposed to be this model boyfriend? There were two things he thought that he was good at in this world. He was good at weaving, that was his talent. He was also good at romance. Right? He thought he was good at romance. It seemed pretty clear that he was good at romance when he had a reputation of having girls swoon over him all the time, if he was so desirable he had to be doing something right. So he thought.

Maybe, though, his skills at romance were only in the realm of the ‘shallow’. That’s what Megumi had said to him. She wasn’t involved too much in the conversation, but she did call him a ‘shallow lover’ when she did. Mostly, he just got sense verbally knocked into him by Gavin. It checked out, honestly. Even after all this time when he was aware Hiyoko had problems and issues to work through… He never meaningfully understood them, did he? If he’d listened better, if he had made a more genuine effort to connect with her beyond romantic platitudes, maybe…

She would have told him, and he wouldn’t have found out this way, and he certainly wouldn’t have let his brain jump to such a ridiculously wrong conclusion. For all he said he loved her, for every affectionate exchange between them, there had been a wall. She dared him with her wonder to break that wall down; He was stunned by her since the moment that he first laid eyes on her. He could have any girl, but he didn’t want any girl, he wanted Hiyoko Nageko. He wanted to really, truly be with Hiyoko Nageko. But he wasn’t capable of that.

He was a shallow lover and no matter how much he wanted to bridge the difference between them, to understand her pain and take it on his shoulders, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t get the truth. He never knew how to ask. She’d say things he wanted to prompt more from, but he couldn’t find the words. She was trying to open up, and she didn’t know how. He wanted her to open up, but he didn’t know how to encourage her. She tested the waters of his understanding and he failed the test each and every time until it had come to this.

He blamed her. Then Gavin told him how he was wrong, and he blamed himself. And now, he was standing on the sidewalk with his arm in the vice-grip of his own father. “Where do you think you’re going, son?”

“What…” Yuji grit his teeth. “What are you doing here??”

“That’s a bigger question for you, you know. I _work_ at the hospital cafeteria. Why is it that you’re walking up the only road to it?”

“I-”

“It’s visiting hours. Is there somebody there that you’re going to see? I can’t imagine who. You’ve been too busy studying for college to make any friends, right? That’s what you always tell us, anyway.”

“It’s… Dad, it doesn’t matter, I just need to go there right now.” Yuji pulled at his arm, but didn’t budge. “I promise I’ll explain everything later, I will, and it’ll be the whole truth, if you just let me go up there right now and-”

“Whatever you’ve actually been getting up to. Whatever you want to get up to up there, can’t possibly be important in comparison to your future. You know your mother and I are working hard to send you to a good school, but you need to cooperate with us.” He tightened his grip. “Savings won’t mean a thing if you can’t get accepted anywhere. Even somebody with mediocre grades like you can succeed if you put the work in… But you’re here telling me something’s somehow important enough that you’re not studying as we speak?”

“Dad…” Yuji protested, “I’m in love. Isn’t that important too?”

“In love?” His grip did soften.

“Yes! And she should be… She’s either just been admitted or she’s about to be! The EMTs should have gotten there by now and-”

“So it’s her, is it? Nageko.” Sato let go of his son’s wrist. If Yuji were thinking straight, he’d have made a break for it, run away right then and there and made it to the hospital to see her and apologize. He would have, but today remained a string of mistakes, and he was frozen to the spot by the look in his father’s eyes. “Of all the girls on this island. You had to go and get wrapped up with her?”

“What… What about her…?” Yuji questioned, “If you’ve heard… Any rumors about what kind of a person she is, I promise you, they’re wrong!”

“I haven’t heard much of anything about her, except that she arrived at the hospital in _very critical_ condition ten minutes ago. She’s probably dead now, and I know exactly who’s to blame. Seriously, Yuji…” He grit his teeth. “You really decided to value such a _doomed person_ over your own future?”

“You… Huh?”

“Don’t you ‘huh’ me! No matter who it was, girls like her never live for long! Somebody or another decides to get rid of them! You must be _really_ stupid to throw away everything on somebody you could never build a life with! Who you could never give your grandmother’s ring to! Instead of studying, you were getting attached to somebody who was only going to die!?”

“I don’t… I can’t believe… She’s not _dead_, I mean, she was just. It wasn’t like she was being killed. It wasn’t… What was…”

“Snap _out_ of it!” Sato shouted, and his backhand connected with Yuji’s cheek. In his daze, that force was enough to knock him over. On the hilly sidewalk, he rolled several feet before coming to rest, not bothering to move at all from there.

Yuji’s father had always put this kind of pressure on him, but he’d never physically harmed him before in his life. He hadn’t felt the need to until… now. Until his son’s personal life interfered in his plan for him, right? Because. Right. They were the same after all, weren’t they?

He and Hiyoko… Were pawns of their parents, who had been rebelling together the best that either of them could muster. Yet, he didn’t acknowledge his situation, and she didn’t acknowledge that she could ever escape from hers. Had they both thought- Both of them, ‘this is bad’ _and_ ‘I can get out of this’, then perhaps, they’d have understood each other. Please, Yuji thought to himself. Please, turn back the clock. Give me another chance. Let me try again. I promise, I promise.

I’ll see her heart and I’ll save her this time. I’ll understand her needs. I’ll see her, I promise I will, just give me the chance. Back before any of this happened. Or else, if she’s really dead, I’ll die right now and I’ll be with her there. Just let me say I’m sorry. Let me apologize. Let me be better.

He still didn’t know exactly what happened after that. When he woke up in his own hospital room, he was told that he’d been hit at a slow speed by a car on the hospital road when he was on his way to visit his dad at work. He was a bit beat up, but he’d be fine in the next few days. He would eventually remember the context, but at the time, he believed it. He was unaware that Hiyoko was recovering just a few floors away from him- and wouldn’t mention it, she was his secret girlfriend, after all. He had no recollection. It was as if his wish had been granted, but his own mind had been reversed as well, to before anything happened.

His father's lie of Hiyoko's death would never be exposed, because Yuji felt as if he hadn't been exposed, and didn't know of the lie anymore. Things were the same as ever, right? Except, it couldn't be cleared up. Because he couldn't see her.

For the next few months before the Killing Game started, he was forced to buckle down and study. No leaving the house, no using his phone. He wasn’t even allowed to tell people where he’d gone to, but Hiyoko would understand, right? He’d explain about his parents and his studying when he saw her again. But then, he didn’t see her again. He saw Ryota Nageko in the Killing Game and he tried to explain and Hiyoko asked him what he thought of her, really. He answered. He told her exactly. But he didn’t apologize because he didn’t remember.

And he didn’t see her heart, until he did remember. At the end, he did see Katsue. He saw Katsue, and he imagined that Tooru, who had robbed them of any chance at recovery… Was their other enemy as well. He satisfied his duty in that way. With the naginata he was provided, he finally broke through the barrier between himself and the one person he felt he could ever _truly_ love. For Katsue, he had learned to understand. If ever he were reincarnated, he hoped that he would remember the lesson. He throttled his regrets, and died the romantic hero he had always envisioned himself.


	233. Trial 3: Tooru Hanazaki's Monokuma Theater

Tooru Hanazaki called himself a hopeless romantic. This was what he thought of himself, but really, the type of romance that he found himself hopeless for was the manner of schlocky, mass-produced romance novels more than the general idea of what _was_ romantic in general. He wanted to have a whirlwind _torrid affair_ that happened to result in a committed relationship when all was said and done. Thus, it made sense for him, unfortunately, to fall madly and absurdly in love with just about anybody he slept with even once. It was something that he was working on, when he met Adachi Murimura. He was sixteen, and Adachi nineteen. Not an Ultimate, but through a string of lucky breaks he’d found himself acting staff manager at the museum where Tooru was currently working.

Well, technically, Adachi was there before Tooru- But he had become the manager only about a week before Tooru arrived. He was transferred from another museum because this one had a particularly large collection of backroom storage- Plenty of fossils and high-quality models, but nobody to actually put them together into exhibits. He was at first excited just about that factor- The excitement at the hot manager followed shortly after, but he _had_ enthusiastically accepted the transfer offer before he’d ever met Adachi. The man he’d go on to meet there was just a bonus.

He was attracted to him just about immediately, he was kind of exactly his type. Tooru would fall for just about any blonde man, if he was being completely honest. It was kind of uncanny, just how often he found himself attracted to blonde men outright, though there were other factors too. He liked guys who he could nerd out with, but he also liked when they were physically larger than him, be it height, muscles, or fat. He liked to feel small and cherished, could anyone judge him for that?

Well, eventually they would, when his desire for those things led to him committing a murder, but sure, it was normal at the time. It was perhaps, a little bit sketchy that his attraction to Adachi was fulfilled at all, with their ages in mind. It wasn’t like Tooru hadn’t made his feelings _abundantly clear_ by the day that Adachi dragged him into the employee bathroom to hook up for the first time; But then again, Adachi did make the first move. That was probably the first sign that Tooru’s feelings were going to be taken advantage of.

It wasn’t like Tooru was actually an outright foolish person. He was very lazy, and he fell in love hard and fast. Even still, he was intelligent, and he could be manipulative. The above traits, however, left him prone to manipulation himself. He was the sort of man who would be considered an ‘admin’ to the leader in an evil organization, silly as that comparison might sound. Through him, he could be manipulated into manipulating others.

Adachi, meanwhile, was the sort who manipulated others without recognizing the action. It wasn’t like he intended to use Tooru’s feelings toward him in any cruel way, but there was no denying the lack of alignment between their desires. Adachi wanted fun, Tooru wanted a boyfriend, but Adachi was willing to give lip service to Tooru’s ideas in service of his own and there wasn’t any communication there to figure these things out. Had Tooru ceased to be passive, had he asserted that he wanted something more real-

Adachi was the type of guy who’d at least give it a shot, to better himself and actually attempt that relationship. As it was, he was under the impression that this was just a prolonged fling, and as a result, he was unintentionally callous towards his boyfriend. He was trying- He just didn’t have the tools to know what he was actually trying to do, and over time, it wore Tooru down. He could tell there was a disconnect in goals between them, but not to the extent that he’d address it.

As far as Tooru was concerned, he couldn’t turn down anything Adachi asked of him, because he was in love and he didn’t want to lose his boyfriend. As far as Adachi thought, he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He didn’t expect it at all, when Tooru finally decided to break things off with him because he’d been a ‘selfish lover’ and ‘refused to commit properly’. He was utterly baffled- Until the Killing Game, when he was able to talk to Tooru over the monitor.

Like before, Adachi didn’t _try_ to influence Tooru’s actions at all. Really, he just proved his willingness to be better ‘when you get out of there’. Even so, it didn’t surprise him to see, days later when it was broadcast, that Tooru had addended that with ‘so kill somebody and get back here quicker’. Not surprised, not shocked, but also not put off by it. He’d come to terms with Tooru’s actual possessive nature when they spoke, so it only made sense that this would happen.

If that kid Homura was right, and somehow these deaths were impermanent, then Adachi would still gladly get back together with Tooru. Despite everything, well, maybe it made him a bad person- but he knew what kind of person _Tooru_ was, and he was okay with it. He knew how his words could have come across as encouraging murder. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time he said something in passing that Tooru took too far, though it never went badly for Adachi _himself_, so what did he care, really?

He was selfish, and it was up to the people around him if they wanted to indulge in his selfishness with him. Really, if anything, this just made him want Tooru back more. That guy was really willing to do anything… As long as he could get legitimate affection in return. If Tooru asked- Adachi, would you kill for me, like I did for you? He very well might answer that he would. With that in mind… They were matched well for each other.

Adachi was spending his time in this lockdown in the museum. There were a few guests inside at the time the failsafes activated. Normally, Adachi would have gotten antsy and started looking to connect with somebody here; He wasn’t a passive person, and he tended to go after what he wanted. Yet, only Tooru was in his mind since their call.

So, when it came down to it? Even if Tooru was dead, he’d accomplished his only goal. He got Adachi Murimura to commit to him.

And any other harm that the two of them had done, well.

That was another matter entirely.


	234. The End Of The Killing Game

Katsue Nageko wasn’t doing well, sitting on the floor holding herself still. There were so many tears streaking her face that somehow, Yosuke’s own were cowed into submission- His face stayed dry as he stepped away from his podium to approach, to try and comfort her somehow. He lost four friends with this trial, so he was sure that would hit him later- but Katsue, she’d been convinced she had killed one of her _best_ friends. She’d been physically attacked in a way not unlike she’d been in the past. And, just when her boyfriend seemed to finally intend to stand at her side through anything, he was executed.

This concern everybody felt for Katsue was convenient for two particular participants, though. While all of the others were checking in that she was okay, Homura and Saya took the first elevator up- Yosuke noticed when he heard the doors start to close, and turned just in time to see their faces. Homura was sticking his tongue out, while Saya just gave an apologetic smile. 

“Hey, what’s that about!?” Shin called after them, having seemingly noticed as well.

“They don’t want to talk,” Yume explained on behalf of the departees. “Saya doesn’t wanna say shit about what actually happened between her and Hanazaki. Shinku doesn’t wanna explain what he was doing living in the house of a famous programmer. So they bailed on the first elevator run before we could catch ‘em.”

“Now that Yuji mentioned it… I do think I saw Shinku around the island from time to time.” Katsue clasped her hands to her chest and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to feel right now. I. I’m more okay than I… should be.”

“There’s no ‘should be’ when it comes to grief,” Syoko assured her, “You grieve the amount that’s right for you.”

“It’s out of order…” Katsue noted, “It’s not in the right order. I was panicked and terrified and miserable. Me and Yuji, we both… Cried most of the night. I thought I was going to die too. And now I just. I feel like, the way he went out. Fighting for me. He… Nobody in the world could understand me, and then he finally did. So part of me just feels happy that in the end he figured it out. Like I. I don’t know how to feel. I think it’s better, isn’t it? If we just keep. Going.”

“What?” Shin asked.

“Eventually the Alternate Objective will begin. That’s the goal, isn’t it? It’s what Ayano was willing to die for. It was why we were going to die… to get the numbers right.” She wrapped her arms tighter around herself, trembling under her own grasp. “If there needs to be… If there’s still more people who need to die before that can happen, please, let the point stand. As long as it isn’t… As long as I’m not beaten to death, I don’t care about my own life.”

“Are you seriously saying right now that your life has no meaning because your boyfriend died?” Syoko asked, “It isn’t like he was that great to begin with…”

“You don’t know us.” Katsue lifted her head to glare at Syoko through teary eyes. “You have no right to say that he wasn’t good. I’m the one who wasn’t good, he just didn’t know how to handle that, you can’t blame him. He was trying. But, you know, that’s not it. My life has no meaning because if I get out of here… The only place I have to go is back to Karine or back to Kenta. At this point. I’d much rather die than ever see either of them again.”

“Let’s just… Get some rest,” Shin offered, “All of us. It’s still early, but at least we can try to relax and recover from the morning we’ve had.”

\--

As with last time, upon arriving back to the dorm lobby, it was evident that the dorms themselves were off-limits until the evening actually set in. Nobody spoke in the ride up, and scattered within moments of the doors opening. Katsue didn’t go anywhere at first. Syoko stayed back in the elevator to talk to her, and Yosuke listened in from just outside the doors. “Katsue you’re… You’ll be alright, won’t you?”

“What do you care? It isn’t like there’s any _satisfied man_ to bring me harm now,” She snipped, “What right do you have to say something like that to me? You of all people? What. Does passing so fucking flawlessly make you the arbiter of who’s really a girl and who’s not?”

“I just. No, obviously, I don’t think that! It was a stupid thing to say, I mean. I thought it was obvious from the beginning that you were a girl.” She held a hand to her chest. “But I… I see you, and I want to protect you. Like. Ugh, you’re older than me, so maybe that doesn’t make sense. Still it was just. I wanted to make sure that you were safe, that nobody was making you be somebody you’re not!”

“That kind of conjecture about me and my life and my relationships. Who do you think you are? I’ll have you know. My life was perfect before I came out, if I could have been ‘Ryota’. All of my problems started after. Nobody pressured me to be who I am. Me being me, that came first. And I don’t appreciate that you think that’s the kind of thing you can _theorize_ about people’s lives!”

“But I-” Syoko reached for Katsue’s shoulders, only to have her hands knocked away.

“I don’t care! If you really thought that kind of thing, that I was being abused into being who I am, saying that kind of thing in front of people… You should have talked to me alone and I would have set the record straight. I’ve had to try really hard to still be me in the face of everything that’s happened and it doesn’t help to have you say something like I can’t handle myself enough to know who I am.”

“I thought Yuji had done something really horrible to you. I just…”

“I know that you mean well. You don’t need to _convince_ me that you mean well and that you were only looking out for me. You still said something really awful and jumped to way too many conclusions just because you wanted to believe that I was some helpless victim. You convinced yourself without ever talking to me that my boyfriend was just like some sleazeball who wanted me to be a girl for his fetish. It was both of our faults. We both made mistakes in our relationship. But me, being who I am, was never going to be a mistake.”

“Okay.” Syoko took a step back. “So you don’t have to forgive me for what I said. But I care for you anyway. So I need you to promise me that you’re not going to hurt yourself.”

“...I don’t intend on making this a longer day. If I were to enter martyrdom, it would wait until the morning. So don’t waste sympathy on me till then. I’m sure there are other people whose lives you need to imagine stupid scenarios about.”

Yosuke would have stuck around longer, would have talked to Syoko perhaps, but he had a curiosity that he wanted to fulfill himself. He had thought of it when they were in Ayano’s room, and it had actually stuck around in the back of his mind since then. There had been something missing, and he wanted to find out if it still existed. The card for Itadai, which Shin had confirmed for Yosuke _did_ exist at one point, had not been in the dorm room. So Yosuke made his way up to Ayano’s lab.

At the doorway, his breath hitched in his throat, looking around at the rabbit decorations. Ayano’s pet… Haru, wouldn’t know where she’d gone or why she never came back. He pressed a hand to his mouth, trying to push his feelings back down, but he’d never been good at that and there was nobody around now, nothing to keep his brain from seeing it as an acceptable time to start his usual bawling.

Through blurry eyes, he approached her desk, and there he saw it. Itadai’s blood bag was pushed towards the back of the desk, like Ayano had used it for proof of concept. And the card with his name, well. His name… Right there…

How had she found it out? If Ayano knew that name, it meant somebody else here did. It meant this whole time, there was one person who _had_ learned Itadai’s first name. Because, right there in front of him- Clear as day but for his own obscured vision, most certainly written and real.

_Renji Itadai._

Yosuke took a deep breath, and stepped away from the desk. Somebody knew that name, and kept it secret this long? Only told Ayano recently, probably yesterday? Renji obviously wanted people to know his name, so if somebody knew it, they should have shared it sooner. He clenched a fist, then unclenched it and walked out of the room. He couldn’t still be in there. This was all too much at once and he just needed to stop thinking. Stop. He wasn’t able to go and sleep, though. That wasn’t permitted. What was he going to do, then?

Right, he could go take a bath. That might take his mind off of things. For once, he didn’t think exercising would actually help. It was too familiar to him. It got his emotions out, but he’d be stuck thinking about too many other things and right now, he just didn’t want to. He wanted to _calm down_ and he wanted some outside sensation to focus on and he was pretty sure that warm water was a better outside sensation than the alternative. He left the lab building and walked over to the baths.

Yet, something odd happened when he reached that building. He was in the lobby, about to walk into one of the changing rooms, when he heard a loud noise- Not completely dissimilar to a crack of thunder, but somehow wrong. He grimaced, the sound sent a shudder through him. He reached for the doorknob anyway, but he wouldn’t reach it.

To his left, there was a completely different cracking noise, wood and screen splintering. He turned to look, and was swallowed up in an instant by a rush of water twice as tall as him, a veritable wall that was already as tall as the ceiling. He squeezed his eyes shut against the faint aloe feeling at first, but had to open them up to the burning sensation in moments when the water didn’t naturally subside. He tried to look around for some way out, but there was water everywhere he could see. The doors… Wouldn’t open. He managed to swim over and try them both, he had that kind of stamina, but it didn’t serve him any good.

Huh.

Why did something like _this_ happen?

A random act of God, in the midst of a Killing Game?

So…

_So this is how it feels to die._


	235. Love Is Blind Chapter END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though this is a chapter endcap where I usually take hiatus, there's content under it anyway because I realized a certain conversation needed to happen but didn't fit into the story's regular timeline.

\----

Rei approached the couch that Renji was sitting on, from behind, and placed their hands against it. “Hey. Renji.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re almost done with your memory therapy, right?” They asked. He nodded. “So you know… Who you are. And what kind of things you’ve done and said. I know it too, I saw it. I guess I just have to ask, what do you really think of me?”

“You’re a brat. An annoying kid. But, you’re also my friend,” Renji said.

“You know that’s not what I’m asking. Do you. Renji, do you acknowledge my existence?”

“Of course I do.” He turned to look at them, and offered a sheepish grin. “Come on, I didn’t even acknowledge my own existence at that time…”

“Would you?” They pressed. “Would you still see me for who I am if I was a human? If I had an assigned gender? Do you think I’m real, Renji? I need you to tell me the truth.”

“I said those things… Because of what I’d been taught. Men are the worst, I always heard. So cis men were disgusting. Trans women were enlightened. Trans men couldn’t exist, because men are awful and nobody born a woman could ever become awful enough to be a man. Nonbinary people… Didn’t fit into the view of the world that I was raised with, so I figured they were all just women in some kind of denial. Because if somebody who wasn’t either… Wasn’t the ‘good’ gender or the ‘bad’ gender, could exist, then I’d stop believing all of it.” He poked their nose. “And you know it wasn’t safe for me to stop believing it.”

“Yeah. I may be a kid, but I know all about the terrible things that happened to you.” They stuck their tongue out at him. “I knew already, but I got Speak to explain it better, cause I didn’t really get it, some of it. That place you were sent, sounds kinda like somethin’ from Dome City. But in Dome City, it’s just if you do bad stuff, then they mess with your brain directly, rip. They don’t act like hurting you can actually change your brain. They just change it. I’m lucky I never had to go there. It’s bad all in its own way.”

“Ehh, well. Look at the way I was acting, dumbass. Hurting me _did_ change my brain.”

“Mm… Not for too long though. You got it back now. Hey, that’s not gonna happen to you again, is it? I know if people in Dome City fixed their brains back to how they were before… It’d just get messed with again. It’s scary. That’s why Mom and Mama wanted me and Onii-san to both leave, when we got the chance. He did go, but I stayed, cause I wanted to find a way to help the others. The ones who got their brains messed with cause they did bad things, kek. I really am a brat if I wanna help people like that, aren’t I? But a tsundere too. I told them I don’t care if they live or die, but really, I want them to understand again… Their biggest mistakes. And grow from them.”

“It… I don’t know if it’ll happen to me again,” Renji admitted, “I hope that Speak won’t let it. They told me that if my mom tried to come for me, they’d protect me from her. But despite it all, I… Part of me still wants to excuse her actions. I did end up a pretty rotten guy in the end. She was technically right.”

“Pbbbth.” Rei blew a raspberry, getting spit all over Renji’s cheek. “The most gross thing about you is saying stuff like that. Like, that’s still a harmful mindset. You know that, right? It’s not better? It’s important to me that you know that.”

“I’m _trying_.” Renji rolled his eyes. “It’s not like anyone just does a complete one-eighty on deeply ingrained beliefs. It's like, built in, and I have to pick it out."

"Uh-huh, yeah, but there's people who grow up being told bad things and never internalize any of that shit…"

"Those people are strong. I am a pathetic wimp, remember?"

"You sure are. But that's not because you're a guy, it's just cause you're Renji, nyah. You're barely even a person right now. But at least you got me, right? You really are my friend… Right?"

"Of course, but if I'm that terrible, why does it matter to you so much if I acknowledge you?”

“Just cause I'm a total weirdo doesn't mean that I don't get insecure too. Like maybe you're thinking that I'm a girl or a boy after all and if you're thinking that stuff then you really don't get me at all, so on and so forth, and we aren't friends and I'm alone and I can't help you.”

“Of all nonbinary people to meet while I’m trying to unlearn harmful ideas about gender, I’m pretty sure you’re the one that I could _least_ even think of a gender to consider you. You’re just a kid to me, and that’s it. I doubt I could even settle on something to call you if I was still ‘Kagome’. Who knows. Maybe if you were there from the start, I could have figured things out in a… Less violent way.”

“It’s almost time for you to start waking up the others, isn’t it? What do you think you’ll say to him, nyah?”

“I don’t know. ‘Sorry’ isn’t nearly enough, right?”

“I’unno. He prob wants to apologize to you, too.” Rei shrugged. “And maybe he finds the fact that you murdered him hot, you know, that dude seems like a total freak who’d be into it.”

“Rei.” Renji covered his face with his hands. “You’re insufferable.”

“Thanks! I try my best.”


	236. Stage One: Pretty Maids All In A Row

  
  
  
  



	237. Stage One, Day 1: Told You So

"...Hey. Come on. Wake up already." Homura's voice woke him up. Woke him up?

He thought that he'd… He opened his eyes and looked up to see that Homura was, right there, looking down at him. Looking the same as ever, but for a necklace that looked oddly familiar. A chunky, plasticky-looking ‘X’.

"Good. I fucking told you so." Homura reached down and grabbed Yosuke by the shoulders, pulling him up to a sitting position. He didn't resist at all, and once he was sitting, Homura tapped at what turned out to be an identical necklace hanging from Yosuke's own neck and it… tugged at his skin. It was attached to him? "This is what I was telling you about before. This is an X-Key. So whatever you want to think about Luciora in general, it _does_ exist."

"What is… Going on here?" Yosuke questioned, bringing a hand up to rub at his eye. "I thought I… Didn't I drown in the bathhouse? It suddenly flooded, and…"

"Sure," Homura said, "You died. So did I! But, that's because… We've finally reached it. Our alternate objective."

“Not to sound like a broken record, but again. What?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Ah, well, maybe not for you. You never even believed me at all, so you wouldn’t come to the same conclusion. Let me spell it right out, okay? These necklaces are the devices I was telling you about. The ones that work with luciora to reconstitute dead people. So my theory that luciora would work with the NWP, that you decried because it would need to be programmed on purpose? Looks like it was programmed on purpose, after all. And it’s eight. Eight of us are necessary for this.”

“Why eight?” Yosuke asked.

“I don’t know,” Homura said, “I mean, what do you take me for? I don’t know _everything_. If I had to hazard a guess, it should have been seven, and it should have been different people than the eight of us who’ve made it here, so. That’s the extent of it for me, but you see? See? I was right about Luciora. Admit that much, right? The X-keys are proof. Luciora is real and it just brought us back to life.”

“Or you’ve been working with Mercury Mars this entire fucking time, she told you about her plan to do this, and you’re just fucking with me by acting like you somehow predicted the stuff that’s about to be confirmed as true.” Yosuke got himself to his feet now. “Not that I’m _accusing_ you. I don’t want to distrust you, and it doesn’t _seem_ like you’ve actually got anything to do with this shit. But I’m not just going to roll over and accept whatever bullshit you say just because you say it.”

“It’s been that way from the start, huh? Nobody believes me…” Homura shrugged. “I don’t even have it in me to give a shit right now, though. I’m vindicated no matter what you think about it!”

“What did we not believe you on… At the start?”

“Well, it was justified. I _was_ lying,” Homura said, “When I announced that my talent was True Ultimate Despair! That was a dumb joke I hoped to pull over on you guys, but it got shut down pretty quick, heh. But then, they can’t all land! I am, after all, the Ultimate Wildcard.”

“You are… Huh. Actually, I _do_ believe you on that, that checks out. So that’s been your real talent this whole time. Why didn’t you ever mention it?”

“Didn’t feel like it.” Homura started to walk away, and Yosuke stumbled over his own feet trying to follow. “It doesn’t matter now, though. Cause, I’m pretty sure I used up everything my talent had to offer! You never expected me to be telling the truth about luciora, but I was. I can do anything if somebody doesn’t expect it from me, but this… This is just too much! So I can’t rely on my talent anymore, go ahead. Expect the world of me, and maybe now, I’ll fucking do it anyway!”

“You’re awful giddy for somebody who claims to have just experienced death. I can’t say I’m feeling so hunky-dory having drowned just now-”

“Drowning’s pretty fucked up, I’ll give you that. I got to die a whole lot nicer this time!” Homura laughed. “By comparison. Plus, well. I did have that before. Drowning and all. Damn, sorry you had to deal with that, though… Though of the people here, maybe you do deserve that option over certain others.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Homura?”

“If I’m right, then Mercury wants us _all_ to have our deepest mistakes exposed to the world. The kind of thing you saw in Itadai’s and Ruka’s executions, that’s in store for all of us, and worse. So, it’ll be out here eventually. You don’t _wanna_ hear it from me.” Homura threw his arms out to his sides. “This is it! It’s the end of the line. Punishment or redemption, I dunno what awaits us, but there’s something on the other side now. Better this than before, right? It’s different. The uncertainty’s gone.”

“No! I’m still pretty fucking uncertain, dude!”

“If you believed me-”

“Even if I believed what you’re saying, you haven’t given me anywhere near enough information for me to actually have any idea of _what_ this entails, so, no. If I believed you, I’d still be uncertain! Your experiences are not universal!”

“...Oh, huh. Guess so. Well, I know things! I don’t claim to be a good teacher of the things that I know! Besides. I’m still not even a hundred on what things you already know. Hard to explain when I don’t even know what baseline I’m going from.”

“The baseline is that I don’t know a damn thing, man. Not a one.”

“Is that really true?” Homura asked, and tilted his head to one side. “_Boy_. You just drowned, and woke back up. I told you I was right about something you vehemently denied I could be correct about. This is all real confusing, but look, you’re not even crying. Cause I think, even if you don’t realize it… You actually already understand.”

“What, like…”

“Well, but what do I know?” Homura cut him off with a laugh. “Come on, come on. We gotta find the others. Bet some of them’ll be real shaken up, more than you or I. We’re tough young men after all.”


	238. Stage One, Day 1: Syoko's Relief

It was now, that Yosuke actually took a real look around at the island. It was the same island it had ever been, through the Killing Game… When it came to the geography, anyhow. Yosuke slowed down as they actually approached the various buildings, to see what had changed; And there was quite a bit of it which had.

The greenhouse was, surprisingly, fine. All of the standalone buildings were completely intact for that matter, though the outer paint jobs looked worse for wear. The structures were standing tall. The same didn’t exactly hold true for the main building or for the lab building, which were both particularly decimated. Yosuke could tell even just as they approached.

The main building had many of its walls torn away, as well as portions of the ceiling. The connecting hallways were absent altogether but for scraps of tile left behind in the sand. The dining hall had its tables and chairs, and it looked as if the kitchen area was still enclosed with a door. Some of the walls remained for the dining hall, and the ceiling extended a bit from the kitchen corner. The lobby of the dorms was exposed, but the individual rooms were fine. The gift shop had one wall torn away, and was otherwise standing.

The lab building was nothing quite as specific as that- Rather, the labs which belonged to people who had died seemed to have been completely destroyed, while the core of the building and labs of those who were still… Alive? Were visibly fine. Yosuke thought it a little odd to refer to themselves as ‘alive’ when he definitely had died, but there was a difference between somebody who had died in the Killing Game and somebody who had survived that much only to experience this death-like incident. Most obvious among the buildings was the destruction of Jun’s lab, as Yosuke saw bits of glass from its ceiling scattered around the sand fairly liberally across the island. Good thing everybody had shoes.

That was about it for what Yosuke was able to observe, at least from a distance, as he and Homura drew closer to the ruins of what had once been the Killing Game grounds. The island had never been this large before, taking so long to get from any one beach back to the buildings- It was as if the tide had retreated nearly a tenth of a mile from where it had been before, and on sand, that absolutely made a difference in walking speed. Upon drawing a bit closer, Yosuke noticed something a bit odd in the dining area- Something new. To the left of the buffet tables were two things that certainly hadn’t been there before.

One was an old-fashioned CRT monitor that was, maybe not to the left but on the left edge of a table. The other was not on any table, and was more like an arcade cabinet, though it had something strange sticking out of its side that resembled a bed, but there was something off about it. Yosuke couldn’t put his finger on what that was.

Moments later, something else caught Yosuke’s attention- Caught it by force, because that something else was Syoko colliding with his side and wrapping him up in a hug that could only be compared to that of a boa constrictor. “Oh my _God_ Yosuke you’re _okay_! We were all so worried about you!”

“All? So. Uh. The rest of the survivors are around?” Yosuke asked.

“Shinku didn’t tell you?” Syoko pulled back, keeping her hands on his arms, and tilted her head in her confusion. “He went out specifically looking for you after we waited an hour with no sign of you… I decided to stick around here, but the others are over in the lab building. They’re checking out what still works, and all. The gift shop is missing a ton of shit that it used to have. God, I was so… I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Uh, huh. No, he just told me that he knew this was going to happen. Nothing about you guys already being up and at ‘em.”

“Look, I would’ve gotten to it eventually. But I had to get through the told-you-sos first.” Homura put his hands behind his head. “Cause, I did tell you so. Can’t deny that. But, yep, everyone was waiting for you and I volunteered to go find out. I guess you turned up on the beach because you drowned? But it’s weird. Everyone else just woke up the same place they’d died.”

“Yeah… Wait.” Yosuke pushed away from Syoko to approach the bathhouse- He’d missed it from the other direction, but when he looked again, one of the walls was gone. “I think I got… Washed out to sea?”

“That checks out,” Syoko said, “It really looks like a hurricane hit the place, doesn’t it? When the others get back, we can, uh. Debrief, I guess? Compare our experiences and see if we can’t figure out what exactly is going on.”

“I agree,” Homura said, “Just cause I’m pretty sure I know how this happened doesn’t mean I know why, or what we’re expected to do now.”

“Yeah…” Syoko sighed and sat down in one of the chairs, holding a hand to her forehead. “I really was just so worried, you know. I… I was already feeling scared and hurt, from my own experience, from everything changing. And you, Yosuke. I told you, right? I need to keep you safe, or I can’t call myself Syoko Saihara. So when you didn’t show up along with everyone else…”

“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” Yosuke said, “But, I guess something as sudden and out of nowhere as… Drowning in a flood of the bathhouse, that’s not the kind of thing you could have any chance at protecting me from! So, I’d say you probably oughta cut yourself some slack on this one.”

“Mhm!” Homura agreed, “I mean, you weren’t even there. I bet that if somebody was actually drowning in front of you, you’d totally be able to pull off some clutch rescue. Knowing you, you’re lifeguard certified, yeah?”

“Um! Well. Yes, I am,” Syoko said, “What, was I supposed to _not_ take the three week course that verifies me in life-saving? I never really put it in to practice, but…”

“But you could, if you were motivated to. If there was somebody you wanted to save,” Homura said, “I think that’s pretty cool of you. Pretty admirable. Though, it’s not like saving people matters now! After all. As long as one of us is still alive, we should be able to be brought back, using these X-keys here. Then again. Our lives might be about to become a whole lot more dangerous, don’t you think?”


	239. Stage One, Day 1: Everybody Gets Die

“A lot more dangerous?” Yosuke asked.

“Well, experience-wise. If not consequence-wise,” Homura said, “The Killing Game obviously can’t continue when we’re just clones who can come back. Killing each other doesn’t check out. So we’re gonna get a different objective, and I bet it’s gonna be a perilous one!”

“Oh, you must be exaggerating,” Saya said, walking up to join the others. Trailing behind her, everyone else was converging by the mysterious arcade machine, seeming quite relieved that Yosuke had turned up alive. “Perilous, good grief. That’s so dramatic!”

“How can you call me dramatic when you joined me in escaping the courtroom?” Homura put his hands on his hips and leaned toward the approaching group. “I’ll bet you all the money to my name that I’m right.”

“I imagine that is… zero money?” Saya asked.

“Sure is.”

“I’ll take that bet, as I also have zero money to my own name.”

“Whatever sorta peril might be throwin’ out our way, know we can take it!” Irarako punched her own palm. “Specially what with these X-keys on our side! Though can’t much say fondness what for the way of showin’ off what they can do to us or nothin’.”

“Me neither,” Syoko agreed, “Did we really need to die right off the bat, to show that we’d be able to resurrect? And where did these even come from in the first place? I’m sure they weren’t attached to us right _when_ we all died. I was right here in the dining hall myself. Just eating a snack, then I fell over. I suppose it was poison.”

“The bathhouse suddenly flooded,” Yosuke said, “Like I said before.”

“Unpleasant! Well, whoever caused these things to happen to us,” Homura said, “It probably wasn’t Mercury, cause she woulda just killed us all with those tentacles. Somebody messed with the Neo World to simultaneously murder all of us. Since it _is_ Neo World, that’s probably how our data got backed up onto the keys before we all got killed. Speaking of, chunk of building fell on my head. I barely felt it.”

“Lucky bastard. I was outside and a bunch of the shards from Jun’s fuckin’ lab ceiling fell on me.” Yume crossed her arms. “That hurt like _shit_.”

“Awwe, honey. Need me to kiss it better?” Saya asked, “As for me, well. I was in Hanazaki’s lab, and the holograms all suddenly cycled without me touching them. I was too close I guess, next thing I knew, mammoth tusk.”

“So you died similarly to Ayano…” Katsue observed, “That should have been my cross to bear, shouldn’t it?”

“How was it that you _did_ end up dead?” Shin questioned, “I know that you promised you wouldn’t harm yourself at least until morning, so I sincerely hope you kept your word on that matter. As for me, a machine in the workshop malfunctioned and sent a piece of material through my eyepatch. I already have no vision in that eye, but I suppose it had enough force to injure my brain as well.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Katsue insisted, taking a step forward. “I was in Yuji’s lab when everything started falling apart. Since all of the labs belonging to the dead were destroyed… The winds tossed me against the wall for the hallway and I couldn’t breathe. It was pretty quick. Um… That just leaves you, Ebizakaya.”

“Eheh. Kinda embarrassin’, mine. Tripped ‘n fell ‘n there’s my sword?” She scratched at the back of her head. “Why’re we talkin’ bout own deaths so cazh?”

“Because we’re still standing here,” Syoko said, “And therefore it doesn’t feel real.”

“Feels plenty goddamn real to me,” Yume said, “But then again, mine was pretty painful. I guess if you died really quick… I just, well. I’ve dealt with worse before without dying, so even though this technically killed me, it’s more like a real bad injury that healed stupid fast. Hard to conceptualize this stuff.”

“The point still stands. We have, each of us, experienced death. We are aware of this. Then, we woke up, with these things attached to our necks,” Katsue said, “And the island in shambles.”

“Yup. Now, when it comes to X-Keys,” Homura chimed in, “Usually, they are stored as some kind of jewelry. Bracelets or necklaces. When I was involved, it was a necklace, so it seems like they went for that for familiarity… Usually they aren’t, uh. Physically attached like this? It has to be on your person to keep backing up data, but you’re able to leave it somewhere safe in between. The fact that they’re attached to our bodies is what makes me think that whatever we’re told to do next will be perilous. Gotta still put our actual selves in danger.”

“That sounds horrifying, thanks,” Shin said, crossing his arms. “Well. Shouldn’t somebody tell us what’s going on here? Monokuma?”

Nobody came.

“It isn’t the Killing Game anymore…” Yosuke realized, “So she won’t come when we call her. The rules were set for that part of the game, but this is something different now… But. Yeah. Somebody should fucking explain it to us. Shinku?”

“Just because I know about X-Keys doesn’t mean I get what’s happening here!” He threw his hands up. “Killing Games happened fifty-four times before ours. Plenty to study there. X-Keys are pretty recent technology that I just happened to use before coming here, so, uh. Any kind of death game predicated on using them? Brand new, baby. It’d almost be exciting, if it wasn’t our likely pain and suffering on the line.”

“Likely. Can’t we just get a straight fucken’ answer on if it really is likely or what? I mean. All of us simultaneously dying in a hurricane that destroyed most of the island we’ve been inhabiting for the longest week in a half of our lives to date,” Yume complained, “Pretty obvious we’re gonna be put through some fresh hell, but to what end? Seems like a whole crock of fresh pig shit that we haven’t already been-”

And, on cue, the old-style CRT monitor sitting on the table flared to life. A logo flashed, before giving way to the image of two people standing there. One exuberant woman, and one unenthusiastic man. Everybody turned to watch as their new moderators were introduced to them.


	240. Stage One, Day 1: Extend TV Pilot

“Hey, kids!” Eva greeted them, then turned and pouted in Ris’s direction. “Ppbth. You were supposed to say it _with_ me, you know.”

“...Welcome to Extend TV,” Ris mumbled, “Where the world is dying and nothing matters, so I don’t care about inane things like speaking in unison.”

“O_si_ris!” The camera focused on Eva as she stomped her foot. “You’re jumping the gun, you know! We need to set the scene first, introduce ourselves! What’s the point of being on television if you’re just going to tell them something they could have learned in a quick phone call?”

“Bad news always sounds better coming from a pretty face.”

“Oh! You old pervert~”

“You’re not that much younger than me, and when it comes to perversion, we all know who wins out. Besides, the pretty face I was referring to was my own.” Osiris turned to stare into the camera.

“Come on! You’re telling me you don’t just wanna wrap your claws around some sweet, supple, girlflesh?”

“Good grief. You sound like my ex-husband.”

“Kahaha!” Eva gave an exaggerated laugh, then winked at the camera. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Evangeline Carrol!! You can call me Eva. And this is Osiris Massou, or Ris! Eva and Ris, your illustrious hosts! Here on Extend TV, we’re going to guide you through this brave, new, shambles of a world!”

“Shambles is a bit of an overstatement, don’t you think? That makes it sound as if there’s no coming back from the tragedy which has befallen humanity.” It zoomed in on Ris’s despondent face. “We could only be so lucky. As it is, it seems that there’s still some way out of this.”

“There’s a super cool surprise waiting for you if you succeed, and that’s to save the world! It’s what every kid dreams of!” Eva puffed out her cheeks. “Awe, well, maybe not you kids, huh? You’re thinking right now, ‘Fuck! Why you gotta put that responsibility all on me?’ but the answer is obvious, isn’t it? We’re holding you responsible because all your folks _ignored_ that responsibility when they were your age. And now they’re all experiencing back pain and joint inflammation! So they can’t be expected to step up _now_!”

“They’re the same age as you, Eva, it’s not like they’re ancient,” Ris chided her, “Actually, it can be argued that the previous generation has already been stewing in regret too long. They may not see a reason to keep fighting anymore. By hurting you instead, revenge can be properly delivered…”

“Doesn’t Mister Revenge need his liver? That drinking problem’s not gonna process itself!”

“That’s insensitive to say. After all.” Ris sipped a cup of tea that had materialized in his hand. “Shirogane never did get to actually enact revenge against any of those who wronged him. Nor did anybody wronged by him get to take their revenge, for that matter…”

“Snuffed out in a senseless act of violence! The tragic life of a man so utterly normie that he was still an average dude, even before his human rights were violated again and again and again, pounding him into the shape of an upstanding young man who would never dream of… taking an older woman’s maidenhood down his throat.” Eva pressed both hands to her face dramatically. “Oh, the horror! But.” Back to her usual chipper position. “It isn’t as if _that_ shlub matters anymore. We’ve just got the eight of you here.”

“That shlub will never meet me. That’s the only tragedy of his death. It almost makes me cry, thinking of how many people will perish in the outside world without ever being graced with my presence. A small price to pay, though not insignificant.”

“Aw, Ris! It’s so cute when you think you have enough self-esteem to say those stupid things! Kahaha! Isn’t it a blessing that so many people get to die without ever meeting you?”

“My personality may be atrocious, but everybody deserves to see my face at least once in their lifetime. That’s the real human rights violation here.”

“We keep saying that phrase, but isn’t like anybody we’re talking about is actually a human...Our pal Shlub Revenge was a Replicant, and these kids are clones!”

“Human-form replicant, and human clones. The word human is there for a reason, you know.” Ris adjusted his glasses. “Unlike gamers, they have rights. Though, aren’t you the one who’s going too fast this time? I believe we need to explain their current nature.”

“Huuuuh? Don’t tell me you missed it, they already figured that out on their own! A horse by any other name smells just as much like horse ass, yknow. If they get they died and came back, and the X-keys are responsible, what else is there to say except that means they’re technically clones? Although…” A grin split across Eva’s face. “If we’re going to be serious here, they’re technically _avatars_ still. Not like that matters much. It just means we can tap into the power of the cloning technology way stronger than we could in reality, and give you a real challenge too! This is a super-special Neo World developed by yours truly!”

“Super special. Adjective.” Osiris raised a finger. “Evangeline’s way of saying that this being a Neo World is only for certain bits of convenience that would be difficult to accomplish otherwise. For example, providing you with memories of things which occur while you are reduced to an X-Key. Your actions here will still directly impact the real world. That is… If you choose to take any action at all.”

“Pbth, yeah.” Eva blew a raspberry and crossed her arms. “We’re not gonna force you or anything, we’re giving you a choice! You can live happily on this island forever if you like. You don’t have to do anything. You’ll be able to feed yourselves without ever completing a mission… You might not be the most comfortable, but there’s nothing saying you can’t just give up and sit here. Of course, that’s the thing. No world ever got saved by just fucking off with your friends to enjoy yourselves!”

“We’re giving you the option to play with us. Here, with your interests and ours on the line. And the world as our gamble…” Osiris smiled for the first time since the broadcast began. “I formally challenge you, to try and beat us in the **Zero Sum Game**.”


	241. Stage One, Day 1: My Win is Your Loss

The television made a noise, and changed to static. It didn’t turn all the way off, and when Syoko reached out to poke at the power button, nothing happened.

“The Zero Sum Game, huh?” Homura pressed a finger to his chin. “That’s an interesting title, isn’t it? Zero Sum, that’s a situation in which only one party is able to win. A win for one party involved in the game is a total loss for the other. That is to say, in this game… If we choose to accept it, with the world as the gamble. Our opponents want the apocalypse to continue, for the world to be completely destroyed.”

“So our win is to save the world, and our loss is if it’s destroyed. And it’s the reverse for them,” Yosuke noted, “There’s no overlap there. No possible situation in which we both get some portion of benefit.”

“Yeah. Either we win, or Eva wins.” Saya laughed a bit. “That’s not surprising. She gets what she wants, you know? She won’t compromise. So she’ll get this, what she wants. The end of the world. Or we’ll get what we want, which is for that not to happen, I guess.”

“You _guess_?” Shin questioned, “Wow. Despite all of my own hatred for the world, I can’t say I’d be okay with it ending. Even if we could just sit around and be happy here, that’s condemning far too many innocent people.”

“Well, I do want to participate.” Saya pressed her hands together. “I simply meant that the fate of the world doesn’t hold so much stake to me. Even so, I have absolutely no reason not to fight for it anyhow. If anything, the value in this for me is the potential of making Eva lose.”

“You’ve met her before?” Katsue asked.

“Certainly so. I mean, she was Mercury’s girlfriend for quite a lot of my life. It’s unsurprising that she would end up being involved in this.”

“I see.” Katsue looked away. “The way they said it… I’m not sure our reward is _just_ saving the world. That isn’t really enough for people like us, if they’re claiming that would be our ‘absolute win’. If we agree to do it, they might tell us what the real reward is. I have no love for this world, but I don’t value my own life nearly enough to just settle down here.”

“I value my life perfectly well!” Syoko raised a finger. “And all of yours, too, but we can’t be selfish like that! If our options are to live our own lives happily in a false world, or to do something to help the world at large, then it’s obvious which one we should take.”

“I’m not totally sure it’s obvious, I mean. After everything that’s happened, nobody would _blame_ us for being selfish,” Yosuke said.

“Sure. But selfishly deciding to value only their own lives, rather than the quality of the world around them, is how Dome City came to be. Isn’t it?” She tapped that finger to her lips. “I would rather seek out a normal and happy life within the constraints of the usual world after a long time spent in an abnormal life, than to erase that possibility altogether.”

“Ugh. You know that’s probably the _point_ they’re trying to make, or whatever?” Yume asked, “Your parents fucked up, so now you’ve got the chance to undo that? But anyway. I for one just don’t wanna up and let this craphole world burn, seems like a pretty awful smell.”

“Who’d wanna… Why’d we ever just roll over n’ let shit happen?” Irarako asked, both fists clenched. “Didn’ you guys see? People’s out there safe! Rifa there for me. Some you lot got parents there. Shinku’s got girlf? If we fucked off… If we let the world get destroyed for actual,  
that includes everyone what’s been kept safe till now! I couldn’ even dream of letting that happen!”

Yosuke felt a little bit bad for dreaming of letting that happen; Irarako was right, and he hadn’t considered that. As much as there was the temptation to be selfish, to let himself stop now and be happy and not have any further hardship… He couldn’t lose anybody else. His parents, as many mistakes as they’d made in allowing Yosuke and his friends to grow up the way they did, were still people that he had in his life. He loved them, and by sheer numbers, he really didn’t want to keep dropping in people either. Three close friends and one not-as-close friend, were killed in the final case of the Killing Game.

Well. Were they really?

“Based on what people have seen with the motives last case,” Homura piped up, “This end of the world applies to Dome City _and_ to Earth. So there’s no divide there, we all have equal reason to wanna do this. Basically, well… It looks like we’re going to play the game, right?”

“I’m the only person who even hesitated,” Yosuke said, “And I’m in, now. So that’s it, we’re doing it. Sure would be nice if we knew exactly what the game entailed, but I guess we need to agree to it first before we can hear the rules, or whatever…”

“I can’t imagine the rules will be kind, but I do hope that it’s simply related to death and dying, and nothing else unsavory,” Shin said, “And that if it is, we may still have the opportunity to bow out. I’m willing to endure quite a bit for the sake of the world, I’ve endured awful things for much lower stakes. But I would not ask that of anybody else.”

“Worry not! Evangeline has got no interest in men, so she wouldn’t do that,” Saya said, “So I do think we will merely need to endure physical torment. Perhaps some mental and emotional. But as to what you were implying, Tsubasa, sexual torment is not something we need to be concerned about. That would be, even for the nature of our enemies, too cruel.”

“Aw jeeze, that’s dark!” Irarako exclaimed, “Tsuba-sa! Ain’t even cross my mind to think game what could be somethin’ like that, how’d you come up with such a worry?”

“It’s a reasonable concern.” Saya closed her eyes. “But not one that actually needs to play in here. Now, I think it’s about time we gave them our answer.”

With that, she reached for the dial on the television and turned it once. Evangeline and Osiris reappeared on the screen. “Hey kids!”


	242. Stage One, Day 1: Hostages

“Welcome back to Extend TV!” Eva enthused, “Since you decided to turn the channel, that means you’ve agreed to play! Oh, hurray, I was so worried that you would just be boring little nuisances who wanted to take your lifelong tropical island vacation and give the finger to the universe.”

“I wasn’t worried at all. For them to make it this far, they must have at least some moral backbone.” Ris put a strawberry in his mouth, then talked around it, “The eight survivors who manage to reach the Zero Sum Game were always bound to be the type of people who wouldn’t just tell the universe to fuck off. Even if it did turn out a bit differently, their loved ones are leverage enough.”

“Awe, Ris, for somebody who’s looking forward to the death of humanity, you sure do have faith in them! Kahaha!” Eva threw both her hands up. “Wow, wow! I guess this means we get to explain what the rules of the game really are! What slings and arrows must the miserable little ants fire back at us to achieve their goals??”

“Now, now. We’ll explain the rules to them in due time. These sinners have some virtue to them, to have already agreed. We didn’t even need to pull out the additional hostage card.”

“Well now that you’ve mentioned it, Ris, we’ll have to! Good grief. I can’t take you anywhere!”

“There is nowhere to go. However, if you were to take me somewhere, I would prefer it be a bakery. Those are the few bastions of light within this dark and perilous universe. It’s hard to be a humdrum nihilist when you’re eating a fluffy pastry, savoring the hedonistic pleasures this world had to offer before we destroyed it. Of course, just because something is hard does not mean it is impossible. I’ve mastered the art.”

“_I_ don’t think I’d put confectionaries nearly that high on my list of hedonistic pleasures! Ah, but if you combine it with others, then that’s a laugh riot! Ris, have you ever eaten whipped cream off a cute girl’s body while completely high off your ass??”

“...”

“...”

“I can’t say that I have ever even entertained the thought. Whipped cream is best eaten directly out of the canister, if it is canned. If it is fresh, that belongs on pie.”

“Yeah right, me neither! Though speaking of cute girls, there aren’t actually that many of them in the super secret hostage situation, are there? Only two women got murdered in the end! Karma must be a total misandrist.”

“I’d say it’s more likely karma is a misogynist. After all, the six men who were murdered during the course of the Killing Game only needed to die one time. Er, two I suppose, when their lifespans are eventually spent for real.”

“Yeah, you heard him right! When their lifespans are eventually spent for _real_. I gotta say, we never quite intended for that to happen. The Luciora that some of you kids brought into the system interacted with our own that we had plans for. Set loose the virus much sooner than we wanted, it wasn’t supposed to go until this game began! But it also used the Neo World data the same way as an X-Key. So everyone who died in the Killing Game is our hostage now!”

“Along with the rest of the world, of course. It’s all hostages as far as the eye can see. Er, except for the ones who already died, but that shouldn’t be anyone you guys directly care about”

“Oh, occifer! Please, give me a helicopter!” Eva brought her arms in close to herself and wiggled. “A helicopter, and seven supermodels, one for each day of the week! And free passage all the way to Bora-Bora! Then I’ll let all of the hostages go, I promise!”

“Rather, it’s five men that have been spared the unpleasant fate. Unfortunately, there is one hostage we were unable to acquire.”

“I mean, that makes it sound like he vanished. He exists. He’s just not really... all there.” Eva pressed her fingers together and pouted.

“He, being Jun Shirogane, is currently in a state of ‘dead for real’.” The camera zoomed in, for some reason, on the cake in Osiris’s hand. “Luciora is an organic nanomachine. P Particles as used in the creation of human form replicants, are a nanomachine of their own. They can both store and utilize the information of a life, and therefore cannot be utilized in tandem.”

“But besides Junny Bear!” The camera focused on Eva again. “That’s right, they’re living! Alive and in space! But that won’t be the case if you forfeit or fail! And well, if you’d refused to participate, we would have killed them then, too. Really, the fact that they’re alive is just a reason you should give it your all! Because a game is only fun if both parties are really trying.”

“One might even say that they aren’t exactly ‘alive’ at all. They exist at current, but it’s all on you. You will allow them to become alive, or to stay dead, depending on your actions. They have no interaction with the world at large, and nobody watching at home will be aware that they haven’t actually died yet. So. The reward should you succeed is the salvation of the world, and the lives of your friends. That should appeal to both your moral and personal sensibilities quite nicely.”

“Not that you want half of those dumbasses back anyway, am I right or am I right? I mean, Itadai? Booo to that whiteknighting failson! And oh my _god_ don’t get me started on Ruka and Hanazaki, two. You fuckers managed to get _two_ yanderes in your midst.”

“If we’re discussing failsons, may I also point to Sato? That’s why you should never trust a chad who gets romantic ideas. It’s bound to backfire eventually. Their little chad brains are too small to get their fat dreams of boyfriendom off the ground.”

“Aren’t _you_ a chad, Riiis?”

“I am attractive, but my personality is much too dour and my muscles much too small.”

“I bet your meat’s too small too.”

“To be a Chad? I suppose that would be true.” Osiris shrugged, then the camera zoomed in on his cake again. He plucked a strawberry from it, and tossed it, which the camera followed now. When it reached Eva, it suddenly exploded, and her image disappeared from the screen. An X-Key fell to the ground. “Finally shut her up. But I’ll have to bring her back to demonstrate how to **Extend**… How troublesome.”


	243. Stage One, Day 1: The Extend Machine

“As you can see, Eva has just been killed by a small bomb in the food. Oh no! I can’t believe my beloved television partner has died. It’s tragic, and the funeral planning is going to be foisted on me. What type of flowers would be most disrespectful for the wake? And of course, it will be catered by my favorite bakery. Any excuse for sweets. But wait, what’s this? Her body disappeared and left behind an X-Key.”

“You’re probably wondering, Osiris, where are your X-Keys stored? We can’t see them? Well you see, for me it’s an anklet. Eva’s is a bellybutton piercing, which I think is quite odd, but that was where the initial research proposed they be attached. Suppose she’s a bit of a purist that way. Now I have to touch an X-Key that’s been on her stomach. I shudder at the thought.” He did not physically shudder.

“In any case, well, I am aware that you are aware. X-Keys bring you back from the dead. That much is simple and it is obvious. Even so, I’m going to explain the process to you as best I can. First, you are killed. Then, you disintegrate. One of your peers will retrieve your X-Key and…” An arcade machine identical to the one next to TV appeared on it. “Place it into the slot. Then, utilize the screen to Extend your dead friend’s life. You can even customize some special abilities called Shigabane. For example.”

He placed Eva’s X-Key into the slot, and the arcade machine flared to life, blaring a chiptune version of... ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’. Osiris rolled his eyes, then pushed a few buttons on the screen before it flashed up; “Shigabane acquired! Death by food bomb.” Accompanied by a cartoonish image of Eva being surprised by a wrapped-up candy with a fuse coming out of the end. Though that wasn’t the actual food bomb which killed her, it got the point across. Underneath the title, it stated “Damage taken from food bombs is reduced”.

“As you can see,” Ris went on, “The effects of Shigabane can be toggled all on, or all off. If, for example, you acquire a Shigabane that you don’t want, you _can_ disable all of them. I’m not sure what that Shigabane would be, of course. They’re all quite useful. One more building block in the tower of your victory against the enemy. As you can see, a Shigabane is earned based on the way that you died, and occasionally on certain other factors inherent to your moment of expiration.”

“Are you following along alright?” He furrowed his brow as if he were concerned, then hit a few more buttons, bringing up a list on the screen of the arcade machine. “Here. This is what we’ve gone over so far.”  
**  
You have an X-Key  
When you die, only your X-Key remains.  
Using the X-Key you can be Extended, brought back to life, at an Extend machine.  
When you Extend, you get bonuses based on how you died. **

“Hopefully, this is making sense to you. I’ll also say that even though your X-Keys are the necklace model for familiarity, the usual function of Extending your cells while you’re still alive has been disabled. New body, new you, that is the consequence of perishing. Now then, I suppose I’ll bring her back…” Ris exited the rules menu to confirm the Extend on Eva. There were shimmering lights over the bed which was attached to the Extend machine on the screen; They intensified until they were nearly blinding, then gradually subsided with Evangeline’s body there.

“Hey kids!” She sat up and immediately waved. “Isn’t Advanced Extend so cool? When we first started work on this project, it wasn’t nearly this good! It was all like, boom boom, wakey wakey you are nakey. But we’ve sophisticated it to extend people with their clothes still on and everything! I mean, when it _is_ used to bring back people who were totally dead and all.”

“Luciora is perfectly capable of that in reality, yes. I’ll elaborate a bit on what I meant when I said this is a Neo World only to allow certain functions. Shigabane are not something which can naturally occur using the Extend Machine, and has been added in by us to help you in the game. Furthermore, as your real-life bodies will need to be revived with Luciora themselves anyway, you’ll be exempt from the usual side effects that occur when a Neo World is time-dilated.”

“That’s right-on!” Eva pointed at the camera. “Time dilation! Sounds funny, doesn’t it? All you need to know is that for every _week_ you spend here, only _one day_ passes in the real world! As for how that works with the broadcast, well. We’ll be showing our Extend TV segments, as well as your most daunting challenges, but that’s it! You can rest easy, Mommy and Daddy won’t be privy to your every move anymore!”

“Isn’t that a bit insensitive of you to say, Evangeline? Only one of our illustrious participants even has a Mommy and a Daddy. “

“Oh. Right.” Eva narrowed her eyes and stuck a finger horizontally under her nose. “Then we’ll be their Mommy and Daddy till they’re done with the game.”

“Is that supposed to be a mustache? If anyone’s Daddy, it’s me.” Osiris flipped his bangs dramatically, then turned his own attention back to the camera. “Oh, speaking of being done with the game. The win condition is to _complete every mission_ we assign you, and discover the world’s salvation at the end of the road.”

“The lose conditions are as follows. If you are all killed and nobody remains to Extend any of your X-Keys, you lose!” Eva raised a hand above herself. “If any individual’s X-Key is destroyed and no spares exist to write the data onto, you lose! There is at least one spare available to you, and most enemies can’t actually destroy an X-Key, you only gotta look out for the really strong ones.”

“And of course, if you forfeit, then you lose. You can verbally forfeit at any time. You will be asked to confirm your forfeit three times to be certain, and there is no automatic forfeit for inaction. Well… anybody in the world who’s already been _killed_ outright won’t be able to be saved no matter what you do, so there is an imperative of time. Your first mission will shortly be printed from the VCR slot on this monitor.”

“With that squared away, come on, we dare you to try! Illuminate!”

“A brighter future…” Ris had, again, no enthusiasm.

“For _humanity_!!!” Eva exclaimed!

“...Seeya.” They both deadpanned.


	244. Stage One, Day 1: First Mission

As soon as the television switched itself off, the VCR slot popped open and a piece of paper printed from it, not dissimilar to a receipt. Of course, nobody here had actually seen a VCR tape before, so it didn’t seem strange to see paper come out of that slot. For all this generation knew, that was what the slot was for in the first place. Homura reached out and grabbed the paper, then read it aloud. “Make a weapon in the Workshop.”

“That lines up,” Shin said, “I imagine based on what they said… That we will need to defend ourselves against enemies in the not-too-distant future. That’s unfortunate. I’d like to apologize to everybody for being one of the people who made it this far.”

“Aw, don’t you go worryin’ bout that, Tsubas!” Irarako clapped a hand onto his unworthy shoulder. “It ain’t like we’ll all be fightin’ at once anyway. There’s only so much you can do from one spot… So we’ll protect ya!”

“It isn’t as if battle-readiness is the only skill which matters in a situation where we’ll be expected to battle,” Katsue said, “Throughout all of history, a great army can only hold up a country which excels in other ways as well. Skilled fighters are only so capable without skilled craftsmen to make the weapons, reliable supply chains to keep them at strength… Thus, do not apologize for being alive.”

“I guess… That’s right. I just hope that I don’t slow you down by being altogether too weak,” Shin said, “If I can find a way to be useful, well… Is it odd of me to say that I’d quite like this?”

“Pretty odd, ye,” Irarako said.

“I think I know what you mean by that,” Syoko noted, “Unlike the Killing Game… We have an end in sight. We follow the objectives, and we either succeed, or we don’t. We’re being asked to work with each other, not against each other. We don’t need to be suspicious anymore. Even if something goes wrong, we’re able to extend now. We can mete out our own punishment against our ‘killer’.”

“Precisely,” Shin said, “There is an enemy. It’s Evangeline, and Osiris, and Mercury. We can stand up against them, and rather than risking punishment, it’s what we’re supposed to do. Our ordeal has shifted in nature from one of unrest, to a simple fight between good and evil. And I for one, believe in our ability to win. More than that, even… I don’t think there’s any way that we could lose.”

“Where’s all this fervor and optimism suddenly coming from?” Yume questioned, “You believe in us? You hardly fucken’ know most of us, you kinda keep to yourself a lot. Hell, the people who died were a lot of our bridges between us. I was friends with Jun, who was friends with Syoko and Yosuke, who are friends with Katsue and Irarako, and Yosuke’s friends with you, and I’m just dating Saya. Shinku is self-proclaimed friends with nobody. How do you _propose_ that we can believe in each other to that extent?”

“Who says that Syoko’s my friend?” Katsue asked.

“God, you didn’t already work out that garbage?” Yume rolled her eyes. “It was a class trial. We all say stupid bullshit when we’re trying to feel out someone’s capacity for murder!”

“That’s true. I completely understand how she came to the conclusion she did, and why she voiced it,” Katsue said, “Because she keeps justifying herself, but I’ve yet to receive an actual _apology_. A sincere one. Just saying ‘sorry’ now won’t cut it, I’m afraid.”

“If we succeed…” Syoko spoke up, “You obviously still want to be with Yuji, he’ll come back. Isn’t accomplishing that worth forgiving me for?”

“I don’t need _you_ to accomplish it. If I have to, I’ll complete each and every objective on my own!” Katsue took a step forward. “Your cooperation won’t matter to me if you still can’t understand why I’d _want_ to bring him back, to be with him again! It’s obvious you don’t… That you still think badly of him. As long as there’s any part of your brain which could believe he ever influenced _who I was_, you can’t be seriously seeking my forgiveness. So if you won’t work with me unless I forgive you, I’ll do it alone. With my own hands, I’ll bring back Yuji, and Ayano too.”

Syoko took a step back, then wrapped an arm around herself and looked away. “Obviously, I’m not going to refuse to act just because you won’t forgive me. I’m not that petty.”

“Could have fooled me.” Katsue shrugged, then took a deep breath to calm herself and looked around at everybody. “But we all have a common goal. We’ll fell our enemy… And revive the souls of the fallen.”

“That’s why we can’t lose,” Shin said, “It doesn’t matter if we understand each other or get along or any of that. With this much at stake… I know enough about everyone here to know that you’re passionate and driven. Losing just isn’t an option.”

“It isn’t. That much, we can certainly agree on,” Katsue said, “RIght?”

Yume crossed her arms, then sighed. “Well, you’re right, it’s not. Nanjo… Could be saved, right? And then there’s my. Er. Other family. I don’t know how much faith I got in this fucking ‘team’ here, I don’t believe we can definitely win, but I sure as shit don’t think we’ll lose easily.”

“...Well that’s just great for all of you guys, isn’t it?” Yosuke asked.

“Yosuke?” Irarako tilted her head in question.

“What the fuck was even the point of the Killing Game… Why have it at all? If they’re gonna bring everyone back? Putting us through that, for nothing but killing one person for real. Luciora won’t do anything to Jun, so he’s still dead. We went through all of that just to kill _him_ and nobody else. Why would… What the fuck was Mercury thinking?”

“It’s punishment,” Homura said, “It isn’t like Mercury planned this part. Mercury wanted to punish the last generation by proving they didn’t end the Killing Games after all, and putting us into it. But you saw them, right? Mercury’s not the only person who was planning this. And you heard what they said too, right? It was a total fluke that the other participants were spared.”

“I see how it is…” Saya said, “Mercury only wished to prove that mistakes were made. Evangeline and Osiris are challenging us to be better. So of course the method would be different. Yosuke, it isn’t an unfair act that Jun is excluded. It’s a miracle that the other seven are permitted to survive at all. Surely, you can understand that. And… Would you not like to see Ayano again? Would you not like to speak with Itadai and express that your clashing was based on your shared scrambled-egg status?”

“I. I would, obviously I would! It isn’t like I’m bowing out now, we all already agreed we’d play their game! That doesn’t mean I have to think it’s fair, everything that’s already happened. That doesn’t mean I can’t say, why the fuck did that even need to go down if _this_ is what they wanted us to do the whole time?”

“It’s because we’re all sinners.” Homura put a hand on Yosuke’s shoulder. “They said that too, Yosuke! Don’t you even listen at all? We’re sinners who’ve proven we have some virtue left. Before we can begin trying to atone, of course we’d need to go through Hell. So? Let’s go make a weapon to fight our way outta it.”


	245. Stage One, Day 1: A Challenge

“That’s bullshit, but whatever. I guess that we probably _should_ get to work on that mission,” Yosuke admitted, then smoothed down the sides of his lab coat and took a deep breath. “I technically already have a weapon, my scissors made it here with me.”

“Yeah, me too. I’ve carried a knife on me since I got here!” Homura produced, as he stated, a pocketknife from his shorts. “Just in case. Though, I dunno how effective they’ll actually be in the coming trials, it’s better than nothing!”

“Do you think that we’ll need the weapons anywhere on _this_ island?” Katsue wondered.

“If nothing else, our hosts seem to be of the opinion that they want a fair fight with us. Even so, I believe we should operate in pairs. That way, if something does happen to somebody, the other person can run away and tell people. Er, and grab the X-Key if there’s the _opportunity_ to do so, of course,” Shin said.

“There are eight of us, so that works well,” Yosuke said, “I bet there’s still stuff we can use in the leftover labs, and maybe the wreckage too.”

“I’ll go right with ya, Yos!” Irarako grabbed onto his arm. “Let’s make it a challenge, yall! Whichever pair can make the weapon with best-stats! Wins!”

“Stats?” Homura blinked.

“This is a ‘game’ and we’re being told to make a weapon. Of course that weapon’s going to have stats. Aren’t you usually the person who’s three steps ahead of everyone? Keep up,” Shin teased, then looked over. “Katsue, would you mind terribly if we teamed up for this project? I hate to inflict myself on anybody, but…”

“That’s perfectly alright with me, Tsubasa.” Katsue smiled back at him. “When I woke up on the top floor of the lab building earlier, I did see some things that should be useful. I didn’t think to gather them at the time, though.”

“As for that whole roast chicken,” Irarako said, “My lab’s what lost it all. No swords there left, metal _or_ wooden. Bet it’d be a useful place for trainin’s still but it couldn’ just be that easy, huh?”

“Mm. The gift shop has also lost anything that might be directly used as an effective weapon, and all food and non-alcoholic beverage,” Saya noted, “I imagine that the alcohol was left there because it is to the benefit of our hosts if we decide to impair our own abilities… Of each murder that occurred in the end, half were under the influence in some way.”

“The kitchen’s missing stocks too…” Syoko muttered, “I guess that technically, we’ll be able to extend if we starve to death, but that’s bound to make us really weak and ineffective. I hope we’ll be able to find some sort of food. Oh, and Shinku? Would you partner with me for the current challenge?”

“I don’t see why not. You and me partnering lets our local loverbirds work together. Can Yume overcome the overwhelming presence of tits to make a functional piece of weaponry? Now we get to answer that burning question!”

“Oh!” Saya pressed her hands together. “Is that really true? Are my tits good enough to be a distraction?”

“Babe.” Yume set two fingers upon her temple and grimaced. “Your tits have been distracting me since I first laid eyes on you.”

“How romantic. I made them myself, you know.” Saya giggled, and poked at herself. “Most people find those kinds of compliments offensive because it isn’t anything they had control over. But I did, so I like it! But reign it in anyway. I wanna win the contest.”

“Teams are established, then. And we all know our objective. Gather materials, and make some kind of weapon in the workshop. The weapon with the best ‘stats’ wins,” Syoko said, “Then I think there’s nothing left to do but… Start!”

As soon as Syoko called the beginning of the contest, Irarako grabbed Yosuke by the wrist and took off in the direction of one of the beaches. He barely had time to process it before he was running after her. “Hey, where are you going?”

“I totally know what all we can make,” Irarako said, “It’ll be real ease! But we gotta get somethin’ to tie it ‘fore anyone else does got it. Seaweed, you know?”

“Oh, that makes sense! But we don’t actually have to be done _first_, we have to be done _best_, right?”

“_I_ wanna first!” Irarako laughed. “Point’s to what, get some fun? Compete nice way to keep from argue bad way? Long’s we have a good time fillin’ the mission don’t matter how we do or what goal we wanna goal. Time like this we just gotta the somethin’ lighthearted.”

“That’s… Pretty sage, actually,” Yosuke said, then hesitated a minute. “Or, well. Maybe our minds have finally just broken.”

“Nah, ain’t that,” Irarako said, “How could they? Sure maybe what, struggles haven’t meant as much we thought they did. Sure, fate of the world’s on our shoulders. But hey. Least it’s on our shoulders, yknow? We can laugh an’ play like this cause we _ain’t_ broken. We got hope. An’ sides, we’re Ultimates, yknow?”

“What about it?”

“We can say it’s all too much, super stressful, sure.” Irarako beamed back at him. “But part of us is always gonna like to be _important_. What for save the world is so much lots but that responsibility’s on _us_ an’ that’s kinda in a little bit, cool. Everyone wanna be a hero, even if it’s overwhelmin’ to do the heroics of it.”

So that was it, huh? It _should_ have been overwhelming beyond belief, to be given a ‘challenge’ with so much at stake. The fate of the world, and (almost) all of their loved ones, had just been put upon them. Even still, Yosuke felt not just willing, but _motivated_ to take on this challenge. Sure, it would be difficult, and it would be painful. But he was ready for it, almost like he’d been waiting his entire life for this kind of chance.

He knew… From everything that had happened, what he came to understand about Dome City, the point that Mercury was making about the previous generation. If not his parents specifically, plenty of Dome City’s inhabitants would have refused. They would have taken the option to live forever peacefully among peers. Valuing ones own happiness wasn’t an inherently bad thing, but there were ways to value your own happiness that didn’t deprive others of theirs. Yosuke was ready to prove that. Even more so than the others, in a way. The person he had most wished could come back to life, was the only one who wouldn’t. But he’d fight alongside them, for them, anyway.

But then again, this was when he thought that physical pain would be the only challenge in store.


	246. Stage One, Day 1: Statistics

Irarako and Yosuke arrived at the beach and, just as she’d predicted, found a few piles of seaweed to gather. It wouldn’t be the most effective rope, but it would get the job done. Yosuke imagined that if those ‘stats’ Shin mentioned were really something relevant, using seaweed instead of actual rope would lose them some points. He was fairly certain that there _wouldn’t_ be actual rope to be found anywhere around here, so this would have to do.

Irarako’s idea was simple, and quite typical of her for that matter. She wanted to make a wooden sword, and it had come to her mind as an easy thing to make with the tools she knew were available. After they’d acquired the seaweed they returned to the workshop, only to find that the wood Yosuke had left in here to use was still present- It would go quickly, but they were able to start off with five good wooden chunks to utilize. The sword would take one of them.

Yosuke picked out a sturdy piece of wood, then cut it in a few pieces. The pieces that he did cut were fed through the dowel machine, while Irarako took the completed ones and sanded the ends to match the shape of a sword more accurately. She also lashed the pieces together near-expertly; Yosuke suddenly recalled the embroidery supplies in her hobby box, so it wasn’t so surprising that her fine motor skills were honed, though maybe not to the extent of her gross motor. She lifted the sword in her hand, then made a few more modifications.

“For the balance,” She explained as she shifted the position of the hilt. Then, she picked up a rock she’d also grabbed off the beach. She drilled a small hole in it, and a small hole in the sword too, and attached them together. “There. Can’t really make this sword all sharp down the edge or nothin’, but my form’s got the focus on the jabbin’ anyway. This should be able to do a mite more dam-- Oh!”

Irarako and Yosuke were both startled by the appearance of what was obviously a tooltip over the sword they’d just crafted, listing it as having “Attack: 8”. Upon seeing that, he had to pull his scissors out and check. “Attack: 2”. Well, that was fair. A weapon that he happened to have on hand when he initially died… It would be pretty overpowered if its stats _actually_ reflected its capacity for damage. The scissors were undoubtedly more capable of inflicting grievous injury than Irarako’s ‘stone-tipped sword’ as the tooltip called it, under normal circumstances. But these were not normal circumstances, Eva and Ris had made that much clear.

“So I was right.” Shin continued his habit of walking into rooms and startling people. He pointed at the tooltip. “There _are_ stats in play here.”

“Seems to be. And my scissors are barely worth anything, so I bet Shinku’s knife is the same way. So… Eight attack is the score to beat,” Yosuke noted.

“An’ we totally finished first. So we got that for braggin’ even if we do get beat!” Irarako crossed her arms and gave a resolute nod. “Not mention, this weapon’s bound to be right dominatin’ in my very capable hands! So what you guys thinkin’?”

“Since the objective was technically to make one weapon,” Katsue said, “Tsubasa and I have withdrawn from that competition, to instead create protective gear. Or at least attempt to!”

“Given I was correct about the statistics, I imagine that this will work as well…” Shin approached the work bench and after a few focused moments, produced what looked to be makeshift kneepads. Chunks of hard plastic in a bag, with a rubber band from the gift shop around them. A tooltip did appear for them as well, reporting “Defense: 3”. Shin demonstrated their function by sliding one up his leg to his knee, then removing it again. “I broke one of the booze bottles apart, and took an empty blood bag from the infirmary. There’s not that much left in there anymore. I would have used gauze instead of the bag if it remained, but alas, it did not.”

“This is some real ugly shit we’re making. I’m surprised they’re even letting us have good ‘stats’ on them at all.” Yosuke scratched the side of his head. “No offense, but it’s _so_ DIY…”

“None taken. It is in fact, _so_ DIY,” Shin said.

“I’m sure we’ll get the opportunity to get better materials later down the line,” Katsue said, “But I do think it’s impressive, what we _can_ make with what we have at hand. Speaking of making things with what’s at hand… Did you notice that the greenhouse is broken?”

“Oh, nah,” Irarako said, “Disappointin’, that.”

“We’ll have to repair it at some point. We cannot allow the lush garden within to fall to the inappropriate climate,” Katsue noted, then took a deep breath. “Who knows. Osiris told us that our actions in ‘this’ world will influence reality. There may very well be a real island like this one which _began_ in this dilapidated state, and any repairs we make would be reflected there?”

“Well, that doesn’t sound impossible,” Yosuke said, “But why would it matter if we repair a real version of this island?”

“So that our hard work has more of a point, I suppose?” Katsue shrugged. “If we’re the ones who restored this place in reality, we may be permitted to live here. Though I doubt it’s nearly as remote as it has… Seemed…”

She furrowed her brow and suddenly ran outside. Yosuke was about to follow her, when Yume and Saya walked into the room instead. Saya was holding a bag full of sand, and Yume had one of the large glass bottles also from the gift shop. The alcohol had been poured out of it and, without a word, they approached the workbench. Yume set the bottle down, and Saya poured the sand in. A tooltip popped up - “Weighted Bottle, Attack: 5”.

“Thank fuck.” Yume groaned. “We tried to just fill the bottle with sand right at the beach, and it gave an error like _this doesn’t count as a weapon_ like Jesus Christ can I hit someone with it? Then it’s a weapon.”

“The objective did say to use the workshop, dear.” Saya put a hand on Yume’s back. “And now you have a nice weapon to use! I imagine that anything made with wreckage from the Killing Game, or with leftover offerings, must have some sort of strength penalty on it… But it’s better than nothing!”

“Maybe we can make molotov cocktails somewhere down the line…” Shin wondered, “That would certainly be a weapon _I_ would be capable of wielding.”

“Perhaps so.” Syoko stepped into the room now. “Or perhaps you could manage the idea that Shinku and I’ve got.”

She held up a handful of makeup items that Yosuke couldn’t quite identify, then stepped up to the workbench. Homura squeezed in next to her, and they spent a good chunk of time focused completely on their task. When they were finished, Syoko held up one small pellet. Its own tooltip appeared. “Caustic Pop Snap, Attack: 6 Caustic Damage”.

“By Shinku’s and my power combined, we made a batch of these things! You toss them at the enemy and they pop open with a chemical reaction that can cause bad acidic burns to the skin. They should be perfectly safe in storage, of course,” Syoko explained, “It takes some very specific stuff, so there’s only so many we could make, but it’s probably quite effective.”

“Hahah! Not only are we first, we are the winner!” Irarako clapped Yosuke on the back. “Guess cause we used all raw materials, we got a better statscome? My sword’s got eight! Eight attack!”

“You sure about that?” Yume asked, “Syoko’s might actually win out, for that caustic damage thing, and the ease of use…”

“Awh, not that it matters much.” Irarako waved it off, then shrugged. “We should go back to the Dinin’ hall right? For what that extension television might give us congration?”

“That’s a good idea,” Yosuke said, then stepped out of the workshop. When he did, he saw Katsue standing out there on the sand, staring into the distance. He stepped up next to her and followed her eye-line to see. Out there, on the horizon…

Floating off the coast was another island. It looked to him like somebody’s neighborhood, several Japanese-styled homes packed in close together. Some of them even looked like shops from here, like it was a part of a city which never bothered changing to a more modern aesthetic. It was close enough that Yosuke could swim over there with just a little bit of effort, but there were also posts on this island directly across from identical ones over there. Like there was meant to be a bridge, but just wasn’t at the moment.

“Son of a bitch…” Yume muttered as she joined them in staring. “That’s Main Street in Kobe.”


	247. Stage One, Day 1: Ruins to Come

No sooner had Yume made her observation, then there was a cascade of sand as a monitor, thinner but matching in color to the CRT one in the dining hall, protruded from the ground. Not dissimilar to the ones that had been used to dispense the last motives of the Killing Game. It flashed up the logo, and thus- ~

“Hey, kids! Welcome to Extend TV!”

“Awe jeeze,” Eva said, “You guys noticed it already, huh? I kinda thought you’d at least make it back to the monitor in the Dining Hall. That’s our home base, so it’s where I feel the most comfortable! Leaving the house, you get prone to all sorts of things, like viruses or trampling!”

“That’s not going to happen,” Ris said, “Well, anyway, now you’ve seen it. You’ve also completed the objective that we gave you, so… As you seem to desire to hear, congration, you done it.”

“Congration!!” Eva confirmed, throwing her hands up in the air. “You made a weapon, and a piece of armor to boot! Look at you industrious kids, skipping missions… Even if what you made kinda sucks big asses. Big fat asses that CEOs sit around on and they look and say yeah okay! Slap a label on that and call it a craft for kids, the youtube bucks can cover the lawsuits when a lil child gets plastic shrapnel in their eye trying to cut those kneepads to size! Oh, capitalism, an evil I can only dream to rival!”

“Very strong words coming from the woman who’s quite literally ending the world. Regardless of any of that, however, there are other evils to contend with. This is the reason why we’ve encouraged you to create these weapons. I recommend arming yourselves to the full extent you are capable. After all, you will be entering combat against beings that _are_ more naturally equipped to it than you are.” 

“Way more! Fangs and claws and all sorts of w~i~iggly tentacles!” Eva held her fists up by her face and grinned. “I wonder what sort of terrible things they’re going to do! I’m on the edge of my seat!”

“Their bodies disintegrate just as soon as they’re dead,” Osiris said, “There’s not going to be any opportunity for the corpses to be desecrated.”

“Oh… You’re right. I guess it won’t be super grisly after all. What a shame. Awe, you know if I was one of those terrifying creatures I’d be extra careful not to kill them right away! Just so I could make sure it was really really messed up! I bet Syoko gets that one! It’s for the FX, baby!” She hopped up and down a bit. “Well. Bet it’ll still be messy at first! Just slice right through, rip and tear!”

“Don’t worry. None of these things will appear on this island at any hour of day. The appearance of the ‘hazards’ on the island during the Killing Game was just a way of, shall we say… Giving you a ‘preview’. Now, those things will be restrained to specific areas, at least for the time being. You’ll be safe here on this island. But of course, that leads us to the next point. Those specific areas are much like the one that you’ve just observed.”

“Those are called _ruins_!” Eva exclaimed, “Because they’re ruined versions of places from your past, obviously. Well, those locations might actually look like that for real right now, kahaha! Sorry to say it, sorry you gotta hear it. But not that much. Anyhoo, your next objective is to get some rest, okaaay?”

“This ruin will become available to you after you’ve completed this objective.”

“But first! Your reward for completing that last objective we gave you! The equipment that you’ve made, well, you’ll be using that starting tomorrow to fend for yourselves against this world, to gather materials with which to survive. But just for tonight, we’ll provide you one _last_ meal that you don’t gotta hunt up yourself. Think of it like Christmas Dinner!”

“Christmas dinner doesn’t usually imply food scarcity in the upcoming days. It usually implies food leftovers in the upcoming days. And Christmas Cake, too. That’s certainly my favorite malculturism.”

“Your favorite what now?”

“In Japan, a strawberry angel food cake is believed to be an American tradition called ‘Christmas Cake’. It’s a Japanese Christmas Tradition believed to be based on an American one which never actually existed. And I love it. It’s what I’ve been eating this entire time.”

“You’re telling me Americans don’t have Christmas Cake?? Ris, you’ve shattered my worldview! What the fuck?” Eva looked completely shell-shocked. “What else is a lie about America? What else is a lie about _Christmas_? Ris, are you telling me that Santa doesn’t exist??”

“I can’t see how my discussion of malculturism could imply that. However, I’m also telling you that implicitly.”

“Waaaah!! How dare you shatter my innocent childhood beliefs!! I’ll never forgive you Ris, never never!” Eva waved her hands around above her head. “Are you telling me that The Santa Clause isn’t a documentary? My whole life, I looked forward to separating Santa’s head from his body with my own two hands so that I could take over for him! That was gonna be my backup plan if these dumb shit kids actually manage to save the world! Nooo!”

“I don’t have any contingency plan for if these kids manage to save the world. I’ll probably just die.” Ris walked across the screen and patted Eva on the shoulder. “There there. It’s okay. You can still kill an old fat man in a red coat if you want.”

“Goddammit, haven’t you ever seen a Christmas movie?? I’ve been killing every old fat man in a red coat I see, just in case he’s santa! One of them’s always Santa! Always! You’re telling me I’ve just been killing innocent seniors?”

“I suppose I am.”

“Oh.” Eva pouted for a second, then grinned again. “Well that’s pretty fun too! You know me, killing innocents is just a right lovely Tuesday afternoon where I’m from!”

“Mm, right.” Ris stepped back from Eva, returning to where he usually stood. Then, where he’d patted her on the shoulder exploded, and her X-Key fell again. “I’d like a few hours of peace and quiet myself, while you kids sleep. Very well then, get your rest, and tomorrow you can attempt to illuminate a brighter future for humanity, or whatever.”

~

So that was it for the day. There wasn’t much else to consider. The group ate the dinner they were provided, which was probably the last interesting meal they’d have for a while yet. They were permitted to keep one serving each of leftovers for breakfast as well, so they’d be prepared to face the ruins and actually acquire food to utilize from there.

Yume found herself dawdling on returning to her room. She stood under that endless sky, staring out at the echo of a street where she’d once been. Here at the end of the world.

_I wonder if I knew all along. I wonder if that’s why I couldn’t mourn you as openly as I’d wish._

_Nanjo…_

_There in those shops where I became a monster, I’ll save you._


	248. Stage One, Day 2: Souvenir Mission

That night wasn’t a particularly restful one for anybody. Everyone used the dorms they’d become accustomed to, but the Monopads were no longer necessary to open the doors from either end at all; There were no locks, they just opened. The room assignments could easily be shifted around now, and in fact, their numbers were halved. Everybody could sleep in a room _alone_ if they so pleased, but as it was, Syoko and Yosuke continued to room together. As did Yume and Saya. It was part habit and part comfort in the company.

In the morning, they ate their leftovers, then approached the ruin as they did yesterday. There was now a bridge across, attached at both ends by the poles. It looked unsteady but sturdy- It might be a little nervewracking to walk across, but it wasn’t about to break. As the group approached it, the same monitor ascended from the sand as had yesterday. - ~

“Good morning children. Welcome back to Extend TV.” Osiris greeted them without looking up from the book in his hands. He was holding it upside-down and the title of it was [So, You’ve Realized All Your Dreams But You’re Stuck Sharing Them With A Maniac]. “I haven’t extended Evangeline again yet, but I suppose I should. I’m not actually allowed to deliver your mission without her, and you all seem very eager to begin.”

A moment later, Eva had been returned to life. She stood with her arms crossed, pouting. “I thought that Shigabane was supposed to give me a resistance to being one-shot by food bombs!”

“Just because I showed the children how Shigabane work does not mean that I enabled it. Why would I remove my ability to escape from you?” Ris dropped the book and it vanished in the air. “I only brought you back because it seems that our young opponents are interested in their mission, should they choose to accept it.”

“Awe, you could never really escape from me! If you keep putting me back into my X-Key like that…” Eva squished her own cheeks. “Who knows what sorta weird shit might happen?”

“...You are capable of extending an infinite number of times with no ill effects to your person,” Ris said, “I haven’t got a clue what she’s talking about, kids. Don’t hesitate to take risks.”

“Oh no nothing weird would happen to them!” Eva waved her hands. “But you know I’ve got the experimental model! I might just find some super special way to get revenge on the cruel old man who keeps killing me over and over with his darned confectionate pyrotechnics.”

“The least I can do is get you out of my hair from time to time. I promise you, I enjoy only the silence that results from your killing, not the act itself. I’m not like you.”

“The only honorable kill is to kill for sport! Prove your worth in the battlefield of life! Poach the heads of a million men and hang them on your wall to watch as you ravish their women in their stead!” Eva punched a triumphant hand to her chest. “Oh, and speaking of things which kill for sport, and honorable killing, and all that jazz. Your mission for now is to enter the ruin, ‘Kobe Shopping District’, and bring us back… A shrubbery.”

“No, no, Eva. It doesn’t say shrubbery,” Ris said, pointing at the mission text which had appeared on a screen behind them. “It says souvenir.”

“It’s written in English, so I did my best! You stupid multilingual condescending prick. What if I actually did want a shrubbery? A Poinsettia bush would be wonderful! Really liven up the place. Boring workspace, boring life.”

“I don’t think the workspace matters, life is never boring when it comes to you.”

“Such flattery! Very wow!”

“That’s not a compliment. I only wish that I could lead a boring life. Boring is safe and calm. You bring with you a wake of dangerous excitement the likes of which could be rivaled only by having a roller coaster track directly through my bedroom.”

“Oh my, that _is_ really dangerous! Whoever’s on top during sex could get decapitated at any moment! That’s one Hell of a happy ending~” Eva brought a hand to her face in an exaggerated gasp. “Then again, I guess if you’re able to extend, that’s also a form of birth control! Since your whole body disintegrates when you die, that would bring any potential new life along with it. You sure could have used something like that when you were little, right Ris?”

“Must you imply such disgusting things in front of minors? I swear, you have no respect for the innocence of youth. I’m quite glad that replicant child was ejected before you ever got the chance to speak with them.”

“Ooh, you’re no fun. I bet the kid would’ve had a _blast_ with me! It isn’t like I’d hurt ‘em. But you saw how clever they were with code, I could teach them a few things, couldn’t I?” Eva stuck out her tongue. “After all, I was totally involved with the creation of Luciora. How else would I even be here now if I wasn’t? I’ve got so much knowledge, I need to share it with a prodigy! Bring me a prodigy already! Me-gu-min got a prodigy so why don’t I??”

“You had every opportunity to train somebody as your prodigy, and you didn’t. You can’t complain now that you don’t have one when you never put in the work to get one in the first place. Er, anyway. We’ve assigned the mission, so isn’t that it for what we need to do here anyway? Enter the ruins and find us a ‘souvenir’. Trust me that you’ll know it when you see it, it’s frankly impossible to miss.”

“And be very careful not to go too far into the ruins instead of getting the souvenir! Stuff in there is almost as dangerous as Osiris’s bedroom, so you’ll be way better off if you’re properly warned and prepared to deal with it. Not that I’ll complain if you all get brutally killed off with no hope of retrieving your X-Keys right away. GG E-Z!”

“Well, if they did get killed that easily, we were fools for ever challenging them to illuminate…”

“A brighter future!”

“For humanity.”


	249. Stage One, Day 2: Hazards

After the monitor descended into the ground, the survivors found themselves staring out across the bridge which had materialized overnight. Based on everything they’d heard, it would be dangerous on the other end of this bridge. Based on everything they’d heard, the danger they faced would be a temporary matter, in that they would be endangered, they would be killed, they would be revived. Even still. Whether it was for eternity or just five minutes, _most_ people would not go willingly to their own death.

However, this was not merely their own temporary death. They were something like soldiers, if they died it would be for a cause, it was for somebody’s sake. It wasn’t just going willingly to die, it was going willingly to fight and if they died, then they died. All of them had a similar path to rationalization, wordlessly, and crossed the bridge to find themselves at their destination.

‘Kobe Shopping District’.

Yume was heading up the group, holding onto the bottle weapon that she and Saya had made yesterday by its neck. Despite making the move to stand in front, she seemed awfully tense, and stopped walking just shortly after they’d crossed the bridge, looking around the area.

“You lived in Kobe, right, Yume?” Saya asked, stepping up to her side.

“Mm.” Yume nodded, and gripped her weapon tighter. “I did, it’s where me and Nanjo grew up. We lived in the same house the entire time, and it wasn’t actually far from this area. We hung out at these shops with our friends all the time. It’s… Fucked in the head to see it all run down this way. Least all the buildings are still _standing_, though. It’s still Kobe.”

“It’s not the _real_ Kobe,” Saya said, “Well. I know they said it’s likely that the real one is probably in a similar state… But it’s not the same. So you can hope that the real one’s doing better than this, actually.”

“I dunno if I’d hope that. It ain’t like I still liked this area, by the time the Killing Game was starting.” Yume shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “Course, why’s it gotta be related to _me_? No offense, but I’m pretty sure I was one of the less relevant folks to make it this far. They’re making us go through some place that’s this familiar to me… Is it a coincidence?”

“There’s no way to tell just yet,” Katsue said, “Whether it’s mere coincidence that you resonate with this place, of if it is the fate set down for us, to walk familiar lands in our quest.”

“Yeah, that checks out.” Yume nodded along, then opened her eyes and continued to walk. The more steps they took down the ruined main street, the more the safety of Jabberwock Island faded out behind them. The location which had represented once, the most danger they’d been in through their short lives… Was now the closest thing they had to a safe haven. “Those guys said they wanted us to get them a souvenir, right? Obviously, that’s gonna somethin’ from the novelty shop.”

“Novelty shop?” Yosuke asked, “What’s that?”

“Guess there ain’t much tourism when your whole planet’s considered the one city,” Yume said, “It’s a store that sells stupid, cheap junk with the name of the city on it so people can go back and put it on a shelf and then other people will notice the cheap junk and be impressed that the person made it to that city’s novelty shop.”

“That sounds like an incredibly shallow way to flex,” Syoko said, “Couldn’t you get something meaningful from a location, then you flex about the travel but also the thing you got?”

“You alien kids real don’t got clues to the way tourist thinkin’!” Irarako laughed. “Nothin’ real good from a place gonna make people go, aw hey, you been to place? Gonna be like hey, cool thing. Then maybe you gotta openin’ for to say thanks, I got it on my trip to place, but that’s just if someone happens ta ask. Where shot glass what says Kobe, Japan. See that and ya know immediately. This folk what been to Kobe.”

“Or bought a Kobe shot glass off of eBay,” Shin offered.

“If somebody’s gonna put their own head that far up their ass, more power to ‘em.” Yume glanced around. “The novelty shop’s kinda further down here… Let’s just get this over with.”

Yume sped up, going from the initial cautious, somewhat dazed walk down the street to instead, a purposeful step as she strode in the direction of the store she was certain would hold the key to their mission. It was just over there, but it hadn’t escaped Yume’s notice that the street wasn’t _quite_ the same as usual. There was a large gate blocking it off, just after the shop. This wasn’t the extent of it.

For that matter, even if the only mission in this place _was_ to retrieve that souvenir- Which she doubted- She wanted to see what was beyond that gate. She wanted to fully explore this version of Kobe, to see an answer for its current state. To see an answer for everything she could seek out a question on. Following the missions given by their self-proclaimed enemies… Obviously she would fulfill them, but that didn’t mean she’d let them dictate her every move if she wanted to do something else as-

She caught sight of something, out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see. From an alley between the buildings, it was hurtling straight at her. A rabbit- Not a rabbit, exactly, but a hazardous one. The rabbit hazard that had been present on Jabberwock Island at night. Yume moved to react, but before she could finish turning toward the thing, Irarako had already jumped in, skewering it on the end of her pseudo-sword.

“So they was tellin’ truths,” Ira said, then plucked the rabbit from the tip of her sword and tucked it away in the bag she’d brought. Everybody had grabbed one from the gift shop just in case they needed to carry things. “What? S’good meat. Anywhats, our dangerous enemies. Hazards. Seen what these things did to Evie-Yano bodies. No wonder Eva said for thing’s be grisly. Might not be too pretty even ‘fore they kill us, we let ‘em get too close…”

“We’ll just have to make sure they never get close to us, then.” Shin gave a nervous chuckle. “How many do you think there… are?”

“Plenty fuckin’ more.” Yume adjusted her grip on her weapon to be better prepared if another jumped out.

Even still, she knew. These ‘monsters’ were nothing compared to her.


	250. Stage One, Day 2: To the Novelty Shop

“I wish we had taken the time to make sure everybody could be armed,” Shin said, “I mean. I know that in a space like this, only a few people can really fight at a time, but I don’t like the idea of one of those things coming at one of us who doesn’t have anything…”

“You’ve got the pellets, though,” Syoko said.

“Does that mean I can’t worry about other people? Good grief.” He rolled his eyes. “I haven’t changed my mind, I do believe that we can do this, but my faith in us might waver if we can’t even be careful about something this simple.”

“I’m sure we’ll find enough stuff for everybody to arm themselves soon enough,” Homura said, “Don’t worry! There’s five of us who’ve got stuff, right? And four whose stuff is reusable. So, the four of us will look out for the rest of you, and later on we’ll figure things out more!”

“Right, my weapon’s not currently renewable, so I’ll hold back on fighting unless it becomes really necessary,” Shin said, “But I will, of course, in the case that it does.”

“We’ll work it out,” Yume said, “Come on. We can’t just stick around here… Stay alert and keep moving. We could stand here talking about how fucked up this whole thing is, and let the enemy come to us, or we can just go deal with our objective and whatever we encounter on the way.”

“...Right,” Irarako said, “But ain’t you even a little put off how that thing just came right atcha?”

“If you’re looking for me to thank you for rescuing me, then of course you’ve got my gratitude,” Yume said, “But I’m not scared of those things at all. Pissant fucking little pushovers, really. Just took one strong attack from you to get that one.”

“Ain’t about to _all_ be this easy yanno!” Irarako laughed, “But damn-o, like that confidence!”

“Do you now? You like my confidence?” Yume asked, then lifted her weapon to rest against her shoulder. “A lot of people do. I’m not confident because I’m unafraid, though. I’m confident cause I know being afraid doesn’t help jack shit with anything, so pretend like you’re not, and you’ll do a better job.”

“That’s a solid philosophy,” Yosuke said, “Except, you know. Being afraid can also mean that you notice threats more readily, can’t it?”

“I noticed that threat readily enough, yeah? It isn’t my fault that Irarako’s faster than a speeding bullet when it comes to stabbing pointy rabbits.” She took a few more steps forward, then looked around. “Besides, I don’t _hear_ anything else around…”

“You do not?” Saya asked, tilting her head. “Yume! I can hear quite a few sets of footsteps in the area, though I’m not sure exactly where they’re coming from. Is it possible that your hearing is not completely solid?”

Yume blinked a few times, then turned to the others. “You… Hear other stuff too?”

“I hear loads of other stuff. My hearing’s really sensitive, remember?” Homura tapped his headphones. “Not about to use these in here, though, it’s good to know when something’s nearby somewhere…”

“Huh. Never woulda guessed, I can’t hear as well as normal people? Can’t say ability to hear faint distant sounds has ever actually come up in my life.” Yume shrugged. “So, you’ll just have to keep me up to speed. I’ll assume more shit’s lurking in the shadows unless you guys tell me that they’re not.”

“I got bes’ weapon an’ bes’ reflexes!” Irarako exclaimed and stepped forward. “So’s I’ll be takin’ up the lead. I’unno bout my hearin’ exactly, but I can hear footsteps so it’s better than Yume’s at’n least.”

“Ahah, good thinking. Looks like when it comes down to a fight…” Yume grinned. “Some of our true abilities are gonna come to light, eh? The kinda things we’d shove down cause it’s a bad idea in a Killing Game, that’s real goddamn _useful_ in a barrel of shit like this one!”

“...Yume, I am unsure if-” Saya started to ask, her voice soft as she held a hand out.

“Here.” Yume cut her off, then grimaced. “Sorry. Look, whatever you were about to say’s probably right, but I don’t need to hear it. This is it, the tack-factory novelty shop. We’ll get our hands on some sorta souvenir.”

Saya withdrew her hand, but gave an understanding nod. She wasn’t put off by that behavior- Yume was sincere. Whatever Saya had to say was probably right, but she didn’t need to hear it. Any concerns about Yume’s current emotional state being in this place reminiscent of her adolescence were warranted, but she was also self-aware. The rising venom in her voice with every step they took into her history was obvious, and she was prescient of it herself.

Upon opening the door to the gift shop, another one of the rabbits was right there. Since Yume was the one to open the door, she swung her weapon at it in the same fluid motion. She made contact, but the rabbit somehow continued its forward movement and put a slice into Yume’s arm with its claws. She didn’t even flinch. Yosuke stepped in with his scissors, then Homura with the pocketknife, and it was the third blow that actually felled the creature. So Irarako had just gotten lucky with the amount of ‘damage dealt’ with her attack against the last one.

Without looking down at her injury, Yume let out a harsh breath through her nose and stepped further into the shop. There weren’t any other creatures in here, but there was a CRT monitor. Next to it was a Christmas ornament that said ‘Kobe, JP’ on it in green bubble letters. She reached for it, and as soon as her fingers closed around the obvious goal item, the monitor buzzed to life.

“That easy, huh?” Yume asked, turning to look as the image came to life revealing Eva and Ris once again. “You guys… Prerecorded, or can you hear me?”

“We can hurr you!” Eva answered, then waved her hands in a rainbow shape. “Congratulations, kids! And welcome back to Extend TV!”


	251. Stage One, Day 2: Mission Complete

“So you’ve found your way to the souvenir. It was, as you said yourself, quite an easy task. That’s because we just wanted to get you started on understanding the way these ruins work,” Ris said, “That’s why we selected something like this. A straightforward objective for the beginning. We tell you what to get, you get to it easily. The door isn’t locked and the enemies go down easy. Yet, you somehow still managed to be injured…”

“It’s cause their weapons are inefficient!” Eva made a square with her fingers. “Ebizakaya’s got it down lock with the jabber sword, but that’s just for the Ravvits!”

“Don’t you mean rabbits?”

“No, I mean Ravvits! That’s what the Shigabane for them get called, so that’s what I’m gonna call ‘em too! They sure aren’t real bunnies. Can’t breed like them, you know?” Eva raised her hands as if in surrender. “But yes, yes, congratulations. You beat the gauntlet of two entire ravvits to discover a souvenir for us! And it’s a Christmas ornament, so that’s my super favorite kinda thing! Clever of you to predict it was the novelty shop, too!”

“That kind of thinking will serve you well in the future. You have a long road ahead of you, and it won’t be merely combat challenges, but mental ones as well. Fortitude to solve riddles is an important life skill when you find yourself in a game such as ours.”

“I wanna see you fail! I wanna, I wanna see you die a bunch of times! It’s your combat queen Evangeline imagining the best encounters for you! Well.” She poked at her cheek. “I don’t have that much control over what these things do or where they go, but I can lay some traps. Sometimes enemy traps. Sometimes other traps. Get arrows shot at your face in my celestial name!”

“Don’t you mean, in the name of the moon?”

“That’s copyrighted! Besides, if I was a sailor scout, I wouldn’t take the name of an existing Celestial body. I’d make one be named after me. What do you take me for, _not_ a criminal narcissist?”

“If I were a sailor scout, I would be sailor Orion. That constellation was likely referred to as Osiris by ancient Egyptians, after all. So it’s, in a way, already mine.” Ris made a peace sign over one of his eyes. “I am the one with a Celestial Body. That’s what my ex-husband always said, anyway.”

“If he liked your body so much, why’d you ever divorce?” Eva asked.

“The same reason any husband who gives compliments like that files for divorce. I got too old for him. Besides, the public schools near his work weren’t very good,and we couldn’t afford private, so I had to move to give our daughter a good education. Not that I actually did too well at that, but it’s all in the past now.” He pressed his hands together. “The world is ending, so regrets are trivial and utterly meaningless to have. Isn’t that freeing, Eva?”

“I never regretted a thing, once in my natural born life!”

“Right, I somehow forgot who I was speaking to for a moment there. If only there were anybody else that I could be speaking to.”

“Pbbth. You know you love me! Besides, I am no danger to you. So that’s something, isn’t it? You’re immune to my terrible charms, you _man_, you.”

“Awe, Eva, you flatter me too much. Agressively gendering me correctly, what will you do next? Compliment my financial responsibility? Or, oh, the scandal. Say I look like I have a mortgage?”

“If we’re listing ways that I can state the obvious about you, I know you don’t have a mortgage…”

“But don’t I look like I would have one? I’m an attractive middle-aged man wearing mid-quality clothing. You wouldn’t think I spent my life renting, and you wouldn’t think I already paid off my entire mortgage. Yet, in fact, in a way both apply after all. I own an apartment building and live in one of them. I paid off that mortgage years ago and since, only charge tenants utilities, maintenance, and a small fee each to cover my groceries. It doesn't hurt to be kind in the world's last days.”

“Ain’t you a saint. Well, let’s move on, then! Your next objective. Got another objective. Isn’t that cool? Isn’t that fun? You’re gonna go as far into these ruins as you can get! Go to the very end! I bet you can guess what that ‘end’ is. One of you can, anyway. There at the very end, you’ll find something else that you should bring back to Jabberwock Island. It’ll be useful to you, actually! What, did you think that you wouldn’t get a few extra perks along the way just for playing?”

“Of course there will be upgrades. Your tasks will become much more difficult as you progress through the game,” Ris said, “But it will never be unfair. You’ll be able to become more of a threat just the same as the enemies become more threatening to you. That is, if you make proper use of the tools given to you. You have of course, already _failed_ to make use of the workshop, so I’m unsure how much faith I can have in you.”

“Coulda shoulda woulda, armed all yourselves with better weapons. What made you think those dinky Killing-Game leftovers would be good enough at all? They totally doesn’t. Course, it isn’t like you’re in a huge amount of danger from those bunnies… But you know.” Eva grinned. “Those sure aren’t the only things that you’ll be facing! It’s the slime equivalent, right? In RPG games you get level-one slimes that you can just slice, tear, here we go, right on through, collapse into a puddle of goo! These rabbits are like those. The easiest foes you’ll see in your time here. I mean, really, an un-upgraded workshop early-game weapon can oneshot them in a charge attack? Do you think they’re a threat? Hell, they’re really just easy meat here on easy street.”

“Since we won’t be providing you with any more food, meat from these creatures is a good idea to hold onto and cook. Similarly, the greenhouse should provide you with vegetables if you can get it repaired.” Ris pushed his glasses up. “All of these are simple aspects of your life now. You should be able to handle them. Go you… We believe in you…”

“We don’t.”

“Not even a little bit.”

“It _was_ pretty clever to make it straight to this shop. If you opened the wrong door, you would have already seen something much more worrisome. After all, haven’t you even dealt with a creepy shopkeeper? The kind of guy who claims that he’s just making sure that you’re not shoplifting, but there’s no reason for him to stand so close! Like you can feel his breath on the back of your neck and everything, but you can’t do anything about it except leave because you’re in his store!”

“As soon as you picked up the souvenir, of course… That door opened anyway. Illuminate…”

“A brighter future!”

“For the thing that’s right behind you.”


	252. Stage One, Day 2: Shopcreature

The Extend TV Monitor switched off, but nobody saw it happen. They’d all turned around already to see it approaching from across the street. Standing there, at the doorway of a different shop, was a man. But certainly not a man at all.

“You know you fucked up… When he sends the girl…” Distorted words fell from the man’s lips, which weren’t in a normal position at all. His mouth was stretched sideways, near-vertical but for where it curled around his cheek to his ear. The sentence had a strange quality to it, like it was hardly speech at all. It was- Those were words and they could be understood as such without much difficulty, yet somehow, they were ‘fake’.

Many things about this ‘man’ came across in a fake manner, not just his words and the mouth which voiced them. His skin was pallid and graying. He had one eye in its normal position, pushed shut by the mouth’s positioning, and another where his right cheekbone would be, wide open and bloodshot. It was tinted pink. He did wear clothing, which appeared like it would have once been business-casual, but was torn and ragged, falling off of his form. There was no implication of nudity in that, though. He… It, was too far gone from a human to give that impression at all.

Its enire body was tight, like its skin had become tape that clung to muscles and bone and constricted in places, giving its limbs an emaciated effect. The one arm which was an arm had gnarled fingernails. The other ‘arm’ was composed of, what else, a cluster of tendrils like the ones that Mercury had used before.

“That’s…” Shin muttered, “A person?”

“You really think that looks like a _person?_” Homura questioned.

Shin shrugged. “Well, something like it. My body’s looked pretty similar to that at certain points in my life, you know. Though the face and color is a bit much even for me.”

“Not to mention the tentacle…” Katsue held her arms in close to herself. “But still, it… It looks like something which _used_ to be a human. You don’t think that… If this place probably looks the same in reality, that creature might…”

“What do I care if it does!?” Yume lifted her weapon. “Sure, that guy’d be an acquaintance of mine. I’ve beat him down before and I’ll beat him down again if he plans on attacking us with that fucking thing! Disgusting… It just looks disgusting.”

“That thing could be a human being…” Yosuke said, “And you’re that ready to just destroy it?”

“You’re the one who’s still referring to it as ‘it’ despite that argument,” Syoko noted, “Besides. If the world is what’s at stake, I can’t imagine it matters if a few… Corrupted people like this, wind up killed along the way. They’re standing in the way of our success, when everybody’s counting on us.”

“If’n we don’t do somethin’ soon folks it’s gon’ catch up to- whaugh!” Irarako dodged out of the way as the creature’s tentacle arm suddenly shot out in their direction, but in the act of dodging, it seemed that she’d opened somebody else up to attack.

“Ur-gk!” Katsue made a short, strangled noise in her shock. Rather than turn to look at her, the others stepped forward to attack the creature. Irarako, Yosuke, Homura, Yume. It didn’t go down- But its next swing went against Homura’s side, and while he yelped at the pain, he retaliated. One more blow from Yume, and the creature reared up almost like a frightened horse before disintegrating into a pitch black dust which blew away in the wind.

Then, from behind the four attackers, a white sand joined into that wind as well. They turned to see that Syoko was holding in one hand, Katsue’s X-Key. In the other, a concrete chunk that Katsue had picked up before. Syoko shoved the chunk into her own bag, and clipped the X-key onto the string of her own. When it dropped, it acquired a convenient little clip at the top for just that purpose. Syoko took a deep breath.

Since clothing rematerialized with the clone bodies in the Advanced Extend Machine, every trace of Katsue had blown away to the wind. “I’ve got her here… I caught her before she hit the ground. We need to be careful. If those things can impale us from a range like that… Tsubasa, you might need to waste those pellets a bit-”

“As long as we ain’t caught off guard, should be fine! Ain’t need to spend the expendable when we’re the extendable.” Irarako raised her sword again. “Save it for if we’re real pickled.”

“But Katsue, she…” Syoko trailed off, touching at the X-Keys around her neck again. “It’s really… That easy for these things to kill us? What if we get cornered? What if… I don’t want to take any chances, for none of us to be able to escape and extend the others…”

“If you’re that worried about it, Syoko,” Yosuke said, “We can head back for now. Extend Katsue, and go back to the workshop to try and make a few other things with what’s left on Jabberwock Island. To be a little bit more prepared, is all.”

“They said they were disappointed in us, that we didn’t use the workshop as well as we should have… That we failed. If we fail in the future,” Syoko said, “We’ll end up dead. We’ll end up losing the game and everyone in the world will be dead too. How could we have been this stupid, walking into an unknown situation without making sure _everybody_ was armed?”

“C’mon.” Irarako held a hand out towards Syoko. “It’ll be alright!”

Syoko hesitated, then took Irarako’s hand. When they group left the building, they noticed a small pile of fabric sitting where the creature had previously been. Shin picked it up and put it into his own bag, then gave a thumbs-up to the others. Going back to Jabberwock Island, no other enemies were encountered, even though they could still be heard around. One objective was completed; And likely, in the future, returning home to Extend one person would be annoying. As it was, they could just as easily make it back to where they were, and continue on. Find some way to open the gate blocking off the _real_ ruins.

To reach the ‘end’ of this street littered with villains that Yume Mirai once knew.


	253. Stage One, Day 2: Extend Machine

Setting foot back on Jabberwock Island sent a tangible wave of relief through the group of survivors. Knowing that they weren’t about to get surprised again. Yume kicked at the sand a bit, then turned back to look at the others. “We shouldn’t go back in today. We should extend Katsue, then try to equip ourselves more, then rest. Ebizakaya, there enough rabbit meat for that?”

“Huh? Well, ain’t sure…” Irarako shrugged. “Done caught plenty rabbits before, but’s always Oji-san or Mama what cooks ‘em off.”

“I can cook it off. This should be enough to tide us over till tomorrow, when we can gather more,” Syoko said, “These are pretty large rabbits, so… We can probably split up one for dinner, one for breakfast, and we’ll be _alright_... Sort of nutritionally lacking without vegetables yet, maybe not great flavor since we haven’t got any salt, and we won’t have nearly as much energy as would be nice. But then, beggars can’t be choosers, right?”

“The fact that it’s meat will make up for the relatively small amount we can each have,” Shin said, “Really… You’ve all been comfortable in the availability of food up to this point, but I was always worrying this may happen. Unfortunately… At the same time as the leftovers of the food provided by Extend TV vanished, so did any rations I had hidden away in my room.”

“You hid rations in your room?” Yosuke asked.

“I saw those when we were investigating this last case. Granola bars and stuff… High nutrition density. Figures you’d know how to do something like that, though,” Homura said, “And figures that you’d do it, too. But sucks to suck, just like my knife is a nearly-worthless weapon and our clothes have no defense rating, your disaster prep was all for naught.”

“In any case, though we may not be comfortably fed and energized, it isn’t like we’re going to starve. And if worst comes to worst, of course, we can let ourselves starve to death and then extend. I would greatly prefer if we could avoid that, but it’s a last resort that we can count on if it does come down to it.”

“In that case…” Saya noted, “If each week we spend here is one day in reality, we should set aside a day from each week to spend not on our current objective, but on gathering as many supplies as we can.That shouldn’t be such a timesink that it delays our completion of the game, but will allow us to remain well-fed and capable of facing the dangers ahead.”

“That’s a good idea,” Yume said, “We should do that at the end of the week, I think. Can’t imagine we get much access to materials to _gather_ till we’ve made at least a little more progress in that ruin. Two rabbits, that’s the meat we can get without opening the gate to the rest of the ruin. And that’s if they even turn back up in one day.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to our ability to make progress, if that were true,” Shin said, “Remember. This is considered a game. A challenge against our enemies, with combat statistics and balanced odds. If we needed to fight everything all over again each time we retreated, then they wouldn’t be able to call it a ‘fair game’ as they continue to claim.”

“Before make any more plans,” Syoko spoke up, “Could we _please_ extend Katsue? She should be a part of any decisions that we make.”

“Of course.” Yosuke gestured to the Extend Machine, which they had arrived at during their conversation. Syoko gave him a nod, then stepped up and unclipped Katsue’s X-Key from her own necklace before placing it into the receptacle on the machine. The screen flared to life, playing that chiptune again.

As soon as Syoko selected ‘Extend’, a celebratory sound effect played and a notice popped up on the screen. She clicked through till they stopped coming up.

**Death by Male Creature:** Reduced damage taken from Male Creatures.  
**Death by Clione Arm:** Reduced damage taken from Clione Arm attacks.  
** Death by Being Impaled:** Reduced damage taken from Pierce attacks.  
**Died While Feeling Dysphoric:** Will extend with physical changes.

“That last one…” Yosuke observed, “Physical changes?”

“Well, let’s find out.” Syoko clicked at the final button to confirm the extend with Shigabane, and the bed at the side began to glitter as it did before. The blinding light gave way to Katsue, who at first just lay there and blinked in confusion. “Welcome back.”

“So I got killed, huh?” Katsue lifted her hands to look at her fingers. “I feel… different.”

“You look different too,” Syoko said, “A little bit. Your jawline’s softer. You got this, um… Dysphoria shigabane-”

“Of course I did,” Katsue cut her off and stood up. “So that _really_ proves you wrong, doesn’t it? Hah. Well, I’d be a little bit more excited that my body’s been changed like this if I could keep it when I see my boyfriend again, but they already said the shigabanes are exclusive to the NWP... But it is…” She wrapped her arms around herself, and smiled. “Nice to have one less thing to worry about, of course.”

“So what you’re telling me is that… After using the Extend Machine, our bodies get to be correct for the rest of the Zero Sum Game, till we go back to the real world?” Yosuke asked.

“Um… I suppose so. Saying that it’s ‘correct’ sounds a bit disrespectful, doesn’t it? But on a strictly persona level, yes. This mortal form has taken the shape of my soul.” Katsue smirked. “In all ways. I’d say that being impaled like that was well worth the results, if not the most conventional way to achieve a perfect body.”

“So-” Yosuke started.

No!” Syoko snapped and lightly hit him in the back of the head. “Good grief. You’re fighting on the front lines anyway, something’s gonna end up killing you sooner or later.”

“What’s the big _deal??_” Yosuke complained, bringing both his hands to the spot where Syoko had smacked him.

She poked at the scars on the back of his hands. “Self-destructive acts are still self-destructive even if they don’t have permanent consequences.”

“And for all you know, there _could_ be consequences,” Homura chimed in, taking a step forward. “If you kill yourself, then you might end up with a big penalty Shigabane. Maybe one that’s so bad you have to end up Extending without Shigabane, which, you know. Kinda defeats the point! I wouldn’t risk it.”

“Ugh, fine.” Yosuke groaned. “I spent eighteen years not even _knowing_ it was a problem, I guess I can go a few more days dickless.”

“Tha’s the spirit!” Irarako flashed two-thumbs-up at him and grinned, then turned back around and pointed toward the workshop. “Anywhat! The workshop beckons to beef up our equippin’! The daylight’s a-burnin’ so we oughta go ahead an’ fix ourselves up.”


	254. Stage One, Day 2 into 3: Return to Ruins

“Is that fabric…” Katsue noted, “Where did that come from?”

“Oh, the creature that killed you dropped it when we avenged you,” Yume said, “Why? Do ya recognize it?”

“I do. This is the fabric that Yuji was weaving for me, before… Everything happened.” She lifted it from the workshop table where everything gathered in the ruin had been laid out, draping it over her wrist. “So I suppose… The items that were scattered away in the hurricane ended up in the ruins?”

“Maybe in the ruins, or maybe specifically in the possession of those creatures,” Shin said, “Either way, it’s heartening to see. While this may just be some fabric, that does imply that other items we lost might be retrieved. The weaponry from Ebizakaya’s lab stands out to me as something that would be useful to us if we could retrieve it.”

“Would it real be that much good? If’n it’s from before?” Irarako asked, “The scissors n’ pocketknife, what worse than my garbo-fake sword.”

“We’ll find out if we craft something with this fabric. If it has a decent defense rating, then we’d know that items we _do_ find in the ruins, even if initially scattered from Jabberwock Island, have the same capabilities as items we craft entirely from gathered materials,” Shin said, “So it’s worth trying.”

“Whatever you craft with this fabric… I’d request that I be the one to make use of it,” Katsue said, “Er, well. If I’m killed, somebody else can until I’m extended, of course, but primarily…”

“Right!” Syoko hit a hand into her palm. “I didn’t even think of that! That’s clever. Of course if somebody is returned to an X-Key, and their equipment is better than what somebody else has…”

“Yes, of course. It’s astonishing that you didn’t realize sooner, that it would be a good idea.” Katsue rolled her eyes. “You would have just _carried_ around Ebizakaya’s sword in a bag if she were killed. When, exactly, did the fact that you were the smartest person here become untrue?”

“I guess when I said that stuff during the trial, right?” Syoko raised her eyebrows, then scooped up the rabbits from the table. “I’m going to go cook these. Good luck with the crafting.”

And then, she was gone. Katsue sighed, then turned her attention back to the workbench. “Well, aren’t we going to see what we can do with this?”

“I’ll handle the fabric,” Yosuke said, “It’s enough to make a shirt with… I’ll sew it together and see if that gives it a defense rating. Something like an over-layer, not too complicated… Has to be large enough that any of us can wear it in the case that we do borrow it. That’s alright, isn’t it?”

“I look good in large shirts anyway.” Katsue giggled. “I used to borrow Yuji’s all the time. A fitting look to have, when we’re trying to save his life. Right?”

“Checks out,” Yume said, “So Yosuke’s gonna manage that fabric… Oi, Saya. We could make a few more of these sand bottles, they obviously ain’t the best but they’re still better than what the boys’ve got.”

“Not quite!” Homura raised a finger. “You don’t really wanna bother giving me a blunt weapon. My pocketknife might have a pretty mediocre stat on its own, buuut, you’re not considering the other aspect! Personal _skill_.”

“Eh?” Yume blinked. “Fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“Shinku’s referring to experience with the type of weapon. For example, I don’t imagine that it’s actually just ‘eight damage’ to kill one of those rabbits. Ebizakaya has specific training in the use of swords like the one she made for herself, so that would also influence her abilities. If Shinku has skill in ‘slash’ weapons, that may be making up the difference for him, and equipping him with a weapon of the sort that he lacks skill in would be counterintuitive. Just as I would likely fail to do anything of substance with a blunt weapon myself…”

“That makes sense,” Yosuke said, “I’d appreciate a different weapon, though. I wouldn’t say I’ve got _experience_, but with my strength, I can probably do decent damage with a blunt weapon over what I’ve got right now.”

“Right-on.” Yume saluted, then took off with Saya to make it. Yosuke created the garment as he said he would, and it did have a defense rating, a few points above the kneepads that Shin had made- of which he went on to make several more. As many as there were bloodbags left in the infirmary, anyway, which turned out to be four more, for five sets of kneepads total. Yosuke was armed with another one of the sand-filled bottles, but that turned out to be it for weapons they could actually put together at the moment.

\--

Having eaten, slept, then eaten again, the group of survivors readied themselves to return to the ruins of Kobe Shopping District. The four who were taking up the front; Irarako, Yume, Yosuke, and Homura, made sure they were armed as best they could be. Excluding of course, the shirt which was Katsue’s property until she maybe happened to be killed again. She was hoping against it, given that she now had those Shigabanes on her side giving her extra defense when it came to those same creatures, though she wasn’t about to get careless.

There were no other enemies to be seen, though, along their path back. Shin had been correct that their experience was, in some way or another, ‘balanced’ such that they could retrace their steps without running into the exact same dangers all over again. As they approached the gate which barriered off the rest of the ruin…

“There.” Syoko pointed into the novelty store again. “Extend TV’s powered on again.”

Following her direction, the group crowded inside again- This time, with those in the back keeping on alert in case the same trick was pulled on them a second time. As soon as everybody was in the vicinity, the static gave way to familiar faces.

“Hey kids! Welcome back!” Eva waved both hands. “Before you go adventuring deep into the depths of your very first _circle_ of hell, we figured it was only prudent to share with you a bit of information! You wanna be prepared for what awaits you at the end of it all… Don’t you?”

“What Eva means to say is that we found a videotape. Do you kids know what a videotape is? No matter. It was in a box labeled ‘to predict the boss’, so I suppose that’s what it will do for you. This particular one has green marker written on its spine…”

“Oh, gimme that.” Eva snatched tape from Ris. “Building up this suspense is stoo-peed. I just wanna see what’s on it! Gimme this juicy, juicy information! Let’s see, right? Here we have…”

“**Wrath part one.**” Ris cut in. “**I’m in Like-Like with you.**”

“Pffft! Is that really the name?” Eva asked, and turned over the tape in her hands. “Well, doesn’t everyone revert back to super-childish phrases if they’re an insufferable tsundere ball of rage trying to accept their feelings? Let’s have a little look-see, though I bet you already know whose _sin_ will be on display here!”


	255. Wrath Part One: I'm In Like-Like With You!

The screen gave way to an image of an event from years ago. Long before the Killing Game, in fact, it was before the Mirai twins had given up on public school altogether. Thus, Yume stood in a middle school uniform in front of a set of shelves. They looked quite similar to the shelves in the store across the way, where the creature had emerged from yesterday. But the person standing with Yume wasn’t the shopkeeper- It was a boy her age, with shock-white hair and a cardigan tied around his shoulders.

“No, no, look at this one.” The boy pointed at the shelf. “Come to Kobe, we got uhhh… Stickers for your wine glasses with the name of the city on them. Give your guests some wine and flex on them at the same time.”

“Put the stickers on a pack of beef and _pretend_.” Yume laughed, a bright and full-bodied cackle. “Like people don’t claim everything in the world’s Kobe beef already…”

“Steak and red wine is a classy meal, so why not take the chance to show you can afford that _and_ a vacation where you bought totally irrelevant wineglass markers.”

“Awe, you’re being a lil bit unfair there, Shouto. If they’re buying irrelevant wineglass markers, what makes you think they got the fucking sense of mind to know that red wine goes with steak?”

“Huh, they’re actually really cheap. Maybe I’ll pick them up, for the lulz.”

“Don’t encourage them!” Yume hit his arm with the back of her hand. “They make plenty of money off the stupid tourists, they don’t _need_ local kids buying their crap, even if it’s ironically.”

“How do you know how much money they make?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would, actually!”

“Fine! I know how much most of the shopkeepers around this district make, actually. I know if they’re behaving and I know if they’re keeping up on their protection money payments to the Yamaguchi. The oyabun has taken an _interest_ in me and Kami’s personal well-being.”

“Oh right, because your parents…”

“Not because of that! It’s because we show promise and potential!” Yume stomped a foot. “Didn’t you hear that we’re both being scouted by the Ultimate Initiative?”

“You are…?” Shouto asked, then looked down in concern. “Are you thinking that you’ll take them up on it, if they do offer you a title?”

“Obviously I will. I’ve put a lot of work into my talent and if they want to recognize me for it, I’m going to. It’s been fourteen years since there were any Killing Games, so it’s not like it’s _dangerous_ or anything.”

“Even if it’s not dangerous right now, it makes me worried. There weren’t any Killing Games at all before the first one… Another one could happen at any time. Don’t you think? And besides… If you and Kami both become Ultimates, what am I supposed to do? Just be left behind here? A dumb, totally average guy without any other real friends?”

“Don’t put yourself down like that. Totally average people make up the bulk of society. People like me and Kami would be utterly fucked without you guys! If nobody’s doing the normal jobs to keep the world running then there’s no world for us to excel at our dumb-shit hyperspecialties in.”

“That’s sort of… Backhanded reassurance.”

“Well, then how’s this for reassurance, _Shooouto_? No matter what, the two of us are gonna keep on being your friends. It’s not like becoming Ultimates suddenly puts us in a different category of people from you, dipshit. We’re already prodigal middle-schoolers and we hang out with you all the time. Changing the word from ‘prodigy’ to ‘Ultimate’ isn’t gonna actually make a difference in the way we feel and act. Seriously, what’s gotten into you to be putting yourself down this much?”

“I just…” Shouto idly reached for and picked up the wineglass stickers. “Hate thinking about if you guys will forget about me. People keep leaving, you know? Leaving this city. Your parents left. My mom did too, after Dad died. The three of us only have each other, but it really feels like… You don’t need me anywhere near as much as I need you.”

“You gonna pay for that, kid?” The shopkeeper called from over at the counter.

“I’m still browsing,” He answered, “I’ll buy it or I’ll give it right back to you before I go, yeah?”

“Or he won’t,” Yume added in, “What are _you_ gonna do about it, huh?”

“Yume, come on. I don’t plan on stealing it, so it’s fine, right?” Shouto bounced the product in his hand. “Actually. I can think of something that would make me feel better.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll buy these, and we can stick them on some glasses with juice in ‘em! If…” He held the box up now and winked. “You’ll come have dinner at my place, just you and me this time. As a date, you know?”

“A. A date??” Yume took a step backwards.

“Is it really that absurd to you that you could ever date me? Ah, figures-”

“Fuck off! It’s not that it’s absurd I could date you, it’s absurd that you wanna go on a date with me! Are you serious right now!?”

“You’re kind of yelling really loud right now…” Shouto rubbed the back of his neck. “Why wouldn’t I want to go on a date with you? You’re really pretty and we get along really well. That’s more reason to ask somebody on a date than a lot of people our age have…”

“More reason to ask somebody on a date than a lot of people _any_ age have,” Yume admitted, “But, really. Me? Not even a little bit nice, me? If you were getting all up in your head because you wanted to go out with Kami I could understand it, everyone falls all over _her_. Not me! Everyone I ever asked out said I’m too mean and they don’t wanna be seen with me!”

“I’m already seen with you all the time, Yume. I’m being seen with you right now.”

“Oh.” She brought her hands to her face and giggled. “I guess that you are.”

“So what do you say? Will you? Should I go ahead and buy the stickers?” He waved them around again.

“Can’t say that I see a problem with going on a date and seeing where things might go! Long as you’re _sure_ it’s okay, with a bitch like me.”

“Who’s putting yourself down _now_, huh? I guess we both need to work on our self-images. But, we can try to do that together, can’t we?”

“Aw, screw it. Yes. I do believe we can.”


	256. Stage One, Day 3: To the Horizon

“Wow!” Eva exclaimed, “That was Yume in middle school? She was so cute! I just wanna pinch her cheeks!”

“Which cheeks exactly would those be?” Ris asked.

“You know me, which ones do you _think_? Bup, anyway. That was a really sweet scene! I can’t possibly imagine how it ties into the boss waiting at the end of the ruins…”

“It said ‘part one’, didn’t it? Even if the videos began that simply, I imagine there’s more to it. Yume Mirai was behaving with her usual crude language and brash manner, yes, but without the raw fury which would lead to a wrathful title that she clearly exhibits these days. We can look forward to seeing what exactly made her _such_ a spiteful young woman.”

“Who says that anything had to make her this way? Can’t women just be angry these days?”

“Don’t mistake my words for censure. I was turned spiteful by the actions of the world against me, myself. We’re two of a kind, she and I. Don’t you find that fascinating? Don’t you find that just spectacular?”

“I don’t need two of you.” Eva turned to the camera. “Well, the gate’ll be opening for you guys in a bit. We’ll have a looky-loo of our own for more videotapes! Double adventure! Twice the danger! Power rangers, go!”

“For… humanity?” Ris shrugged, and the monitor shut off.

-

“So,” Yosuke was the first to speak, “Yume, that was Shouto, huh? You mentioned him to me before. Your middle school boyfriend. I guess that date went well? Even though I know how it ended up, it was still pretty cute.”

“You think so?” Yume asked, “Well, I guess we _were_, back then. Kinda adorable. But…”

“Even though he was so worried about it, he’s the one who ended up leaving you guys behind…” Yosuke observed, “He went to a good high school, while you both quit to do self-study. Am I remembering that right?”

“You’re remembering it just fine, but y’know. I wasn’t exactly telling you the truth when I said how we broke up before. Why would I? I told you that I don’t consider you a friend, I’m not gonna fucking open up to you what really happened. These tapes, though… Guess they’re gonna show off the truth, so I’ll admit I lied right away.”

“But you won’t admit what the truth is,” Syoko said.

“Why would I? I’m going to be exposed. That tape showed off a scene that I was totally involved in, I remember it exactly. They probably took it directly from my brain. That’s a better way of understanding than any shit I could tell you about it myself.” Yume turned back toward the door out of the novelty shop. “I told a lie. That lie was ‘the reason Shouto Kodaki and I stopped dating’. I told this lie to Yosuke and to Saya because I didn’t feel like they needed to worry about this kind of thing. I do apologize for being untruthful.”

“You didn’t trust me to know?” Saya asked.

“That isn’t what I just said at all.” Yume turned to look at her. “Yosuke, sure. He didn't need to know. You, I would’ve told eventually, but there’s so much shit going on that you really didn’t need to be thinking about my _problems_. What sort of dipshit fucking girlfriend would I be if we started dating and I immediately dump all my petty baggage on your head? You haven’t told me your shit for the same reason. Don’t wanna make me deal with it.”

“I suppose that’s right.” Saya folded her arms. “Hm. Good point. I guess in some ways I feel like I should be a sponge and hear everybody else’s issues while never being open about mine.”

“That’s some solid self-awareness!” Homura laughed. “Well, at least you know it, huh? You’re gonna hear about whatever happened with Yume, soon enough.”

“Do you think…” Syoko spoke up, “Do you think that we’re all going to have videos like that shown, and Yume was just unlucky enough to be first?”

“If videos what past of _Yume_ happenin’, then yeh.” Irarako nodded. “All gonna, I think. Wouldn’ jus’ target the one a us. We all got secrets for exposure.”

“You?” Shin raised an eyebrow. “Have a secret?”

“Wouldn’ be human if I weren’t have any. Hella sometime wish I ain’t, but alas, I’m. There shit I don’t wan’ people knowin’. Everyone lies. Way’a the world n all that.”

“It is,” Yume said, “And frankly, folks. I don’t see the point, even one pencildick worth, in admitting to those lies now. The videos are gonna tell us what the fuck is up with each of us, better than we could explain ourselves. And if we jumped the gun confessing to random shit, then who knows, we might even out ourselves to something that wasn’t even gonna be shared to begin with.”

“It might be prudent to share those things anyway, though,” Shin said, “If we’re going to trust each other…”

“Uh, sure.” Homura cackled. “You can say that, but I don’t see you jumping at the bit to tell us everything… Or _anything_ really, about yourself, Tsubasa.”

“...You know that I spent a period of my life severely malnourished. You know that I was once sent to conversion camp. Any videos about me would likely relate to one or both of those facts. I’m under the impression that I’ve actually been quite open, by that measure.”

“If you put it that way, then you kind of have,” Yosuke said, “But I agree with Yume. Whatever we’re going to learn about here, we’ll get a more straight answer from those videotapes than we would from anything she could tell us. I know for sure it’d be the same for me…”

“If we wish to receive that straight answer.” Saya raised a finger. “We should just accept that I am clearly a _huge_ improvement over that Shouto loser, and carry on with our objective. Retrieve an item from the end of the ruin. I’m sure it won’t be easy, of course… Be ready for anything!”

So the group of survivors left the novelty shop and turned to look down the street where the gate had been opened. There were several more stores, all with the doors shut. Sounds of shuffling, but nothing visible at a glance. Another gate spanned the distance of the street in the distance; A good quarter of a mile down, hardly visible, but clearly present after a long stretch of road, the next barrier to reach on the horizon.


	257. Stage One, Day 3: Under Pressure

The group stepped forward into the new section of the ruin, then gave it a minute to see if any enemies made themselves visible. Nothing of the sort; Though the shuffling sounds continued all around, as Homura reported with backup from others whose hearing was better than Yume’s, nothing and nobody came into view. With that much alertness handled, they began to explore, only for the pavement to sink under Irarako’s foot moments later.

She toppled over, but Yosuke grabbed under her arms to catch her and get her steady on her feet again. As she was stood back up, there was that same distorted speech again coming from the right. Upon turning, it seemed that the depression of the pavement which Irarako caused had also opened the door to one of the shops. She stepped off, then back on, and the door closed again in the creature’s face.

“Pressure plates,” Shin observed, “I imagine that each one of these buildings’ doors is tied to at least one plate. Perhaps even several…”

“Several?” Syoko asked.

“If I intended to punish somebody for going about this in an unintelligent manner, I would certainly make it so the further you progressed down the street, the more doors from earlier would be opened as well. Thus, if we carefully remove our enemies as we go, we shouldn’t have any issues. If we were to just close doors every time it seems we’re setting one lose, then reopen them later on, we could have trouble on our hands.”

“That’s a good point!” Homura said, “And _further_more. If we can activate pressure plates, there’s nothing to say that the creatures can’t do the same thing. They probably don’t have the brains about them to let others out on purpose, but you don’t have to stumble around with any kinda purpose to stumble onto a plate. I mean, we just did. No purpose besides moving forward.”

“Sorry bout it,” Irarako said.

“Don’t be sorry,” Syoko said, “You closed the door again right away. Let’s consider… We seem to do more damage when we’re completely prepared to attack, when we’re charged up. Staying on alert like that all of the time would be much too draining, but we can certainly utilize the tactic when we know we’re about to encounter a particular enemy.”

“You’re sayin’... Release the bugger, then run up n’ whack it ‘fore it can whack us even a lil’ bit itself?” Irarako asked, then nodded. “Seems like that might right work on out! Yall get ready.”

Homura, Yosuke, and Yume all nodded in confirmation and prepared to attack. Irarako released the creature again, then the group dashed forward and attacked in succession. Unlike before, that was enough, and the creature was felled without incident. It didn’t drop any items, though, and there was nothing of consequence in this particular shop; nothing to pick up, and nothing that caught anybody’s eye on any shelves.

“It’d make sense if some of these things haven’t got anything but monsters in them,” Homura voiced, “We should still clear them out for the reasons that Tsubasa said. And! We should check them all thoroughly too. Hiding one really good item after we get used to these doors having nothing in ‘em is a straightforwardly clever way to try and keep us from actually acquiring all the tools that would help us out.”

“Our enemies _do_ want to succeed against us,” Katsue noted, “They merely wish for a fair fight. Thus, the obstacles would have been set thus that it would be our own mistakes which lead to our downfall. The capability to win is offered to us, simply, but it’s up to us if we’ll actually seize it. Being duped by something as simple as failing to investigate every part of the ruins, again, is the sort of thing that would lead us to… Deserve a loss, honestly.”

“We need to be careful too!” Saya exclaimed, “Eva mentioned traps. She wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t actually place traps! If we check every single building without being _careful_, then we’ll stumble into one for sure.”

“I see… We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any signs of them as we keep going,” Yume said, “I might be able to give you a head’s up, which shops could have a useful item, and which ones they might have put traps in… If it’s supposed to be fucking thematic at all, you know? It might kinda line up with my experiences when I lived here. The souvenir thing did.”

“Is that so?” Homura asked, “Then, Yume, what was this shop before?”

“Sold paper. Paid protection on time. Single owner. Unremarkable!” Yume lifted a finger with each aspect of the current store that she listed off. “Obviously I agree that we oughta check everything… But there’s a hardware store that’s bound to have something good for us to use. And I’d bet my left tit that the places which _didn’t_ pay their protection money are more likely to have traps than monsters inside.”

“Right, because the monsters would already be dead?” Shin asked.

“Theoretically speaking…” Yume muttered, “If it’s _representative_. I do hope you understand, with the way that they defended your sister, the Yamaguchi aren’t nearly as punitive as they might publicly appear. ‘Paying Protection’ isn’t only money. The money, they can let slide. It’s attitude, it’s community. Somebody who only sells enough to keep their shop open and themself alive will never be harmed unless they represent a _problem_. Likewise, somebody who pays high sums constantly won’t necessarily be protected from retribution if they’re showing bad behaviors.”

“Vigilante justice, huh?” Syoko asked, “I actually think that’s admirable.”

“It should be. The Yamaguchi aren’t petty criminals, they’re yakuza. There’s honor involved there.” Yume turned back to the door. “They looked after me and Nanjo, after all. Should be proof enough right there that they ain’t just fucking monsters. Wonderful individuals, truly. Whatever you might think of the organization, the guys running it are plain _lovely_. Well then. Let’s keep going.”

With that, she led the way back to the road, and the group began the process of continuing onward, following the ‘charge attack’ plan as best they could, though it was a bit tiring. A few of the buildings contained sets of multiple rabbits, the defeat of which was reassuring for the sake of food gathering. A few injuries were sustained, along the process, but nobody was killed. One of the buildings had an interior lever, which Homura pulled despite warnings not to. All it did was shut the door behind them. That shop seemed to be the hardware store, and presented a small, kind of rusty hatchet which Homura claimed as a weapon upgrade.

The group rested up with the door shut safely. It seemed like their injuries could heal pretty quickly if they stopped and sat down. Stopping to let that happen, though, had enough time passing that they were beginning to get hungrier. Irarako, having been the one to attack the most, had her stomach growling the most as well. They’d found one apple while exploring, which was offered up to her. Once recovered as much as they were able, they opened the door from that building again just to see that one of those monitors had appeared in their path. It buzzed to life immediately.

-

“Hey kids!” Eva greeted them.

“Welcome to Extend TV,” Ris continued, “As you can imagine by our sudden appearance, we’ve found another videotape. Furthermore, we’ve been able to learn that they have an official title. They’re called ‘conquest videos’, which I suppose makes sense as their intention is to aid you in your ‘conquest’ of the ruins.”

“Sure, that’s what they mean!” Eva cackled. “That’s a stretch, Osiris. I think it’s way more likely they’re called Conquest videos because they capture a sexual conquest in their contents! Like, this batch sure seems like it’d go there! The last one could pass as a shitty porn intro. For all we know, these kids’ sins are just the way they’ve all had sex before marriage.”

“I don’t think so,” Ris said, “If they were something like that, then we’d have to stop showing the videos. I don’t agree with the concept of that sin, and I also don’t agree with voyeurism into the sex lives of teenagers.”

“I love voyeurism! But Ris, even if it’s not what I said, isn’t this voyeurism into the _traumas_ of teenagers? Is that really any better?”

“Certainly. Exposing a person’s past wrongdoings, done by or to them, is a valid form of psychosocial warfare. Exposing a person’s past sexual activities and shaming them as if they _were_ wrongdoings is just plain malice. We want to win the game, not to just be total creeps to our opponents.”

“Speak for yourself.” Eva stuck out her tongue, then reached over and put the videotape in. “Anyway, here’s **Wrath Part Two: My Twin Sister Can’t Possibly Be My Sister**.”


	258. Wrath Part Two: My Twin Sister Can't Possibly Be My Sister

Yume had spent the afternoon out with Shouto. While she and Shouto were off eating ‘lunch’ after school, Kami hadn’t come along with them. She sometimes did, after all. Even though Shouto was Yume’s _boyfriend_, all three of them were good friends, and that wasn’t going to change just because two of them were now an item. This particuar day, Kami had her own date, and Yume wasn’t likeable, so the pairs went their separate ways rather than making a double date of the affair.

And when it came to going separate ways, Shouto had to return to the school that evening for baseball, so after their date Yume set off for home all by herself. The train was uneventful- It usually was. People in Kobe knew by now that Yume and Kami Mirai were the latest in a line of children that Akihiko Yamaguchi had adopted, whether officially or otherwise. Nobody was going to bother the yakuza kids. It just wasn’t worth it.

Yume arrived back at her home just as somebody else was leaving it. The girl who had been going on a date with Kami, in particular. Yume didn’t keep track of the other people in their school enough to know her name, but a brunette wearing their middle school’s uniform only had so many options of who to be. She also looked _very_ upset when she shoved past Yume. Some better siblings might be concerned, but Yume just stepped inside with a curious smirk.

“Hey there, heartbreaker,” She called out into the house, “What’s got the chick running?”

Kami opened the door from their bedroom and leaned against the doorframe, hair hanging in her face. “Ehh. It’s kind of a complicated story… How was your date?”

“It was nice. Shouto almost bailed on baseball, but I convinced him to go. I think he just wanted to keep making out.” Yume crossed her arms. “For an ‘average guy’ he’s sure got a shit load of energy.”

“So much that _you_ can’t keep up with him, damn. That’s impressive.” Kami pushed off from the doorframe and took a few steps into the room. “Unless you’ve got some reason you’re not trying to keep up with him?”

“Huhhh? Trust me, I’m getting my fill.” Yume rolled her eyes. “I don’t even get it, he’s got a dick that just _won’t_ quit. Well, how about that girl who just left?”

Kami just groaned.

“That bad, huh?”

“I got her off, then I said some stupid shit and she stormed out. So congratulations on the action _you’re_ getting. Must be pretty convenient to have an official boyfriend.”

“Yeah, oh, how the turntables. Now you’re the one who’s getting left out to dry. Though I dunno what shit you could have said. Since when do girls not just fall all the way over you?”

“I don’t… Mm. I think you should probably sit down?” Kami gestured at the kotatsu. Yume did, and Kami sat down next to her. “I’m not sure if I should even say this, or if it makes any sense. You and I are identical twins, after all.”

“What… does that have to do with some girl bailing on your sexcapade?” Yume questioned, “Did she suddenly decide that you’re super ugly after all and you don’t wanna tell me cause that’d imply I’m ugly too? I promise, I’m not in the business of giving a shit about blatantly untrue things.”

  


“No, it’s not anything like that, it’s more like…” Kami took a deep breath. “She left because… I told her that I’m not sure I’m actually a girl.”

“Why the fuck would you just blurt that out to somebody you’re hooking up with? No wonder she ran off, that’s like, at least a second-date concept to bring up. Theorizing about gender with a fling? Totally stupid.”

“...I guess it is. Um, that’s the only part that stands out to you, Yume?”

“Yeah pretty much. Why’d you tell that girl? It’s dumb to do. Shoulda told me first and we can figure it out.” She shrugged.

“I didn’t plan on saying it, it just kind of slipped out… You don’t think it’s weird that I’m feeling this way even though we’re twins? I mean, some people think this kind of thing is genetic, and…”

“I dunno. I definitely do feel like a girl. I considered it before and decided that I’m just fine the way I am. But we’re different people, so. You thought about it and realized that you’re not just fine. Right? Cause even if we have the same DNA we got different personalities and all. I might think and say, hm, being a girl kinda sucks sometimes, but that’s okay. Then you say being a girl kinda sucks sometimes, probably I’m not a girl. Same feeling, different approach, right?”

“I guess that checks out. So, um… Could I, I guess, try shit out with you? Like, if I asked you to call me a different name just to see how it feels, would that be alright?”

“Uh, duh? Course it would be. Just say the word and I’ll call you whatever the hell you want. I’m almost offended that you feel the need to ask me about it at all.” Yume crossed her arms. “Like, are you serious right now? What part of you ever thought I wouldn’t be understanding of this shit? Gimme a name, dude.”

“It’s kind of dumb, but… I might like to be called Nanjo.” He brought a hand up to rub his neck as he looked away from his sister. “It suits me, right?”

“Oh my god. That’s the doctor right, from that game you like?” Yume asked.

“Um, yes. I just like the name… I mean, he also is the one who confirms all of the bodies are dead, so. In a way that does suit-”

“I can’t believe my twin brother is a kinnie for the lamest character in a visual novel.” Yume threw her hands up. “I may not know the game, but I sure do know that people think that guy is stupid! You wanna be a stupid guy? That what you want?”

“If I’m a guy, then being stupid is a sacrifice I’m willing to make.” Nanjo chuckled. “Being accused of kinning is fine too. Thanks for hearing me out, Yume.”

“I get you into trouble so often… The least I can do is support your _identity_.”


	259. Stage One, Day 3: Insensitivity

“Wouldja look at that! Teenagers, discussing their sex lives and everything!” Eva waved her hands around. “I was right! I was right!”

“It’s interesting that they grew up in such a ‘woke’ era that a girl would decide that it was worth leaving a hookup upon having her partner come out to her. Back in my day, your confession of innate gender was merely ignored and the sex acts would continue in the same vein as if you’d never said anything at all, gendered language and everything.”

“Just because your husband didn’t respect your gender doesn’t mean that all terrible people misgender at the same time. I’d probably do the same thing as that chick who ran off on Nanjo there if I found out some sweet young thing I was taking my fill of turned out to identify as a man!”

“You’re beautiful.” Ris deadpanned, then turned to the camera. “Before she incriminates herself any further, I think… You should illuminate.”

“A brighter future!!”

“For humanity.”

-

Homura stuck his hands behind his head and shrugged. “How old even were you guys in that video?”

“It was our third year of middle school, so we were fifteen,” Yume said.

“Checks out. Still kinda young to both be sexually active,” Syoko said, “But if we consider that you were evidently living alone, and evidently both being hit like a train by adolescent hormones, it isn’t especially shocking that you would behave in that manner.”

“Hm, yeah, maybe it was some kind of way to cope with the fact that we were abandoned by our parents…” Yume puffed out one cheek.

“You’re actually agreeing with me?” Syoko blinked. “I was sort of expecting you to yell at me for thinking ill of your actions, and then I’d need to justify my thinking… After all, I promise it isn’t that I’m against sexual agency, or that I think teenagers should never be having sex with each other, but-”

“I didn’t fucking snap at you about it, you don’t have to go off on some dumb ramble defending yourself, you’re _right_. Me and Nanjo both lost people who were supposed to love us, we wanted to be loved real bad, and to a teenage brain that’s the perfect way to go about that. We’re just lucky both of us were hot enough to land folks our own age instead of ending up chasing older creeps.”

“Right.” Syoko shut up and took a step back.

“Besides that fact, this particular conquest video remained rather light,” Saya said, “I still don’t quite see how these are supposed to intimidate us in any fashion, or reveal our secrets…”

“That was just part two,” Yume said, “And I frankly can’t imagine anything else ‘light’ in my life at that point to be shown, following when Nanjo came out to me. Something sweet and warm like that… That kind of support between siblings? That’s the last time we would have been able to have a moment like that untainted by that fucked up, dickpunch of the truth.”

“I won’t ask what happened between you,” Shin said, “As you noted, we’ll learn the truth as we view the videos, and not a moment sooner. But I will ask what didn’t happen between you. This unpleasant coping mechanism, as you’ve termed it. It remained without overlap?”

“What the fuck, dude? Are you asking if me and Nanjo ever fucked each other!?”

“I merely want to know before we get there, so I’m not caught off guard if it turns out that was the case…”

“Absolutely not. Do either of us give you that impression? Are you serious? We never would have-”

“Neither of you needs to be willing for that to have been the case.” Shin crossed his arms. “It’s completely possible… This truth you state has ‘tainted’ your relationship at siblings could very well be an occasion in which you were perhaps, forced at gunpoint, through coercion, maybe through drugs. Some situation in which neither of you wanted what happened to happen, yet it did.”

“I don’t… That doesn’t make sense.” Yume turned away. “It’s gross that you’d even ask that, Tsubasa!”

With this harsh admonishment, Yume rushed past the monitor which had just shown that conquest video, pressing on recklessly into the ruin further. Without a second thought, she stomped on several pressure plates when the first one she stood on seemed to do nothing. Three different ones next to each other was what it took to open up the building across the road from the one in which the survivors had stopped to rest. When it was opened, it became immediately clear why doing so wasn’t the easiest in the world-

There was some item on a pedestal in the back, but obscuring what it was- There were three. Two creatures and one ravvit were standing guard of that building, and immediately stumbled outward toward the group. Rather than pressing the plate again to close the door, Yume rushed toward them to attack. Behind her, Irarako tried to shut the door, but hitting the plates again didn’t work this time. The evil had been loosed.

So instead, the group came up behind to support Yume in fighting the creatures which had appeared. The first two, the more threatening ones, went down with minimal injuries to the combatants, but the ravvit ignored the immediate threats to catapult itself toward the others, and latched itself onto Saya’s face. Before they were able to kill the thing, Saya had been felled, reducing to an X-Key and dropping the items she had been carrying to the ground.

Yume grunted in frustration. “Couldn’t’ve just taken me, dumb piece of shit rodent.”

“You’re the one who wasn’t careful,” Katsue said.

“Sure she weren't, but, I ain’t like to be careful what when feelin’ bad either. Tsubasa said some weird shit, n’ I bet thinkin’ bout the Conquest Videos is all kinda stress.”

“It wasn’t that… Weird. That particular scenario rubs me the wrong way, is all, I wished to be able to brace myself if it were the case between the Mirai twins. It wasn’t meant to be a slight against either. It was an attempt to… trigger-warn myself, you could say?”

“It was still insensitive,” Syoko noted.

“We got a fucking ‘partition’.” Yume gestured toward the pedestal, then shoved the thing in her bag. It seemed a little bit small to be of any use, but the group somehow got the impression it was important anyway. With that, she turned right back around to leave the building. Homura hung back a minute to read a sign on the wall. ‘Missed a paycheck? Ask about our payment plans’.

“No wonder that one had enemies in it,” He noted, “I bet these folks always got along with the Yamaguchi pretty well…”

“That’s just why I wanted to get in. Better if I kill some fucking enemies than attack Tsubasa himself, right?” Yume swung her weapon over her shoulder, then froze. “Fucking creepy, that monitor turned around so it’s still facing us.”

-

“That’s because we already found the next video!” Eva announced as the monitor lit up. “I guess since this is just the first ruin, it makes sense you’d ‘progress’ pretty quickly, huh?”

“Actually, we already have all of the videos. We decided to show you this one now to validate Yume’s anger. It’s very valid anger. Justified and everything. That’s what you’ll begin to understand in **Wrath Part Three: I Saw Your Sister In The Cornerstone.** And so you don’t get any ideas about hiding your secrets, the contents of any missed conquest videos will be downloaded directly into your memories when you next Extend.”


	260. Wrath Part Three: I Saw Your Sister In The Cornerstone

“It isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be.”

The conquest video opened on a restroom, with two young men standing in front of the sinks. One was Nanjo, and that other, Shouto. Nanjo was the one who’d said it.

“What isn’t?” Shouto asked.

“Being like this, you know? Being a guy like me. Of course, I can’t change it. I couldn’t possibly go back to being ignorant of my nature. Even so… As a harsh and masculine woman, I had a certain appeal, right? Men wished to tame me and women wished to be ravaged by me. Now, nobody wants me. I no longer appeal as an aloof woman, but am instead an unpleasant and off-putting young man.”

“The way you say that, it’s like all you care about other people’s thoughts is how much they see you as a sex object…” Shouto chuckled. “And it’s not like you magically stopped being hot the second you changed your name.”

“It’s somewhat… Depressing, to think about. That in every case, it was never a matter of myself.” Nanjo adjusted his hair. “I haven’t changed as an individual. It has always just been me. Yet now… I am undesireable. Thus, it was only the idea of who I was as a ‘woman’, and not who I was, that attracted others. As for the value I place on that, what other value is there in our world? I have the unshakeable value of my ‘talent’. That will never change and I will always be comfortable in that aspect. So the only value which I might want for is the value of who would love me.”

“Yume always will,” Shouto said, “You have to know that.”

“It isn’t that sort of love. That is, it’s meaningless in the same way that my talent is. I can’t lose that and I’ve always had it. Is it not in human nature that ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’? Thus, satisfaction can’t be truly had from something which has no capacity to be lost. And the love which comes with lust it seems is something lost to me. It’s… Frustrating.”

“Emotionally frustrating? Or just sexual?”

Nanjo stomped one foot. “Ugh, it’s both, okay?”

“Cut the pretentious language, dude, and speak truth to power.”

“It wanted to be wanted! It felt good to be wanted, by somebody in the world. I’m also just. I have, since puberty began, been what you’d call ‘stupid horny’ at all times.”

“Hormones make idiots of us all, yeah.”

“Yes, and I’ve traded up to the hormone even more associated with idiocy than the ones which I already had. Forgive me for being so blunt, but the same thing which lost me my opportunity to fuck makes me want to fuck so much _more_. You do have the comparison point of my sister, yes? That’s doubled.”

“I think I can imagine that, seeing as even your sister only ever seems able to satisfy me halfway as much as I’d prefer.” Shouto adjusted the sweater that he had draped around his neck. “Well, you know. I can’t say it would mean ‘love’, but it seems like we’re in the sort of predicament that we could help each other out of.”

“What?”

“No matter what changes about you, you and Yume. You’ve got similar bodies and similar faces. You’re going to look a lot like my girlfriend, and she can’t satisfy me alone. It’s… Almost not cheating if it’s with you?”

“Are you serious right now? Why would I… I’m not going to sleep with my sister’s boyfriend. Besides, aren’t you straight?”

“I dunno. Am I? I’m still attracted to you,” Shouto said, “So that’s something. I think. I wouldn’t call myself bisexual or anything, but it’s the same with Yume. If she wasn’t… she? Then I wouldn’t just be able to turn off how much I like _her_.”

“Are you saying that you had a crush on _both_ of us, from the beginning, Shouto?”

“I did. But, you were kind of a woman about town at the time, so I wasn’t about to try starting a relationship. You were having fun with anybody you could get in bed, and all. But things are different now. I’m not getting enough sex, and you’re not getting any, and we’re friends. Just two pals helping each other out, right?”

“...”

“And I mean, think about it. I might not have anything special about me, but at least when you guys do leave me behind I’ll be able to impress folks with the story of the two-for-one deal I managed to grab for myself. I’m managing, right? Aren’t I?”

Nanjo turned and looked away from Shouto, and took a deep breath. Was he managing that? Was that what was going on here? Nanjo didn’t want to hurt Yume by being the person her boyfriend cheated on her with. On the other hand, he’d be lying to say he wasn’t tempted by the offer. He wanted to. Every part of him _wanted_ to, it was just the reasonable parts of his brain which reminded him that he really absolutely shouldn’t.

Nanjo Mirai was never one to give in to reason, though.

“I guess that you are, aren’t you.”

“Well, I’m not naive enough to just assume it’ll work between us. We’ll have to try it out, before I say I succeeded, you know? And nobody ever uses this bathroom.”

“That’s why I use it. Not like I really think anyone would give me a tought time, but… Oh. Oh, I see what you were implying here.”

“For somebody so smart, you can be kind of dense at times, can’t you? Didn’t you ever learn to interpret signals back when you were getting it regularly?”

“Usually, I would be the one giving the signals to be responded to. So forgive me if I’m new, to not being the one to initiate. Don’t count on this being something which sticks, you know. It remains morally wrong.”

“Do you really care about morals? I mean, look at the people who are taking care of you and Yume. Morality’s subjective, and I don’t think it’s wrong, so you shouldn’t either. I’m hurting Yume by cheating on her, but I think I’m justified. You’re not hurting anybody at all, the blame’s mine.”

“The fact that it’s something for which ‘blame’ needs to be placed at all… But… Well. Just until I can find somebody else, okay?”


	261. Stage One, Day 3: Berserk

“Cheating on your girlfriend with her transgender twin brother… What is this, a soap opera?” Eva asked, holding a fist below her chin. “Third years in middle school don’t usually get up to nearly this many torrid affairs! It’s a teen melodrama gone wild!”

“Here’s hoping none of them try to off themselves, or else we’ll have to put a cheesy disclaimer encouraging people to seek mental health resources at the end of every single episode.”

“For crisis intervention!”

“Go to Illuminate-A-Brighter-Future-…”

“Dot-info!”

“Bye-bye.”

\--

“So that’s why you guys broke up, huh? You found out what was going on… That was really shitty of Nanjo to-” Yosuke started, but found himself interrupted by Yume grabbing him by the front of the shirt.

“That ain’t the reason at all, dumb shit. And you’re really blaming Nanjo after what you just fucking saw? He told me right away. I knew it was going on, I never told Shouto that I knew, but I knew. I was fine with it, but I wouldn’t have been… If I’d actually seen that… They must have picked it out of Nanjo’s fucking memory, I never knew how it started.” She released him with a shove. “That piece of shit scumbag, taking advantage of my brother’s vulnerability like that…”

“I mean, it was probably a scummy thing to do, cheating on you like that, but…” Yosuke said, “I’m not sure I follow what you’re saying here.”

“Looks like fucking. Basic ass shit. Innocent, as an affair can get, right?” Yume brought her weapon back to slam against the building behind them. “But I know Nanjo and I know Shouto and that… that wasn’t even innocent that much. It’s fucked up. It’s fucked up! Completely! You’re not my fucking friend, you can’t judge my brother like that, you can’t say he hurt me when he was the one who got hurt by that! You don’t know shit!”

“I’m, sorry? I assumed. I shouldn’t have.”

“You really shouldn’t have. Did those fuckers say this was the last one of my conquest videos? No. So you can’t pass _judgment_ on me for them. They’re nowhere fucking near finished yet, you don’t know the whole story. Even I, obviously, didn’t know the whole story. This entire time I was holding something against him when… You see, he didn’t know how to say no to that guy. I mean, hell, I don’t blame him at all for being manipulated that way.”

“Manipulated?” Syoko asked, “I thought, well. That seemed rather straightforward to me.”

“Does it now? Really… You wouldn’t possibly understand though, would you? You’ve never been hung out to dry by anybody. If you’ve suddenly come to the realization that the masses at large, people who admired you and wanted to be around you… Suddenly had no such desire to do so? If every dipshit on this bitch of an earth left you in the dust but one, you’d do whatever that person said, wouldn’t you? Just to make sure they wouldn’t turn their back on you too. That was what Nanjo was thinking there.”

“I can understand that sort of thinking,” Katsue said, “The way that played out… It didn’t necessarily seem like their affair could be considered nonconsensual, but certainly coercive to an extent.”

“I was fine with it even when I thought that it _was_ completely… When I thought it was Nanjo’s idea. But knowing that it’s different. Knowing this now? Something else I was holding against him, I guess I need to let that slide too.” Yume looked down at the ground. “Such an ‘average’ guy managing to be that kind of a shitstain. To hurt _two_ ‘Ultimates’ this badly. What the fuck does a title even mean if it doesn’t let you be safe from those kinds of everyday people?”

“It’s cause all of us are everyday people. Bad folks, good folks, ultimate. All livin’ all days, always, everyday life. Nothin’s real different ‘cept that someone thought it’s good idea to call us better, like bein’ real good at one thing makes ya different from people what can do bunches of things well.” Irarako put her hands on her hips. “An’ I even got somethin’ extra-extra for bein’ and Ultimate, once. Help I wouldn’t’a got otherwise. Ain’t enough to make it worth the troubles.”

“It’s almost like recognizing individuals for being ‘super special’ only proves to put unrealistic expectations on us and alienate us from our peers!” Homura laughed. “And that the fact both of our societies still fucking _did_ it as a matter of tradition means that nothing actually fucking changed after the last killing game! Ah, but what do I know. I’m just some kid.”

There was a minute of silence throughout the group. Yume was the one who spoke up again, her voice low and harsh. “I’m warning you this time. I wanna fucking fight, so I’m going to keep going, recklessly.”

Before anybody could react, she had already run forward, releasing both sets of shops at once. One had a creature and a ravvit, the other just a ravvit, but Yume didn’t slow down at all. She’d beaten a ravvit into submission by the time that she opened up one more shop up. The others were hardly even drawing the ire of the creatures, being a good amount behind Yume at this point. There was a groan all around before they jumped in to help, but it seemed that she just wouldn’t stop- It was as if she didn’t even need to take a breath to recharge between swings.

When she looked up again, she was covered in the thick black blood of the creatures, dripping down her clothing and her face. The look in her eyes was frightening- it was bloodlust. Clear and evident bloodlust, she was smiling. She enjoyed that fight, she had wanted it. She was boiling over and she just wanted to kill. It was there, in that moment, that her peers finally felt a pit in their stomach. A fear, a dread, of what was to come. What awaited them in those Conquest Videos…

What, exactly, Yume’s _sin of wrath_ had actually been. What was bubbling up now, brought to the surface by these videos to drive her into a rage that clearly rivaled whatever fury had built in her back then. When she was a third year in middle school. When she lost that playfulness they’d seen of her young self in the novelty store.

Each one of them could imagine a moment when their own old self died. Yume was not unique, in the destruction of a younger version of her. Even still, the sin a person who took glee in this type of carnage would commit…

Couldn’t be overlooked.


	262. Stage One, Day 3: Reluctance to Return

Yume lifted her foot to step forward again, only to be stopped in her tracks as each of her arms was grabbed. One by Yosuke, the other by Syoko, as they both held her back. She twisted around to look at them and tugged at her arms, but she wasn’t going anywhere. It was mostly Yosuke’s hold which was keeping her in place, admittedly, but she wasn’t managing to _escape_ from Syoko either.

“What are you doing?” She hissed, “We have to keep going, we’ve got to deal with-”

“We’re running out of space to carry things back with us, and we need to extend Saya,” Syoko said, “I think it’s probably wise if we regroup and go back to Jabberwock Island for the time being, don’t you? We’ll come back tomorrow. The monsters probably won’t respawn, so we can get back to where we were easily. Just like we did yesterday. We have plenty of food to cook, too, so we should be able to face the day with a lot more energy.”

“Didn’t we just fucking rest? We don’t need to face anything with more energy, we need to finish with this fucking bullshit! We need to get through this display of my _fucking_ personal issues and put the spotlight on one of you instead and see how you like it!”

“We will. It’s going to happen to all of us,” Homura said, “It doesn’t really make a difference how soon that happens. It’s gonna either way. Come on, Yume. Let’s go back for now, they’re right. If we find much more to carry back, then we won’t be able to carry it all at once, especially since we got the stuff Saya was carrying.”

“Saya this, Saya that, did it ever occur to you that _maybe_ I’d actually prefer it if I didn’t have to deal with my girlfriend knowing about these conquest videos until after the full truth is out there!? It’s bad enough that you guys gotta hear about it, gotta learn this shit all _peacemeal_ and all. Get all these goddamned misconceptions without the whole story. Can’t we just wait to extend her till after?? Can’t you let me have that much, so she doesn’t have to know anything about this until it’s _everything_ about this!?”

“We’re not going to do that,” Katsue said, “I’m the only one here who’s been through the Extend Machine yet. It’s weird to be an X-Key. You wake up, and all your memories just… Show up at once? For what you missed. You weren’t there at all, you just know. I didn’t find it pleasant at all… Would you really want to subject your girlfriend to something like that, Yume? It’s prudent to extend everybody the moment we get the chance.”

“Then we won’t get the chance. We won’t go back yet,” Yume said, “We’ll just keep going. We’ll get through these fucking conquest videos and then she’ll know who I really am and she can make a decision based on that. Based on everything. If she wants to still give a shit about me…”

“If I were her,” Syoko said, “Then I might make that decision based on being left in an X-Key, more than anything in your conquest videos.”

“Of course _you_ would,” Katsue said, “You seem to think that no relationship troubles can ever be worked out between people and that a decision should be made without discussion or thought.”

“Oh, give me a break.” Syoko groaned. “Don’t you agree that we should go back?”

“Yume,” Irarako said, “If’n we find somethin’ scarier on the other side that gate that… Don’t you wanna we should have all the help we can get?? That’s everyone.”

“I can handle-”

“You can’t,” Yosuke said, “You’ve got a lot of rage, and that can carry you through a lot of things, but I’m still holding you in place right now, and I _don’t_ want to hurt you.”

“You don’t? Then why won’t you let me go, huh!? Just let me do what I need to do! It’s fine! It’ll be fine! They haven’t even hit me yet!” She thrashed against the hold, but went nowhere. “It’s adrenaline! I don’t even need to rest, I can just attack right away after landing a hit, so how exactly do you think I’m gonna fucking _fail_?”

“Yume, seriously, just give it up and come back to base with us,” Homura said, “I get how you feel, I really do, but everyone’s right. You’re outnumbered, and we need to be careful about these things. We’ll do better tomorrow anyway! Exposing your secrets quickly… I know you think that’ll let you get out all this feeling bad at once, but I don’t think it will.”

“What the fuck do you know about my feelings?”

“I can tell these things.” Homura shrugged. “You’re lashing out cause they’re showing you stuff you didn’t wanna see and didn’t wanna think about and now you gotta both. You could think about all of it all today if we kept going… I don’t think that’s a good idea, though.”

“If you want me to go back to Jabberwock Island right now… If you want me to slow down, at all, you’re just gonna have to drag me out yourselves. I’m not going. I’m not going to leave and I’m not going to-”

“Jesus _fucking_ Christ, all right then,” Shin interrupted her and stepped forward. He pulled out the scissors- He’d equipped them after Yosuke upgraded to a blunt weapon, though he doubted that he’d be of much use with them. It was good to be armed anyway, with something less expendable than the pellets. And good to be armed, particularly, at a time like this.

He stabbed them into Yume’s gut. Everybody was stunned into silence, Yume herself included as she stared down at the injury she’d just sustained. Shin drew the scissors back, then aimed between her ribs. Again. One more time. She still didn’t make a sound in her utter surprise, until she dissolved around his weapon and her X-Key fell. He reached out and caught it, gracefully, in one gloved hand.

He looked up at the others, and shrugged one shoulder. “It’s much easier to drag an X-Key out of here than it is to drag a conscious person, isn’t it?”


	263. Reality 6: Face the Music

**Location: ISS SPEAK **   
**Date: September 10th, 2128**   
**Time: 1700 Hours**

"You know..." Renji said, "A kid like you probably shouldn't be watching this stuff. The conquest videos. I don't think there's any requirement for you to... If you just went in another room..."

"I don't really give a shit." Rei shrugged. "If it's stuff that I shouldn't be seeing, as a kid, nyah? Well, I already know about all of it anyway. I didn't exactly have a normal childhood, or a normal inventor... I sprung into this world already having whatever knowledge he had. That's kinda, early knowledge for a kid, you know? But it was either everything or nothing. I'd rather get everything."

"Nobody knows everything."

"The person who created me knows a lot," Rei said, "But, you're right. I got his 'base knowledge', nothin' specialized. My ability to code is all me, babey!"

"The existence of adultery and manipulation in the world is considered base knowledge...?" Renji asked, frowning. "That probably says something about human nature."

"It's not that deep. It's just that it's the kind of stuff you can't forget exists once you know. You can forget all kinds of details, all sorts of specialized stuff? Kek, I bet you could even forget how to make music if you went enough years without it. But you'd never forget the ways that people can get hurt."

"You're right, I guess. Even when my memory was 'rewound' to before, I still knew those things. I just didn't remember them happening to me until Speak helped me out. Er, speaking of Speak..."

"Yes?" The ship's AI took on their human form in front of Rei and Renji. "Did you need something from me?"

"Not exactly, but I'm kind of thinking the kid might need some counseling to cope with the conquest video shit we're being shown?"

"Hey!" Rei pouted. "I do _not_ need counseling! I do nyaht! I am a perfectly capable kid to handle the atrocities of the world in my galactically huge brain and you can't stop me."

"I can't stop you from insisting on watching the videos, but I can stop you from pretending they don't have any impact on you and your well-being," Renji said, "And when it comes to those videos, uh... How the Hell are they going through these things so quickly?"

"Time dilation," Speak said, "It usually has severe side effects, when the mind and body don't line up with the amount of time experienced in life. With Luciora, those effects are no longer in play. After all, the bodies are dead. Upon success, Luciora will extend those bodies. In essence, wiping out any muscle memory of 'time spent alive'."

"That doesn't make any fucking sense but I guess I'll take you at your word for it," Renji said.

"Well then. If I need counseling, what about you, Renjiiii?" Rei leaned over. "This can't be good shit for you either! Nyaah, wow, you're so unfazed by finding out that this guy you murdered already pulled the same shit once of letting himself get fetishized just so he could feel wanted? Must make you feel pretty terrible. Must make you feel like the world's biggest loser."

"I mean, yeah? It kind of does?" Renji admitted, bringing a hand up to scratch the back of his head. "Thinking about it that way. I was attracted to him because I didn't want to admit I was attracted to guys, I was completely thinking of him as being man-lite. And he was _okay_ with me doing that?"

"He was," Rei said, "Till he figured out what was really going on, I think. I think he was only okay with you thinking of him that way until he realized who you really were. Cause then, you gave him hope. You made him think it could be something real. And then you fucking killed him!"

"Hit the nail on my head why don't you?"

"You gotta be held accountable for your actions, you do. That's what Mama always says, and Mommy agrees too. You make a mistake, you hafta pay for it. You can't live it down or pretend like it didn't happen."

"I did pay for it. I got executed and had my secrets exposed to everyone."

"Just cause you did your time doesn't mean it goes away. Doesn't change that it happened. And I think you're still kinda getting off easy. You haven't really faced the entire consequences. You haven't talked to him yet."

"I... Yeah, you're right. I got killed in a super painful way, but that was just my punishment for committing a murder, right? Not for killing _Nanjo_ specifically. I'd have to face him... To get my punishment for that, haha." Renji shook his head. "I don't know if I'm ready. That's why I haven't... Let Speak wake up the others yet."

"I will wake them only when you're prepared to face them, yes," Speak said, "But I do think that you could handle it if I did, now. Besides, they also should be seeing these Conquest Videos, technically. Everyone who was saved by Luciora ought to witness the battle to save the world from it. Will you allow me to do this, Renji?"

"I don't know..."

"You're a chicken," Rei said, "Bawk, bawk. You're a little fucking coward boy aren't you, Renji? Can't even say sorry to the dude that you killed in cold blood. That's the worst kind of sin, I think. Turning away from your problems. Refusing to solve them, just fucking right off. That's what made my home so shitty, you know. That's the worst thing my parents ever did and they _still_ haven't made up for it. The longer you avoid the problem the worse it's gonna get."

"Jesus, fine, I get it." Renji waved his hands in Rei's direction. "I'm not a coward, so I _guess_ I'll go ahead and wake up the others. Since I do have all of my memories back. Right, Speak?"

"Mm, yes. Even ones which you didn't have at the time of the Killing Game's start, with my help, you've recovered and processed. You do have them all, you're ready to see your fellows in death, I believe. I do believe so." Speak pushed their hair back behind their ears. "You are, after all, Renji Itadai."

"I am," Renji said, "I won't lose that again... And, well. I guess that's an important part of it? I wanted them to know my name so badly, the least I can do is face the ones that I _can_ introduce myself to properly. Starting... With Nanjo,"

"Yeaaaah, go go chicken little." Rei pumped a fist in the air. "Nyah, you're gonna do it! I'm cheering you on to own up to all your stupid wrongdoings! Wahoo!"


	264. Reality 7: Unchanged By Death

“...Hm.” Nanjo sat up in the Extend bed, flexing and examining his own fingers. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you _kill_ me?”

“Yeah. You’re back now though,” Renji said, “Surprise?”

“Well, this can’t be _Hell_ if you’re here.” Nanjo winked, then recoiled at himself. “Er, sorry. I suppose it’s behavior like that which got me killed in the first place, isn’t it?”

“What? No. That’s stupid. Go back to sleep.”

“I would really prefer not to, thanks. You do owe me that much, all things considered. This doesn’t seem to be an afterlife…”

“Call it purgatory.” Renji brought a hand up at his side. “Cause, we got brought back to life. But it’s not permanent? I mean. We’ll get killed again, if the people who survived fuck up. And only those people know we’re alive. So we have to count on them to actually bring us back to life or some… Dumb shit like that.”

“I see. Why did you wake up here before me? You were executed _after_ I died…” Nanjo frowned.

“Something, something, nanomachines, something, memory loss. Do I look like the type of guy who knows that kind of thing? I don’t know shit, my dude.”

“Men these days can’t understand nanotechnology. All they know is make music, eat mcdonald’s, charge phone, murder, be bisexual, eat hot chip, and lie.”

“Uh-huh! Yeah! You’re right! Except I have never eaten at McDonald’s once in my life. Either of them. I know that, because Speak helped me work through my memories. All of them. They were fucked up, you know. What got you killed is that, not winking at me. I mean, sure, I killed you, but what’d you expect? I _tried_ to come out before and got the transgender literally beaten out of me.”

“Hm. Yeah, you couldn’t beat the transgender out of me. Just the life.” Nanjo shrugged. “Good to see that you seem to have come to terms with everything, though. I’m vindicated, in a way. I was completely right about you. What’s your name?”

“Renji,” Renji answered, “I picked it before. The first time I figured it out… Even though my mom set that whole thing up, I still. Tried to actually tell her, that’s when she sent me away. I had my name picked out and everything. I was so fucking stupid.”

“Pray tell, what’s stupid enough for you to actually call yourself stupid?” Nanjo raised an eyebrow.

“Good grief, we _are_ both idiots, huh?” Renji shook his head. “I was excited. I told Mom everything all at once, like it was so great. That even though men were rotten, and terrible, maybe I could be one who wasn’t. That being an important person, who knows, could I make some kind of difference by being a decent guy? But, I was… Mistaken. She sent me off to camp, and I’m not a decent guy either.”

“I see. So what I thought was an initial observation… Seeing you for you, I expected that it was news to you. That you were just in personal denial. But after all, you’d tried before, and lost your grasp on the truth…”

“When you tried to drag me out of the closet like that? I didn’t… Process it like that. It wasn’t that you were trying to help me figure out my identity, it was that you were trying to make me relive everything she did to make sure that I wouldn’t exist. And saying that I was wrong about who I was. That’s… What I heard before, you know? Even if the only way I could handle it was to bury the whole thing, you can’t just ignore that kind of stuff.”

“Mm. I suppose you’re right. How were you executed?”

“A record player. Impaled by the needle before I could tell anybody there what my name actually was… And for some reason, the person there who knew it didn’t tell anyone. Oh, except that dead girl, who I guess I should also wake up…”

“Who’s dead and who’s alive?” Nanjo furrowed his brow.

“The people we’re staking our lives on, those would be… Syoko Saihara, Homura Shinku, Yosuke Oowada, Shin Tsubasa, Saya Yoshiro, Katsue Nageko, Irarako Ebizakaya, and your very own Yume Mirai.”

“Wait.” Nanjo held his hands out. “Some of those names, er-”

“_Right_. Ugh, I never thought I’d have to be the person giving exposition! Yosuke Oowada clashed with me because we were the same. Denying ourselves the ability to exist because of traumas. He got over it through sheer willpower, unlike me! He still doesn’t know what the trauma was, though. Pbth. Well, I had Speak’s help, so that’s fine now. I’m not jealous or anything.” Renji sat down on the Extend Bed next to Nanjo, crossing his legs. “Katsue was Hiyoko but that name was bad so now she has another name. She came out as Hiyoko during a party just like ‘yeah I went back in the closet for reasons I will not elaborate, but am girl’. Then her boyfriend committed a murder in her name and that name is Katsue.”

“Yume’s reliable, at least.”

“Yume’s up first. They’re in this weird different clone game now where their secrets are being exposed and she’s first. It hasn’t gotten all the way through yet, but, um.” He glanced at Nanjo in the corner of his eye. “I wanna say sorry.”

“For killing me?”

“We’re even about that, I got killed too and you were being a dick. I’m sorry for sleeping with you.”

“Wait. I came on to you, though.”

“I can’t say that it would mean ‘love’. That sound familiar?”

“That’s a deep cut. Where did you hear that?”

“It was shown as part of Yume’s secret. Your affair with her boyfriend. That’s why I’m sorry… It was obvious he didn’t see you like a guy. And I didn’t either, when I slept with you. I did exactly the same shitty thing, I took advantage of you without any respect. And I understand why you said what you did to me, too. Even if it hurt bad enough to kill you. Cause, maybe it could’ve ‘meant love’, right? If I wasn’t the way you thought I was before. If I wasn’t just some lesbian you’d let misgender you for a fuck. If I was a bisexual guy the whole time.”

“That’s… Stupid to say.”

“We’re both stupid.”

“When I figured you out, yes. I did entertain the thought that we could have some sort of meaningful connection. But then… I didn’t consider your feelings, and you murdered me, so that must be down the drain now.”

“I dunno if it needs to be. Down the drain, I mean.”

“I couldn’t do that to you.

“To me?”

“What sort of relationship could we have, with you feeling guilty for killing me that one time? I believe you that you’re stable now, so it would be a matter of guilt. How could you ever break up with the man you murdered, if he asked you to be his boyfriend then turned out to be insufferable?”

“On the one hand, sure. On the other, do you think after everything I’ve dealt with, I wouldn’t just dump your ass anyway, no matter what kind of guilt I feel? And on a third, secret hand you didn’t even know I had, it’s kinda cute that the way you’re worrying about this implies in any way that you’d be the top.”

“Point taken. I suppose that settles it, then. Let’s start from the beginning, Renji. See if we might be able to figure something out this time around.”

“You really don’t mind it, though? I mean. Everything that happened.”

“Nothing happened between _us_. That was between me and ‘Kagome’. That person’s dead. You’re the one who’s here now, and I like you, and frankly. Though I’d never been killed myself before now, I’m in the habit of forgiving murderers anyhow.”


	265. Stage One, Day 3: Status Condition

Saya Yoshiro _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Ravvit:** Reduced damage from Ravvits  
**Death by Claws:** Reduced damage from Claws  
**Death by Lacerations:** Reduced damage from Slash Attacks

Yume Mirai _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Lacerations:** Reduced damage from Slash Attacks  
**Death by Friendly Fire:** Allies’ attacks will no longer harm you  
**Death while Berserk:** Reduced chance of being inflicted with Berserk status condition

The group had returned to the island directly and Extended the girls, without a word exchanged between any of them. Shin trailed behind everyone else, and Syoko kept looking back over her shoulder at him. It wasn’t a surprising reaction to what he’d done… But upon extending those two, something certainly stood out about Yume’s.

“The Berserk status condition…” Katsue muttered, “So they will even inflict such things as that upon us? Final Fantasy much? Though it would be nice if we were permitted some equivalent indication to the fact that a status condition is currently in effect…”

“What?” Yume asked, blinking where she sat in the Extend bed. Saya stood next to it, hands folded in front of herself.

“I’ll answer that for ya real quick!” Eva alone appeared on the Monitor on the table. “Yes, you can be afflicted with status conditions! Each one of you is particularly prone to a different one, and therefore have a chance at having it applied after viewing your Conquest Videos. Given her sin of Wrath, Yume was afflicted with Berserk after the part two video, and had it exacerbated by part three. In fact, reducing her to an X-Key was the only way to stop her at that point! Usually, the condition wears itself out and you just drop dead when the adrenaline wears off, but murder works too. Ta-ta!”

“Thanks…” Yume muttered, then pressed her palm to her temple. “I hope you don’t take that as meaning I wasn’t real fucking mad… But. Uh, yeah? I actually _couldn’t_ give in and go back with you guys, even though it made sense.”

“Of course you would be real fucking mad,” Shin said, “Being exposed to those memories again, anybody will be. I imagine… we will all grapple with similar issues, as Eva just said. Legitimate emotions, and a status leading us to behave irrationally…”

“You need no fucking status to behave irrationally! You just walked up and killed me without hesitating!”

“Yume Mirai.” Shin narrowed his eye. “I know you to be somebody who is prone to impulsive outbursts, and violence towards others. But I have _not_ known you to be unable to calm yourself when instructed to. Even when faced with your brother’s murderer, you could be talked down and held back. I realized something was wrong, and I didn’t want us to continue arguing in circles when it obviously meant nothing to you in that state. Though, even if it were merely your emotions running wild, I would have done the same. I was just fed up with the conversation.”

“Ugh.” Yume rolled her eyes.

“Hon-eyyy,” Saya teased.

“You’re right, Tsubasa. That wasn’t an irrational thing to do. I’m still pissed about it, though. How are we supposed to trust you after that?”

“For one, you are now immune to being killed by allies, so it isn’t like you need to personally worry about me doing it again. For two, feel free to kill me in retribution.”

“May as well,” Homura said, “I’ll handle extending you, Tsubasa.”

“So yer tellin’ me that… When Yos n Syok were holdin’ Yume back, she really couldn’t go with them? Her brain wouldn’ let her give up?”

“That’s what happened,” Yume said, “I couldn’t. Even if I wanted to. I’m not sure I did, but… Oi. Saya…”

“Do not worry. I believe that were you not in the ‘berserk’ state, you would have turned back as soon as Katsue mentioned the discomfort of being confined to an X-Key.” She tilted her head to the side and smiled. “I won’t hold it against you.”

“Speaking of Katsue,” Homura said, “Saya, aren’t you trans too? No Shigabane for you?”

“I did not die while feeling dysphoric, so I experienced no physical changes. If you must know, I am proud of my handiwork. I _do_ feel dysphoria about a particular body part, yes, but the fact that my life up to this point would have involved _even more trauma_ were I to have the other set, I am currently satisfied enough how I am.”

“What’s that mean?” Katsue asked.

“Really, prying like this? Though I understand it’s mere concern. Nobody here doubts the nature of my gender. Very well, I’ll explain. Though I have experienced pain in my life to this point, I believe if I were capable, I would have by this time been made to carry a child against my will. By comparison, I have at least avoided that violation to my body, so I am grateful to this body for protecting me in that manner.”

“What the fuck kind of life have you led?” Yosuke questioned, blinking. “I can’t say I got the impression that-”

“It would do you well not to forget that I was raised in the care of Mercury Mars. You have seen, in some ways, the natures of people who surround her. Does it surprise you to hear that somebody in her circle would take that liberty with me if they were capable?” Saya’s smile turned less genuine with every word. “That is as much as I wish to disclose currently. I am sure that I’ll be ‘conquered’ the same as Yume is currently experiencing, and then you will understand.”

“You did see those, huh…” Yume stood up.

“I did. I assure you I would never sleep with Nanjo. Though that does not seem to be the issue, I feel I should state it anyhow.”

“Yeah, that _isn’t_ the issue, but thanks.” Yume sighed. “I can’t promise… Even with that Shigabane, I can’t say that I won’t go ‘berserk’ again. Since I’m so prone to it, and all.”

“I’m sure we are all able to be inflicted with it,” Syoko said, “It’s just that you’re the only one who can get it from your Conquest Videos. For each of us… Our ‘sinful’ nature will probably be compounded by the status. Unpleasant behaviors we might normally commit, brought to the forefront. I apologize in advance, when we reach my Conquest Videos, then.”

“It’s implicit,” Homura said, “That kind of apology. We’ll have to figure in… If we start acting strange, it might be because of that, and not _just_ because of the stress. Look out for each other a lil more than we managed to do for Yume here.”

“I won’t hold it against you if you won’t hold it against me,” Yume said, “Fucking… bullshit. It’s already a tough enough time to begin with, and we have to get our emotions toyed with like that?”

“Berserk seems like it removes impulse control,” Shin noted, “And rational thought. As for the rest of us, I’m sure our conditions will be similarly subtle the first time we experience them. The difference for Yume was that she wouldn’t stop attacking, everything else checked out. It may not be as simple as looking out for each other, when we may not even be capable of observing the condition until it needs to be dealt with as I did before.”

“Yeah, huh.” Yume took her weapon back from Syoko, who had picked it up. “Well, I’ll kill you anyway, since you said I should. To clear the air and all. Shinku can Extend you, then we’ll eat some dinner… And prepare for tomorrow.”

“Very well.” Shin nodded his head just once, before it was caved in atonement.


	266. Stage One, Day 3: Every Sinner Has A Future

The others had gone on ahead, while Homura made good on his promise to Extend Shin. Then, the both of them joined the group outside to eat some food before going to sleep. The tension that had briefly hung in the air when returning from the ruin had been dissipated. Between Eva’s confirmation that Yume dying was the only way to stop her apparent status condition, and Shin’s willingness to make up for his actions by being murdered himself, the distrust was gone.

Everyone ate together happily, then went their separate ways. Some went straight to sleep, but others hung around outside a while longer. Katsue found Shin sitting down at the beach, just shy of the tide, staring out toward the ocean. She sat down next to him. “Hi.”

“Hey.” He waved. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Katsue said, “I guess I just wanted to talk to you. My tender soul seeks to know that one is-”

“Could you speak plainly? I think I know what you’re going to say, and if you’re going to say it, then I kind of think I deserve to have you be open and upfront with me.”

“Right. I suppose… That’s right. Though I do not often speak plainly of these matters.” She traced shapes in the sand with a finger. “I worry about the Conquest Videos, and I think you do too.”

“What gives you that impression?”

“I’m an intuitive person. I can tell that I have something in common with Yosuke, for example… Though, not quite enough. In his case, we share. A curse? But that curse weighs differently. He is unaware of it, and it’s no moral judgment against him. It’s of his past. Meanwhile.” She turned to look directly at him. “You and I, we can be held responsible for our sins. It isn’t the distant past at all, is it? What you did. Because what I did isn’t distant, and I’m still just as rotten. You say we know plenty about you, but I don’t think we do.”

“Is it that obvious a diversion?” Shin asked, “I swear. I never lied about any of those things. I did tell you plainly. I spent much of my life undernourished. I hated my deceased mother, and I hate what my living sister represents. These are truths about me.”

“Sure. But they aren’t your sin,” Katsue said, “Just like… Any of what you know about me and Yuji, that’s not my sin either. I’ve done much worse than agree to kill a friend, or get a man to kill for me.”

“I actually did kill a friend, so as far as I’m concerned, you’re at zero for sins.”

“You are too. But you did do something. Or you think you did. It’s eating you up… Just like mine. So, although we’ve never known each other well before. Though we haven’t been close.” Katsue reached a hand out toward him. “I’ll swear to you here and now that I won’t hate you for your sin. Whatever it is. Whether it’s really bad, or not, you sure think it is. So I’ll forgive you, if you can promise to forgive me too.”

“Why would you make me that kind of offer? There are only two explanations. One is that you honestly don’t have a clue what I might have done and you’re severly overestimating my moral fortitude… The other is that you’ve done something truly disgusting, and you’re desperate for somebody to say they’re okay with it, no matter what comes to pass.”

“What if I have?”

“I’ve done something truly disgusting myself, so I suppose it would only be fair for me to offer you the unconditional forgiveness you seek, if you believe you actually can give it.”

“You witnessed the behavior of my father. I’ve found myself willing to forgive even him, if he would change and become a good person again. Is that proof enough I can forgive you, whatever I learn?”

“Perhaps it is. Though I still am not sure… Why exactly, you would actually make this kind of pact.”

“People like us just need to stick together.”

“That checks out, I guess. People like us. The two true sinners of the group, you suppose?”

“I cannot begin to fathom what it is that many of the others would have done, as their ‘sin’. In you, I can at least tell that we hate ourselves just as much, and that’s enough for me,” Katsue said, “Maybe everyone’s disgusting. Maybe it’s all just as rotten at the core. We can’t be truly good… And for the individual sins, by atoning, we can offer salvation to others? Is that what they mean to imply for us with this game? Or…”

“Perhaps it’s nothing but torture,” Shin said, “Evangeline obviously enjoys being cruel. For all we know, none of the dead were revived. For all we know, there’s no light at the end… Hell. The entire world may have already perished and we’re on a fool’s errand as we speak. We’ll play their twisted game, we’ll beat them… And there will be no reward.”

“You are confident we’ll beat them, though.”

“Of course I am. There’s no way that we could lose to people like that, and if there’s even a small chance we can get that reward, then I couldn’t sit idly by. I have complete confidence that we can beat the game. I’m just not confident it will be worth it in the end. And… Even if you forgive me, the others may not.”

“I feel the same. That’s why, if I can have one person who I know… Won’t abandon me for what I’ve done? Then I can keep going. If I can trust a friend to drown in the depths of sin with me.”

“If every one of them turns their back on us, of course, we would keep going. I can’t say I’ll do well, though. I don’t have complete confidence that you and I alone could beat this game, but I wouldn’t give up.”

“Obviously.” Katsue sighed. “I cannot give up. Not… When Yuji finally saw me. If he might be alive, then there’s no way I can fail him. Even if things don’t work out between us in the end, we were finally capable of trying. I want to unlock the future where we do.”

“...” Shin closed his eye. “To be completely honest with you, I can’t say I’m doing this for anybody. I just want to win.”

“There’s nobody you’re close with, out there?”

“I wouldn’t say so. There are people I’ve wronged, perhaps you could make a case that I’m fighting in order to make it up to them. I wouldn’t make that case, though. The best way I can make it up to anyone is to never see them again, and if that’s through their death, so be it. I sincerely mean it when I say my motivation is its own beast. I just want the satisfaction of winning… It would be strange to even say that I’ve ever cared about anybody.”

“You’re awfully closed off. I understand how that can happen, though. It isn’t like… Well, I made some friends, but I lost touch with them when I had to go back in the closet. So you really haven’t been able to care about anybody in your life…?”

“Perhaps I have. Once. But the pain of caring about that person outweighs it in full. Likewise to your statement, that connection could only last so long. With my mother being the way she was…”

“So you had a boyfriend, and she found out.” At Katsue’s words, Shin gave her a disbelieving look. She just smiled. “I’m used to hedging my words in obscurity, you know. Of course I can interpret it when other people do the same thing.”

“You really are intuitive… I guess, if you think so, we might just be equally terrible after all.”

“We probably are.” Katsue leaned back to lay down in the sand. “You know, these posts… There’ll be bridges here on the beach. I bet those will be our ruins.”

“I thought so too,” Shin said, “Okinawa and Tottori. Of course those would connect to the beach. Ah… Well. Who knows. If it is the beach, I did have some good memories there. It wasn’t always bad.”

“It never is. It’s never always bad. But then… We have a knack for making it worse.”


	267. Stage One, Day 3: Behind The Wall

“Yosuke, wait.” Saya’s voice got his attention in the hall, just as he was about to walk into his room. “I wanted to ask you something, if that’s alright?”

“Sure.” He turned back around and crossed his arms. “Fire away.”

“You, too, experience feelings of anger… Like Yume does, right?”

“I guess so. I mean, obviously that’s not my worst quality, since I’m not the one whose sin was picked for wrath, but I do. I learned anger management from my dad, though, cause he used to have a lot of trouble with it too. How moving your body and exercising can do wonders to clear your head… He used to be the Ultimate Swimmer, so figures that’s the coping mechanism he’d teach me.”

“Yume is too frail to cope with exercise, so she lashes out with violence instead,” Saya said, “Not in a way that frightens me, though. You saw how she spoke to Kenta Nageko, yes? She is appalled at the idea of cruelty to anybody she cares about. Even so… I’m concerned for her well-being.” Saya brought a hand in close to herself. “She has never, so to speak, let me in, in a meaningful way. I understand this, because our feelings were driven by adrenaline and a condensed population. It’s mere human chemical nature that attraction would bloom in such a situation, it’s survival instinct. Even knowing this, I wish I could help her more.”

“When you put it that way, it kind of is a given, huh?” Yosuke chuckled. “But I agree. Even if it’s just a natural physical response with everything going on, I felt like what I could’ve had with Jun was real. I wanted to be there for him. And you wanna be there for Yume, but she’s made of walls, right?”

“Precisely. I understand certain things. I understand that she is very angry and I understand the ways she copes, but I am having trouble understanding… How she can become so angry. If she were to talk to me, perhaps I could assist her in managing those feelings. To avoid being afflicted with the ‘berserk’ status again. After all, it seems to play against emotions which are already there…”

“You’re one to talk about walls, though. Do you really think that Yume’s gonna let you in if you won’t do the same?”

“I… I am not the one whose trauma causes me to endanger myself. It’s different. I manage my own problems so there is no need to burden anybody else with them. But she is being hurt… And I can handle it. I do not know if she could carry my problems, but is it not evident that I could carry hers?”

“I don’t know. For all we know, she’s doing a lot better by getting her feelings out with anger, and you’re just hiding everything that’s going to come back to the surface and tear you apart. It’s obvious even to me that you’re not willing to go both ways with her, on the whole problem-sharing front. Until you are, I won’t blame her at all for not confiding in you.”

“Pffft.” Saya crossed her arms. “I was hoping for something a little more helpful than that, you know.”

“You came to the wrong guy. I’m not about to ask somebody to trust me with their issues if I wouldn’t trust them with mine, and that’s the advice I’m gonna give.”

“But! But it isn’t trust, I swear, it has nothing to do with that, I trust Yume so much! She’s just got so much to deal with already, she doesn’t need it in her life. Can you understand that?”

“I understand it, but I can’t relate. I don’t think Yume can, either. Your intention to hide everything you possibly can from everybody you can is… Really obvious. She won’t offer you anything and she won’t ask either, as long as you won’t budge.” Yosuke looked away. “I’m not sure… Why you think the way you do. It seems totally foreign to me, I’ll be honest.”

“I could say the same about you. It’s a matter of… Well, you know. We are of ‘opposite’ gender situations. We come from different planets. And, further, from entirely different home situations. You were raised by loving parents in a society which was failing you, I was raised under the thumb of the last scraps of a fringe religious group with no meaningful participation in my society. You have never hesitated to show your emotions. I, meanwhile, believe revealing my innermost feelings represents a victory for those who want to see me in pain. We are, in many imagineable ways, the opposite of each other.”

“Yeah. But you came to me for advice anyway.”

“Somebody who shows emotion like you might have had advice for helping somebody with no control over their emotions…” Saya tilted her head and frowned. “But I instead find myself more confused than I began, to be frank. Even if I were to burden Yume with my problems so that she might trust me with hers, where would I even begin…?”

“Now? You can’t really. You’re right that the timing is off, for her to deal with new information. The rest of her conquest videos should be pretty soon. There won’t be anything left for her to open up to you about anyway.” Yosuke shrugged. “You missed the boat. But I do kinda think… A little later on. Unless your ruins end up being second in line, telling her about things before your own Conquest Videos start would be a good idea.”

“Mm. I will consider that. There is, one more thing, Yosuke…”

“Yeah?”

“What do you think the eighth sin is?”

“What do you mean?”

“There are seven deadly sins, like wrath. But there are eight of us here. Eight sinners and seven sins. Do you believe one sin will repeat? Or is it more likely that there is an eighth sin which breaks from the mythos?”

“...Yeah, I don’t know fuck shit. I don’t think I could actually name all seven sins off the top of my head.”

“Heh, I suppose that’s fair. We’re seeing wrath right now… There is also lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, pride, and envy. I can imagine which might be mine. I can imagine several of the match-ups, actually. But there _are_ eight of us to seven of those. So I could be very wrong.”

“Maybe one of us just isn’t considered a ‘sinner’ at all?”

“No, that cannot be the case. We would not have been selected for the Killing Game if we had no sins to uncover. If you ever wondered, ‘why us’, then this is why. We, and everyone who died earlier. They well could have lived to have Conquest Videos instead of us. Our sins determined our fate.”

“You know this because of Mercury?”

“I know this because of everybody who is involved in the planning of these games. The Killing Game, and the Zero Sum Game, both. I may not understand you, but I understand these people, and their intentions, completely.”


	268. Stage One, Day 4: Permanence

Morning came, and everybody regrouped to eat breakfast again. They’d kept to some lighter fare for dinner, knowing that if they were going to run out of food it would be better to use up as much of it as they could just before leaving, so that they’d be as well-rested as they could possibly be before returning to the dangers of the Kobe ruin.

On the matter of being prepared, having eaten breakfast, the group first returned to the workshop to see if they couldn’t manage any new crafting with the items that they had acquired during their venture yesterday. There wasn’t much, because the humanoid creatures seemed to only occasionally drop items at all. The partition didn’t seem to have a use yet, so it was set aside. The ravvits only dropped meat and the occasional scrap of fur, which also didn’t seem useful yet. It was a bit disappointing.

One item that a humanoid creature _had_ dropped was something that the group had spotted in its hand before it was even defeated. It looked like a hoof, but the edges were sharp, and Homura had the idea of running it against the blade of the old hatchet that had been discovered in the hardware store. After he did, the hoof didn’t seem like it could be used again, but the hatchet was renamed ‘small axe’ and had a new shine, with a boosted attack score to go along with it. The base was thirteen, thus jumping Homura’s weaponry well above Irarako’s.

“Awe, sweet!” Homura chuckled, turning the axe over in his hands. “This is just about perfect for me, y’know. Doesn’t matter if you expect it of me or not, I’m decent with an axe. One of my few immutable skills.”

“Homura Shinku with an immutable skill? I can’t say I expected that!” Saya teased.

“Ahah, thanks, thanks. For real, though. I was kinda scared being on the front lines before, but now I’ve got this, I’m a lot less worried than I was!” Homura struck a pose, holding the axe toward the ceiling. “After all, if I let myself get killed, I dunno if you guys would bother extending me!”

“Of course we would,” Yume snipped, “Why the hell wouldn’t we?”

“Do I have to have a reason to be paranoid?”

“I do think… No matter what, we need to give everybody the chance to explain themselves,” Katsue said, “I mean. If one of my conquest videos is shown while I’m an X-Key, could you at least extend me long enough to answer for the contents?”

“We’re… Always going to extend everybody,” Syoko said, “We absolutely won’t just _leave_ somebody as an X-Key. As soon as we arrive back at Jabberwock Island, we will extend whoever needs to be extended. That’s a policy we all can agree on, right?”

“If Shinku hadn’t offered to extend me right away last night,” Shin asked, “Would you have? Would it not have been easier for you to leave me out of the picture after my unpredictable behavior?”

“If anybody tried to leave you that way, I’d have made sure they didn’t,” Katsue said.

“You didn’t have the friendly fire shigabane yet,” Shin said, “I appreciate the thought, but you can’t ‘make sure’ somebody won’t do something if they could just reduce you to your X-Key and do the same to you as well.”

“What’d we ever do to ya?” Irarako questioned, “We forgave whatfor you killed Yume cause it turns out you made sense. So why dontcha trust us same as we you?”

“I’m just speaking practically,” Shin said, “You gave me the benefit of the doubt that time, for which I’m quite grateful, don’t get me wrong. But say it hadn’t turned out that Yume had a status condition. Say she really was just acting irrationally in a natural manner, would you be so willing to forgive me then?”

“I… You do have a point,” Syoko said, “But I promise, we wouldn’t do that to you.”

“I don’t want to die,” Shin said, “For real, I mean. I don’t fear being extended, but I do fear dying without that option. We were in a game where we were told to kill each other, and now…”

“We’re all the ones who didn’t buy into that whole thing, though,” Yume chimed in, “The ones who didn’t kill each other. None of us would do it for real… Leaving someone in a fucking X-Key, that’s like permanent death. Sure as shit wouldn’t do that.”

“Shinku and I have both expressed concerns that you might. It cannot be an unreasonable fear if there are two of us-”

“Hold it, Tsubasa. I’m not scared I won’t be extended because people don’t trust me. I’m scared I won’t be extended because nobody likes me.”

“Cram it, we like ya just fine.” Irarako reached out to pat Homura’s head.

“It’s true,” Yosuke agreed, “Hell, even me. We might not get along the best but I’m not about to just let you _die_. And Tsubasa, I like you a good amount more than that, you know!”

“Mm. You’re sure? I had some impression you bothered to care about me only due to my proximity to Hanazaki.”

“I considered both of you my friends… If anything, you moreso, it’s not like you aren’t fun to talk to.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “Might’ve saved us some trouble though, if Hanazaki fixated on you instead, right?”

“Hah. Yes, that may have changed the outcome of things, or maybe not. I honestly wouldn’t have complained, but it seemed that Hanazaki found it impossible to see me in that kind of way, and we’ll never know what might have been different were that not the case.”

Saya blinked. “Are you seriously saying you had a crush on _that_ guy?”

“Not so much as I’d seriously say I have a crush on any guy.” Shin shrugged. “If you spend long enough repressing your sexuality, when it comes time to acknowledge it your standards will be, at best, on the floor.”

“That… Does check out, I guess.” Syoko chuckled. “Well, if we wouldn’t decide that you shouldn’t be extended for your _awful_ taste, I don’t think there’s anything which could convince us to leave you dead!”

“Certainly so,” Katsue found herself agreeing, “I too, like boys too much, and I wouldn’t even think about Hanazaki! Truly, that’s the deepest you can sink for sure.”

“Ahh, thank you.” Shin crossed his arms, but couldn’t hide his smile. “Well then. Once more unto the breach?”

“We’ll finish off that fucking ruin!” Yume agreed, “And it’ll be somebody else’s turn…”


	269. Stage One, Day 4: Thirteenth Hour

It was just another day in the ruins; Particularly, the survivors’ fourth day in the Zero Sum Game. Two days didn’t seem to be long enough for a ‘respawn’, as nothing they’d previously defeated found itself resurrected just yet. They’d started exploring on the second day, and had killed two ravvits and one male creature. Those weren’t wandering, and neither were any of the enemies that had been defeated, mostly by Yume, just yesterday. There were a few more buildings left unopened, but they’d cleared out close enough to the gate that Shin managed to notice that there was something written on the door.

“You can see that far?” Homura asked, “I mean, I can’t even with my glasses. And you’ve only got the one eye…”

“I actually have very good vision,” Shin explained, “Before I lost my eye, I was kind of known for it. I might lack some depth perception now, but I can still see excellently. I need to, to be able to my precise work without mistakes. Were my vision at all impaired on its own, I doubt I could compensate for the lack nearly as well.”

“Known… For seeing well?” Yosuke asked.

“Yes. I could spot the smallest glint of a valuable item in the sand from nearly a half-mile away, on a clear day. There are those who believe that ‘perfect vision’ is a cap, and everyone with no impairment can see just as well. Even still, it’s one of the few things I excel at.”

“That’s a very interesting skillset you’ve got,” Katsue noted, “Seeing far, and rolling things up, I mean. What other secret abilities do you hold…”

“I suppose you’ll just have to wait and learn.” Shin chuckled, “Though putting it that way… I’m a _bit_ more impressive than that, aren’t I?”

“Given the absolute versatility you’ve shown of ‘rolling things up’, I’d say that’s perfectly impressive all on its own,” Syoko said, “Do recall, we are all impressive here. It is the nature of our abilities, and the reason we’re here…”

“Mm. Sure is, bet. If any of us weren’t Ultimate, wouldn’t be here. Got selected more than other Ultimates for what reasons, but ain’t any of us would be here if we’re just normal kids,” Irarako said, “So’s, nothin’ else, we’re all super talented folks! Mean. Words me to say all I’m good at is swingin’ a stick, still swing that stick best of the best!”

“Yes. I didn’t mean to trivialize your talent, Tsubasa,” Katsue said, “Merely to note that it’s unique.”

“I took no offense, of course. Teasing between friends,” Shin said, “Is something one does not need defense from.”

“Aw, you two are getting along now? Nice!” Yosuke pressed his hands together. “You could use calling someone other than me your friend here, I mean.”

“In any case,” Saya spoke up, “It would be prudent if we simply avoid the remaining pressure plates and go to read that sign before moving forward. It may inform us on how to get the gate open, and that would be nice to know before we dive into fighting more.”

“I agree,” Yume said, and actually led the way, carefully avoiding the plates. “When I was stepping on these all intentionally, I figured out how to spot ‘em. So me going berserk was good for _one_ thing…”

“It’s actually not the worst status effect, if you think about it,” Yosuke said, “It could get us stuck in a really dangerous spot, sure, but Yume was able to attack without recharging, right? And she would’ve either been killed by enemies, or burnt out and fallen over dead. I’d be willing to go through that for the sake of being a more effective fighter, if we were definitely in an area that I wouldn’t get us into a bad position by charging ahead…”

“We’ve already agreed to use every seventh day just to look for materials,” Saya said, “That would be the time that being Berserk may actually be useful. I wonder if we might find some method to deliberately inflict it on ourselves for that purpose.”

“I don’t like the idea of doing that,” Syoko said, “It’s supposed to be a bad thing, isn’t it? We might get more than we bargained for if we try to exploit it for our own gains.”

“Or we might be expected to use everything at our disposal to survive,” Katsue said, “Even those things which at first seem they would be detrimental to us. If we are destined to fight, for our lives, then we must also be destined to take any measure necessary.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway if we don’t discover how it’s inflicted, outside of Yume’s conquest videos,” Saya said, then read the writing on the gate now that they’d approached, “To advance, recall the world as it once was. At the fiend’s thirteenth hour, which are opened to the world?”

“Wow. That’s flowery,” Yume said, then groaned. “It means we need to leave open only the stores which were open at one in the afternoon…”

“Are you sure?” Katsue asked, “One PM is thirteen-hundred hours, sure. But the ‘thirteenth hour’ often also refers to a liminal space which exists between midnight and one in the morning. Referring to ‘the fiend’ leads me to wonder if it could refer to that, rather than the technical meaning you’d assume.”

“What sort of place is open during a liminal space?” Yume asked, “Not to say you’re wrong. But I don’t get it.”

“Somewhere which is open between midnight and one,” Katsue said, “The liminal space of the thirteenth hour exists within the initial hour.”

“Mm. Well, it’s definitely a lot more selective to leave the doors to shops which are open that late. There’s only one or two which aren’t open at one in the afternoon…”

“If that’s so,” Saya said, “We should open them all, and close those two. If it doesn’t work, then we use Katsue’s idea. If the thirteen-hundred-hours idea is one which can be so readily tested, then we may as well try the easier option first.”

“At this rate, you are correct,” Shin said, “Had we not already defeated most of this area’s enemies, then we might need to be more prudent about attempting a solution which opens all but two of the doors. As it is, only two of these doors remain unopened _anyway_.”

“Mm… Neither of them are closed in the afternoon. Thinking about it, actually. They’re both open past midnight too. One’s a bar, the other’s a keepsake shop run by someone who prefers to be up late,” Yume explained.

“So regardless of the solution, both need to be opened? Huh, better brace ourselves for those ones to be extra dangerous,” Homura said, “If there wasn’t gonna be a way for us to avoid opening them up, I bet they’re trapped up. We’re all fresh-faced still, so. Should be fine. Yume?”

“Keepsake shop will have one creature,” Yume said, “The owner. Always got along fine. The bar was barely allowed to keep operating, cause it was kinda shit at curbing the customers, so I don’t think there’ll be a creature in there. Maybe some ravvits.”

So, the pressure plates were stepped on to open the last two stores, one at a time. The keepsake shop was exactly as Yume predicted, one creature who was defeated swiftly. The bar across the way _didn’t_ have any ravvits- But upon stepping into the building, Yosuke was met with a bottle hurled directly at the side of his head. “Ah, shit! That hurts!”

His complaint was accompanied by him jumping backwards, out of the path that continued to throw its projectiles. Shin crossed his arms and clicked his tongue. “Evangeline did mention setting traps… At least you survived it.”

“It’d be real fucking stupid if getting one empty glass bottle thrown at me killed me,” Yosuke said, “But, yeah. I should be more careful.”

The group went on to close the doors to the shops which Yume remembered as being closed in the afternoon, but the gate didn’t budge. She racked her brain a bit harder to remember which ones were open late at night, and upon setting it in that manner, the gate slid open in one swift motion, with a loud noise. The group turned to see, and rather than anything beyond the gate, there was a paper screen hanging from a ceiling. A projector rose from the ground, and just what anybody would expect appeared there.

\--

“Hey, kids!” Eva waved both hands. “Wow! We get to be on the bigscreen this time! Ah, true stardom! Finally, my big Hollywood Break! But oh no, on a screen this large, does that mean you can see my pores? On such shitty little CRT monitors, I’ve been slacking on my skincare routine!”

“It’s not a very good projector. Your pores may even be less visible now than they are on the CRTs,” Ris said, “Though I would not slack on skincare even still. For all you know, the next time we appear, it could be in HD 4K. You may use my fashwash if you haven’t a nice one of your own.”

“Nothing in life matters, but your skin does?”

“It would be a worse sin than any these children have committed, if I were to allow my handsome face to be at all marred by time, oils, dryness, or any other affliction.”

“Speaking of these kids’ sins, we’re getting pretty close to the end of Miss Yume’s videos!” Eva raised a hand to her face in a look of shock. “I guess it’s still the first ruin, at this pace! Before I share this next one, I wanna remind you that this girl’s got a special dreamy feature! Right, right, she can’t be woken up while in a state of deep sleep, only during REM! That’s like the perfect woman, right?”

“No. But _somebody_ else seemed to think so, I suppose.” Ris lifted a video tape. “In **Wrath Part Four: I’ll See You In Your Dreams.**”


	270. Wrath Part Four: I'll See You In Your Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Warning: This conquest video includes non-explicit depictions of sexual assault]

Yume Mirai was having a nightmare.

As soon as the nightmare began, she was aware that she would be woken up by something. That was how things always were for her, though. She remembered her dreams because she could only ever wake up while dreaming. So each time that she dreamed, she was able to have that sort of awareness. Experiencing as many remembered dreams as she did, she knew.

And when Yume Mirai had a nightmare, she could expect that she would be woken up in some unpleasant manner. Oftentimes, she would dream about running from a monster, and a loud crash in reality would jolt her away from that experience. This one was different, though. The nightmarish nature was dissimilar than standard. Nothing was frightening, but it felt as if there was a haze of doom over the whole affair.

She stood in a courtyard. It was the courtyard which belonged to the Yamaguchi, between the rooms of their home, in the center. There was a pond, and some beautiful landscaping, and it usually felt calming. It featured in Yume’s dreams as a calming place, even. Often. But this time, she stood with one foot on the stone path and the other in the grass, feeling frightened, and when she looked down at herself she didn’t recognize her body. It was hers. Nothing was wrong or different about it, and yet, it didn’t belong to her at all. Like this was somebody else’s form she was piloting although it appeared the same as it always had.

Yume stared out across the courtyard to a small island that sat in the garden’s pond. Normally, that island was empty, just a green bit of landscaping in the center, but not so much right now. The water around it was a dark, glassy color, and on that island was an eyeball on a stalk. Growing from the ground, a single eye that turned and stared back at her. She tore her eyes away to look elsewhere, but could tell it was still watching her. A harsh, unrelenting gaze which had no intention of stopping or even blinking. She felt almost as if it was looking straight through her.

When she looked directly at it, her heart pounded, and she felt deeply uncomfortable. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a step backwards, then another. When she looked again, she was two steps closer to the eye, not two steps further away.

“W-What are you doing?” Her voice shook.

“If you want to know that, you’ll have to wake up,” The eye answered.

“_What_ are you _doing_?” Yume repeated.

“Me?” The eye asked, “I am watching you. I’m seeing you. I am looking at you in a state you do not wish to be seen. I am seeing your vulnerability laid bare before me. I am witnessing your darkest moment. So what are _you_ still doing asleep?”

“Huh?”

And she woke up. Yume woke from one literal nightmare to find herself in a figurative, waking one. A nightmare. This was… It shouldn’t be a nightmare, right? Because Shouto was her boyfriend, he was her boyfriend, she loved him, she did love him, right? Didn’t she? Of course she did. She did, but it was shattered now when she saw his face, his face over her, his body over her, over her, over-

“What… Are you doing…?” She spoke aloud the line from her dream.

“You’re awake?” Shouto asked.

“Y- I’m awake, get off of me!” Yume snapped, pushing her hands against his shoulders.

“What? Just let me finish first, right, it’s-”

“What the _fuck_!?” Yume shouted, going in an instant from that simple attempt to thrashing against him. “Get off of me, go away, get the hell _away_ from me, Kodaki!”

“Excuse me? You’re my girlfriend!” Shouto protested, reaching towards Yume’s wrists. “I don’t know what you’re getting so pissy about! You usually just stay asleep, it’s not like it has any effect on you!”

“_Usually!?_”

“What are you yelling about? Come on, calm down… What’s the issue…?”

“Stupid motherfucker.” Shouto was dragged to the floor by an arm hooked around his neck, knocking his head against the tatami. Nanjo looked down at him. “What do you think you’re doing to my sister?”

“Agh!” Shouto grimaced. “You hear your short-tempered sister yelling and you immediately assume _I’m_ the stupid motherfucker who needs to be thrown on the ground?”

“I would never throw my sister on the ground,” Nanjo said, “And I fail to understand why you feel the need to rape somebody who you’re already dating, and-”

“Hey, hey now, isn’t that kind of harsh??” Shouto raised a hand in front of his face, his other elbow propping him up on the floor. “That’s a really strong word, it’s not like it was a big deal… Besides, it’s kind of your fault anyway.”

“How is it… _my_ fault?” Nanjo questioned.

“We had a deal, we had an agreement, you know? But then you just kept getting… Less pretty. So I had to figure out something else. I figure, since Yume wouldn’t wake up anyway, I was sure she wouldn’t mind…”

“Pretty sure, huh?” Yume questioned, her voice deep and empty, “You were wrong. Get out, Kodaki. Get out of our fucking house.”

“Huh?”

“You heard her. Leave,” Nanjo said, “Or you’ll regret it.”

“But-”

“Say one more goddamn thing… I dare you.” Nanjo tilted his head. “Fuck around and find out.”

Shouto looked away, then got to his feet and went towards the door. He couldn’t keep himself from giving a parting shot. “This kind of thing, that makes everyone call you two such weirdos.”

“You dumb-” Nanjo twisted to go after Shouto, but was interrupted by two things. One was the closing of the door in his face. The other was Yume’s voice.

“Nanjo… What he said…”

“What exactly?”

“He said ‘usually’. He said I usually don’t wake up and it’s fine. You can’t have… You’re such a light sleeper, you can’t have not noticed one of the other times. Why didn’t you stop him?”

“Until you were shouting this time I… Assumed you had invited him in.”

“Did you? Or did you look the other way because you caught feelings when you were sleeping with him, and figured what I wouldn’t know wouldn’t hurt me?”

“I would never… Why would you assume I am capable of something so disgusting?” Nanjo held a hand to his chest. “I came to help as soon as I heard you. I wouldn’t… I thought you were awake. I swear.”

“...And what do you think about the fact he clearly never saw you as a man, this entire time?”

“I’m not sure I have the right to be upset over that.”

“I’ll be upset for you, then. I’ll be mad enough for the both of us.” Yume drew her blankets up around herself. “So a ‘normal’ person like him… Would still do these kinds of things.”


	271. Stage One, Day 4: Unmoved Beast

“Oh, so that’s all?” Eva held a hand to her forehead as if peering into the distance. “No more on this tape? Huh. Cause, like, that totally wasn’t so bad, right? Just a girl getting unbelievably pissed off about a totally normal thing to do!”

“It doesn’t surprise me that you think something like that is normal. Yet, I am somehow still disappointed.” Ris shook his head. “I don’t know what I expected… Miss Yume of course has _my_ sympathy on this matter. That behavior is inexcusable even without the factor of your sleep disorder. Were you able to awaken immediately, or were it induced by a substance, even that is to be condemned. In your case, I can only imagine how it felt. To have a minor inconvenience turned in an instant into a massive vulnerability.”

“If it was really that big a deal, she should have already expected it to be a massive vulnerability from the start. Cry me a river, I still won’t be showing any sympathy here.”

“I… Eva.” Ris pressed three fingers against his forehead, then flicked one of those three outward. Eva looked up in surprise as a strawberry hurtled towards her and snuffed her out again. “Should have done that sooner. Well, it isn’t as if that will be the only horrible thing she says, so you may as well get used to it. I apologize. You still have to illuminate a brighter future.”

\--

As Osiris offered his parting words, the screen on which he had been projected was torn apart by grasping hands on either end, revealing the corridor which had been blocked off by that gate. It was indoors now, though it didn’t resemble the Mirais’ home. Those grasping hands reached out along the edge of every wall, a barricade of arms staring the survivors in the face. The hands were greyed and decaying, like those of the creatures, but it didn’t seem they could move from the walls.

“Yume, that was…” Saya spoke softly, “I mean. I cannot believe… Er, no, I can certainly believe somebody would do such a thing. Even a worm like him can commit atrocities. Anybody is capable of such a thing. So instead, I am offended on your behalf that it did occur, and shocked at the particular nature of the atrocity…”

“I still don’t know,” Yume said, “How many times he did it. Or if anybody else ever did. So that’s what I was waiting for. And why I got so mad about him coercing Nanjo… The end of the line, I’ve been pissed off about this the whole time. As soon as he appeared at all, I knew they were gonna show you that.”

“They said we’re close to the end, not that it’s over…” Syoko muttered, “So how does it even get worse from there? What else, after you found him out, could he have done?”

“Who’s to say that the last video will have anything to do with that perv?” Yume took a step forward, into the corridor. She remained in the exact center, out of reach on both sides from the walls. The others fell in carefully behind her, though she had the grace to tread the line at a faster clip than some of the others. “Now that you guys saw that… Now that it’s out there, I almost feel calm. Whatever they have left to show you won’t end up being a surprise at all. And I don’t have to dread it anymore.”

“That real true?” Irarako asked, “Or just, you tryna’ make sure we ain’t think you berserk again?”

“What’s that matter? I think if I was berserk, I wouldn’t be able to convince you that I’m not, so…”

“But you ain’t no worryin’ that if you get anger now even if it’s legit, we think it’s berserk? Ain’t good not to feel ya feels, just bad as lettin’ feels ya feel control it all…”

“I swear, I’m not holding myself back or anything. I just… Don’t need to feel stressed out anymore. None of you thought what he did was normal. Evangeline might’ve, but that doesn’t matter to me. You didn’t fucking blink twice about it, ‘cept Saya to offer sympathy. So I was all bent out of shape waiting for this to drop, for no reason. Worried you'd all think I'm a completely different person, or that I shouldn't have been upset. I’m fine now, really.” She turned to look back at the group and glare. “And do _not_ start falling over yourselves to console me, the fact you’re not doing that actually helps.”

“We’d never think that shit’s normal,” Yosuke said.

“Good, means you’re sane people who haven’t fucking, shut your eyes to the world at large and managed never to even learn what’s right and wrong- gah!” Yume jumped backwards as one of the hands from the wall turned out to have been attached to a creature. It didn’t have the ‘clione arm’, as the shigabane had revealed that tentacle was called- so it couldn’t make up the distance before the survivors had already prepared an attack and felled it.

“What is this place supposed to be, anyway?” Homura wondered, “If the street back there’s the shopping district…”

“It’s the Yamaguchi mansion,” Yume said, “Or something like it. The hallways aren’t nearly this extensive in reality, and obviously, there’s no monsters reaching out of the walls, but that’s all it can be.”

“Mm. We have to fight a ‘boss’ at the end of this, they said. Somebody the Conquest Videos would reveal to us. So do you believe somewhere in this mansion is that last piece you aren’t so concerned about us seeing?” Shin asked, “In that previous video, you did dream about this place’s garden… Right?”

“I’m going to be upfront with you guys,” Yume said, “I do think that the boss will be in that garden. What I think it’s going to be, though… Yeah, it relates to whatever they’ll show you in the last video. Like I said, it wouldn’t be a surprise, though. I mean. These creatures are based off of people I knew, but they aren’t literally them. So I don’t think it’s a _stretch_ to say that the person I think… Being in the form of one of those, would be the obstacle we have to overcome to ‘beat’ this ruin.”

“And who do you think that is?” Syoko wondered.

“Isn’t it obvious? The boss of this ruin, the monster we’ll fight in that garden… It’s got to be a version of _me_.”


	272. Stage One, Day 4: Batter Up

“You?” Saya asked, furrowing her brow.

“Everyone saw me go berserk, right? With that status condition, it didn’t come out of _nowhere_. My conquest videos can inflict that, because I’m prone to that kind of behavior. And especially back then… At the time of these videos.” Yume shook her head. “I became a monster. I’d be worried about that final video if not for the fact you already saw me go off. You know what kind of shit I can get myself into.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Homura said, “I mean, even if it’s possible that a version of you could be the boss, objectively. I don’t really think that’s going to happen with you. You’ve made it really clear you don’t actually hurt anyone you care about, you can’t even fathom it, right?”

“The closest I’ve ever come to harming somebody I don’t hate was when Tsubasa insisted we even the field. That was swift and temporary, so it doesn’t count,” Yume said, “What does that have to do with this, though?”

“That means no version of you would ever become some big bad creature who wants to kill us and keep us from getting the thing we need,” Homura explained his reasoning, “There’s some of us who might be able to have a version of us who’s like that, but I don’t think it’s actually possible for you.”

“If you say so,” Yume said, “But that’s what I’m gonna brace myself for, anyway. I kinda prefer that idea to whatever else it might be anyway…”

“I understand,” Saya said, then squinted at one of the walls. “Hey, here there’s… Something different about this one.”

The group stopped, and Katsue reached one arm out. As soon as her own arm got close, that one panel’s set of creature arms disappeared from view. She took a step forward. “There’s something written on the wall here, it says… Press this switch, and find my mirror, for a more polished attack strategy.”

“There must be another section of the wall which is the same as this one,” Shin said, “I’ll keep my eye out. Though, I’m impressed… Yoshiro, you took notice of it quite easily.”

“The hands were wrong. Every other panel we’ve passed so far has had hands which match up to the side of the wall that they’re on. But this panel had two left hands mixed in, even though it’s on the right wall. That is what stood out to me about it.” She turned her head. “Katsue, it was very brave of you to reach into the area.”

“Brave?” Katsue asked, then smirked. “Not in the least. I have braved much fiercer gauntlets of grasping hands than this in the past. If my arm were to be siezed, it would be a mere inconvenience, nothing to worry about at all.”

“Fiercer gauntlets?” Irarako questioned.

“I believe Katsue means that she used to go to busy concerts,” Syoko said, “Am I correct?”

“Gh-! Such accurate translation from such an enemy…” Katsue narrowed her eyes. “Nightclub raves, more often, but yes. Nearly entirely correct.”

“Though you may, in this sphere of fate, name me as an enemy,” Syoko’s voice dropped an octave, “It isn’t as though I have never known the truth of the ancients, myself. Had you spoken truth in the arcane tongue to me, rather than the wayward dollsmith… Perhaps I would never have doubted the love of your hero.”

“Wh- Uh- I-” Katsue sputtered, then turned away. “Let’s just keep going, alright? And keep an eye out for another panel like that one…”

“I imagine it will be on the left side this time,” Saya said, “Given the mention of ‘mirror’, it would have to be a left side panel with two right arms in it, right?”

“Checks out,” Yume agreed, then continued her way down the hallway. It was incredibly long, with not much difference- Only enough to indicate that they were in fact, making progress, and not being sent in circles by some strange force, or by being bad at navigation. Aside from the one creature that had popped out of the wall before, there weren’t really others turning up, either. It was just a trek through long, dim hallways, until Shin spotted the ‘mirrored’ panel. It was just a few feet away from a corner that had a visible door set into it.

“This one…” Shin approached, only to see that the panel was already giving way to a tiny room beyond it, large enough for at most four people to actually fit inside. “Hm. It’s open?”

“It was probably opened by the switch on the other one,” Homura said, “If we found this one first, I bet it’d say something like, find my mirror then come back here. What’s inside, for the polished attack strategy thing?”

“It’s… Some nails,” Shin said, then turned back to look at the others. “Like the hardware kind, I mean. Though the joke is probably regarding nail polish, isn’t it?”

“Of course.” Syoko pressed her hands together. “Oh, that’s so stupid. Say, Tsubasa, have you ever painted your nails before?”

“I’ve never picked my own clothing before, you think I’d have painted my nails? Though I wouldn’t be opposed to the matter… I’m not sure that mine would be suited to it.” He glanced away and lifted one of those gloved hands. “You have heard of smoker’s nails, haven’t you? Employment in my field, rolling cigars, can cause that as well. I can’t wear gloves while working, due to the precise nature. So they really… Look kind of disgusting.”

“If anybody can fix that up, you know, it’s me!” Syoko held a hand to her chest. “I’ll have you know I didn’t even start learning my real talent till I was already almost a teenager, but I got into makeup because a friend of mine had hurt his face pretty badly, and it made him self-conscious! I learned to cover it up, then joined the drama club when I thought my skills would be useful. The rest is history!”

“You’re awfully enthusiastic about the idea,” Shin muttered, “Is it just because you think nails like mine would be a nice challenge?”

“Nothing like that.” Syoko shook her head. “I just think you’d appreciate it if you tried, you know? You’d like the way you looked with your nails painted, I’d stake a life on it!”

“Are you implying that Tsubasa should kill you if he ends up not liking it?” Yosuke raised an eyebrow.

“We know that he’s not above doing that, so.” Syoko shrugged. “May as well go with it!”

“Ey!” Irarako called out, pointing to the door on the corner. “I’m get real impatient to wanna see what’s got goin’ on here?”

“Heh, right.” Syoko turned and approached the door as well. The rest of the group followed suit, with Homura and Yosuke bringing up the back. The door was opened carefully, but there were no enemies on the other side. Just a baseball bat sitting on a podium.

“Oh, sweet!” Yume exclaimed, pushing through to the front. “I could really use a weapon upgrade, if we’re gettin’ close to the boss and all-”

“Hey, wait!” Homura called out from back in the hallway, but it was too late. She’d already lifted the bat from the podium, without time to be informed of the warning that was written back in the hallway, on the floor.

**Batter up, bully!**

The wall to the right of Yosuke and Homura, the other wall of the corner the door was set into, raised into the ceiling in one swift motion, with a clunk. And from the hole in the wall, a cow (not a bull, as the warning implied) didn’t even hesitate before trampling both of the boys who remained in the hallway, reducing them to X-Keys in an instant.


	273. Stage One, Day 4: Misdirection

“Aw, _shit_.” Yume turned to see the X-Keys on the ground back in the hallway. She set the bat back down, and that did close the door.

“Pick back up!” Irarako barked, “Cow’s already out the cage, grief. Ya need it to beat it!”

“...Right.” Yume lifted the weapon again and approached the door, peering down the hallway to see that it had charged all the way to the opposite end. Syoko reached out and swiped the X-Keys in one hand, and Homura’s weapon in the other, before pulling back into the room. The cow had spotted her, and came trampling back that direction.

Irarako, Yume, Syoko, and Katsue were ready to attack upon its return, and hit it with all they had. It didn’t fall, so they moved out of the way as much as they could in the small space to avoid being trampled immediately themselves. The cow made its way into the room, and they all attacked it again. Yume’s hit to its leg broke off one of the hooves, as well as their concentration, staggering Syoko and Katsue’s charge and leaving them both to make weaker hits. The cow needed some time to ready another attack, though, and Irarako was able to get one more swipe in to finish it off.

“There…” Syoko sighed and picked up the items dropped by the cow. Others stepped in to grab the items Homura and Yosuke had been holding onto, which was a bit inconvenient. Yosuke had the most carrying capacity of anybody here, so the heavier things he was holding onto needed to be distributed between the remaining survivors. “We need to be more careful, you know.”

“How could I have possibly known lifting the bat was gonna get a whole-ass cow sicced on the hallway?” Yume questioned.

“There’s a warning there on the floor,” Shin said, “Batter up, bully. Homura tried to inform you of it, but you were moving too quickly.”

“I guess, but… It ain’t like a weapon this nice, we’d wanna leave behind, right? So even if we were all inside the room when the cow got released, they might’ve got killed anyway. Or even more of us. So.” Yume sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t think before doing it, but the result wouldn’t’ve been different.”

Shin shut his eye, then reached into his bag, grabbed a rock, and set it on the pedestal. There was the sound of the door snapping shut again. He opened his eye to stare at Yume.

"...Fine, okay, damn. I was hasty." Yume crossed her arms. "Somebody else lead the way, then."

"I will manage that." Syoko stepped up. "I have Shinku's weapon now, after all, and my skill seems to be similarly inclined toward blades. Meaning me, then Yume, then Ira have the most attack power right now, so we should take up the lead."

"Agree." Irarako nodded. Behind those three, Katsue stepped in, leaving only Saya and Shin to be on a lower alert than the others. It was surprising just how uncomfortable they felt even just having two party members in the form of X-Keys, with how much more had to be carried between the remaining members, and the matter that those who had taken up the fallen's weapons weren't nearly as skilled as the original owners.

Even so, the group pressed on. They still had the energy to continue onward, so that was all they could really do. True to her word, Syoko led the group more cautiously than Yume had up to that point. The hallway’s hands gradually faded away, until a corner was rounded to a hall with completely normal walls. At the far end, in the darkness, a shape could just vaguely be made out.

The group readied their weapons. They still lacked any meaningful, renewable ranged weapon, so all they could do was wait as they heard footsteps and the creature drew itself from the pitch. It was barely visible when it stopped, and seemed to lock its eyes onto the girls heading up the combat effort. “Please…” It croaked out, “Don’t... kill me…”

Syoko froze. “What?”

Rather than a response, the creature lashed out with its clione arm from a few steps away and found its target between her ribs.

“Idiot,” Yume got in as Syoko was already starting to dissolve before her, “They’re just saying shit I heard them say before, you know…”

Irarako snatched the X-Key in one fluid motion as she jabbed the creature with her sword, and Yume squeezed around her to smash her bat over its head. That was enough to beat it- Though the axe was in fact, the best weapon the group had yet, this bat Yume had found was really close behind. Evidently, though, the enemies would only become stronger themselves. The cow had proved challenging, even if these creatures weren’t so much anymore. And being caught off-guard could lead to defeat, even if the creature wasn’t challenging head on.

Yume groaned and lifted three X-Keys from the floor. Since Syoko had been holding onto the other two who’d been killed, they’d all dropped when she herself was dispatched. Having not been killed yet, she didn’t have any Shigabane to defend her, and she’d obviously been shaken by the creature’s words.

“It begged us not to kill it,” Shin said, “How odd.”

“What’s odd about it?” Katsue wondered.

“Actually, what’s odd is Yume’s reaction. Not to say, idiot, that was obviously a trap. But what she told Syoko instead…”

“I’m right here, you know.”

“I do know. I’m requesting an explanation.”

“...Right, well. It shouldn’t be surprising that people would beg me for their lives, right? Even though, I only ever beat the shit out of people… And if I ever did kill anyone, folks wouldn’t have _known_, Akihiko would’ve taken the fall. It was just fear. Nobody wants to die, and it’s easy to think you’re gonna die when faced with a frightening person.”

“If you ever did-” Irarako started to question, but stopped when, next to an odd-looking door with eight locks set into its sides, she saw a CRT monitor.

\--

“Hey kids.” Ris waved. “I don’t see the point in letting Eva make commentary on this next video, after her reaction to the last one. Of course… I wouldn’t be allowed to give you your next objective without her, so once this is over, I will be extending her, I’m sorry to say. There’s only so much I can prevent her from making a rotten fool of herself. In any case, this is the last in the series. **Wrath Part Five: Garden Monster, Corridor Corpse.**”


	274. Wrath Part Five: Garden Monster, Corridor Corpse

It was possible for anger to become worse.

It was possible, for Yume Mirai, to stew in her feelings and to, upon, getting over her shock, feel even worse. Even more disgusted at everything and everyone around her. At Shouto Kodaki, for taking advantage of her like that. At Nanjo Mirai, for not stopping to think at any point, when he could have stopped him much sooner. At herself, for being this broken, for being this kind of person who- Who that could happen to.

Somebody who would not wake up. Somebody who had no choice but to lie there and take it and who couldn’t be woken up no matter what was happening to her. Somebody with that kind of weakness… Who slept as if she was already dead, and had her entire life. Was this the only time? Had she been hurt before? She only knew because she woke up this time. She only knew because the timing was off. She never would have realized. She never would have had to know- but it was happening. Had it happened before? Had it?

Had Yume experienced this kind of violation in the past? She didn’t think Shouto a malicious person. He evidently didn’t think that of himself at all. His reaction was to be confused, as if he’d done nothing wrong, as if what he’d done was… Like the rest of him, perfectly normal. This didn’t temper her fury at all. If anything, it burned all the brighter knowing now, beyond any doubts or misconceptions, that Yume lived in the sort of world where somebody could be convinced that kind of crime was an innocuous action.

Just because she was his girlfriend. Just because she wouldn’t wake up. Just because he wanted to, because he wanted to, and she wasn’t giving him enough when she was awake. As his girlfriend, he could take what he wanted from her and it was fine. There wasn’t anything wrong. He didn’t do anything wrong. Those rationalizations he gave- that he completely believed. That Yume knew he completely believed. That Yume could only hold against a world that never taught him otherwise, and not against him, so she thought rationally.

Yet, she did hold it against him. So what if he never learned it was wrong? So what if he was shocked to learn anybody would think it an act of evil? He did it, he hurt her. Yume could roar and rage against the entire world, but she had been doing that her whole life till now. It may become worse in the future, but she could not deflect it from her target, couldn’t disperse to everything that easily. Shouto Kodaki was the target of her ire, and she had no intention of letting that anger stew any longer than she needed to. At boiling point, she decided to act. It was all-encompassing, a choking fury that wouldn’t ever let up or die down, she couldn’t even begin to think of a way to lose this anger without action.

It took hold of her, twisting her from the inside out. She had been a frightening human girl, to that point in time, but when she discovered what had been done to her- What people _could_ do to her and what she very well may have unknowingly endured at the hands of somebody much more cruel than a boy her age who thought it normal, that was nothing she could be anymore. Nobody would consider Yume Mirai, as she was, a frightened and betrayed middle school girl, a human. With the anger crawling under her skin and through her mind, she would become, truly, a monster.

A human who is hurt might lash out, after all. It takes a monster, people would whisper if they realized, to do what Yume did. Shouto did not appear before her at any time. He avoided her, he gave her space, he seemed to understand she had no desire to see him. Or maybe, he had lost all desire to see her, branding her and her brother as weirdos who shouldn’t be associated with. Either way, benefit given or taken away, he did not appear so that she might ‘lash out’. She instead called out to him, called him out to meet with her there. In the garden of her benefactors.

Shoyu Kyosuke and Akihiko Yamaguchi were aware of what had happened, but only when it was too late. They were made aware over a corpse. Made aware after Yume had invited Shouto to be killed in their garden. When she yelled and yelled and yelled until her lungs felt like they might collapse, sense and nonsense and everything she felt, in fact and in abstract and everything in between. How she had been taken advantage of and how an eyeball stood watching her lose everything from that very island, how she lived from dream to dream and lost anything in between and if he had done this- if _he_ had, then who’s to say somebody she never loved didn’t?

Shouto was the target of her realizations, he was a miscreant. He had made a large mistake, and had done grievous harm through no understanding of his own actions, and he would be grievously harmed for it. For unlocking the door in a young woman’s mind to the horror of her condition, and for the contribution to that horror he had undeniably made all his own. He stood and listened as she yelled, because he felt he could do nothing else. Under the power of the monster, he was frozen.

When Yume had exhausted everything she wanted him to hear, she stepped forward and grabbed at his shirt. She kicked at his legs, and shoved him to the ground, through the threshold of the door to the hallway which surrounded the garden. A beautiful place like that was nowhere, she felt, Shouto deserved to see in his final moments. She stomped- Stomped on his ribs, stomped on his head, kept going. On and on, and she knew what she was doing. 

She was killing him. She was murdering Shouto Kodaki for what he’d done to her, and for how he made her feel. And she knew it was ‘wrong’. She knew that she couldn’t actually claim this was justified. This brutality. Even under a bankrupt moral code- An honor code like that of the Yamaguchi, which excused murders and excused torture, this action didn’t receive a pass. This wasn’t intentioned torture, and this wasn’t a simple execution. It was the shrieking violence of a girl wronged, a lapse in morality unlike any other.

A corpse was gradually made. No swift end waited on the receiving end of Yume’s shoeprint, collapsing a skull bit, by, bit. It could hardly be pinpointed that there were a moment when Shouto Kodaki died, outright. He was alive, then with each time Yume’s foot landed, he was a bit closer to death. His corpse was dragged from his living body, then desecrated, she wouldn’t simply stop- She wouldn’t stop until she felt the floor under her shoe, till her fury drove a hole entirely through to the other side, until his head didn’t resemble one at all anymore.

Akihiko Yamaguchi would take the blame for this killing. He would say he had murdered in defense of his ward’s honor, because he would have. Had she told him first, he very well would have lifted a gun and shot that boy between the eyes himself. It was a task of no consequence for him to take the fall, and to manage any fallout. There wouldn’t be much. Shouto was, after all. An unremarkable young man with no real connections outside of the Mirai twins, unlikely to be missed. He had never caught anyone’s eye in a meaningful way; If he had, Akihiko would have stepped in the same as he had for Yume and Nanjo. As it was, even those with a tight hold on the city hadn’t even realized this meaningless young man was living alone.

It was all very convenient, that Yume could avoid consequences for her rage. At least, that was how it might have seemed. Even so…

While Nanjo claimed to forgive her for this; The night when he had come to her rescue, when he had chewed out Shouto on her behalf. That would prove to be the last time. When, in the future, Yume found herself in fights or arguments with people, Nanjo never again showed that same willingness to take her side. To believe, without hesitation, that Yume was the one being wronged. There was no intention to turn his back on her- His perception had merely been broken when he realized _she_ was the one who killed Shouto, not Akihiko, he lost the ability to trust in her judgment.

It was when she woke up to Shouto using her that night, when she lost all restraint.  
It was when she killed Shouto for it, that she lost anything else she thought she had. The one person who should have always been on her side, became wary of her. Afraid. Willing to condemn her mistakes, that usually only she would condemn of herself. There was nobody to tell her she was okay. Nobody to say.

Yume Mirai is not a monster.


	275. Stage One, Day 4: Closed Hatch

“I see…” Ris said, “So you murdered him. I can’t say that surprises me, of course. Good on you for having that kind of confidence. You might be mistaken by how willing I am to dispatch Eva here on the show, but I was never able to take that step in my usual life. I mean it, I’m proud of you for taking your revenge. There are many men in this world who deserve to face the wrath of young women. I’ll see you again once you’ve retrieved your reward at the end of this ruin… Once you’ve defeated the boss.”

“Eva will return then, and we’ll continue challenging you to illuminate a brighter future for humanity. That is, if you even still want to, after seeing the kind of things humans will do to each other. Then again, these are _your_ stories, so I suppose you already know. Bye-bye?”

\--

“There you have it,” Yume said, “But you’re not surprised, are you? You saw the way I got just now, you saw what kind of a creature I can be… To this day.”

“Is Shouto Kodaki the only real person you’ve permanently killed?” Saya asked.

“He is. He’s the only person who… No, I can’t even say that. You were even privy to my thoughts at the time, yeah? He didn’t actually… hurt me enough to kill him, myself. If somebody else did that first, and I found out, I’d have killed that person and not killed him, you know? It’s what he represented, what him doing that meant for me in general.”

“I can understand that,” Shin said, “But all the same, I don’t think he was anything like a good person. I dislike a perfectly fine person for what she represents, after all. There’s still a difference there.”

“Mhm.” Irarako nodded. “Ain’t so bad real. Like, I did kinda wish somebody were to die a time. He ended up dyin’ eventually… Know I didn’t kill ‘im or nothin’, but with that mind in? Can’t real hold it against ya. But…”

“But?” Yume asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That… That’s the same what you woulda done to Itadai.” Irarako brought her hands up to her chin. “If nobody stopped you. Right?”

Yume looked away. “I was stopped. But… He killed my twin brother, you know? Even if Nanjo… Even if he stopped trusting me after what I did, though he stopped having my back, I still wanted to have _his_ fucking back and be there for him no matter what. So getting revenge on the person who killed him was natural for me to want.”

“I do not think you would have,” Saya said, “Even if I didn’t stop you. Killing Itadai, I mean. You would have harmed him grievously, yes. I do not believe your anger could have carried you into killing him, though.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I think I know you well enough.” Saya reached out and grabbed Yume’s hand in hers. “And I also know enough _about_ your brother… Um. He is awfully stupid, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“So of course he will forgive Itadai.” Saya giggled. “That’s the stupid thing to do. And you know that, some part of you. He would be upset with you for killing someone he intended to forgive. He was upset with you for killing somebody he _never_ would have forgiven, after all.”

“Yeah…” Yume reached out with her other hand annd pressed the center of the strange door. Only five of the locks turned green, and the others remained red.

“The hatch before us must only open when our forces are at their maximum capacity,” Katsue observed, “It makes sense. If the boss awaits on the other side, then we must be properly prepared to face it with our entire might. Shall we return to extend the others, and undertake this ruin’s final battle in the morning?”

“We don’t really have another choice,” Yume said, “So. Yeah. Even if it would let us in, they’re some of our strongest fighters. And we’ve got basically no space left to carry shit with the three of them outta the picture too.”

“Yeah!” Irarako poked at the three X-Keys she had clipped onto her own. “N ‘sides. Sure they’d like comin’ back sooner than the later.”

With that agreement made, the remaining survivors made their way back to Jabberwock Island once more, knowing that the end of this ruin was in sight. Somebody else would be next on the chopping block… But right now, everyone was too ready to make progress, to worry too much about being next in line themselves.

Homura Shinku _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Ivory Cow:** Reduced damage from Ivory Cows  
**Death by Trampling:** Reduced damage from Trampling  
**Died While Feeling Dysphoric:** Will extend with physical changes  
**Died While Feeling Ignored:** Increased Defense (Died after trying to warn an ally of danger.)

Yosuke Oowada _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Ivory Cow:** Reduced damage from Ivory Cows  
**Death by Trampling:** Reduced damage from Trampling  
**Died While Feeling Dysphoric:** Will extend with physical changes

Syoko Saihara _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Male Creature:** Reduced damage taken from Male Creatures.  
**Death by Clione Arm:** Reduced damage taken from Clione Arm attacks.  
** Death by Being Impaled:** Reduced damage taken from Pierce attacks.

“Welcome back!” Saya greeted each of them in turn as they were extened, her hands pressed together at her waist as if she was inviting them to a dinner party, rather than inviting them back to life. “As you know from the memory download thing, we found the boss room. But we should rest up and go back tomorrow!”

“Good to know you were at least cautious about that.” Homura rolled his eyes. “Getting us killed, I was trying to tell you guys…”

“Eh, you hadn’t been extended yet anyway,” Yume said, “So… Shouldn’t you be appreciating your dysphoria thing, instead of yelling about me being stupid?”

“I wouldn’t say you were stupid, just rash. It’s like you didn’t even stop to think about your other options,” Yosuke said, “Either time. Not when you grabbed that bat, and not when you killed that guy, either. I understand what kind of person he was… I’m not about to give a shit he’s dead, but I’m not just gonna jump to saying I understand why you _did_ it, like everyone else seems to be, either.”


	276. Stage One, Day 4: Glass Houses

“Is that so, Yosuke?” Homura asked, “Well, I mean. I’m pissed that she got us killed, but I’m not even a little bit surprised that she killed that guy! If I was in her position, I kinda think I might end up killing someone too…”

“Yeah…” Syoko grabbed at her arms. “It’s not that I think she was right, but Yosuke… We’re all going to have our pasts exposed. And you know, well. It isn’t like Yume’s sin is anywhere near the worst thing that any of us have done.”

“...I think, mayhap,” Irarako spoke up, “Yos is all, not real understan’ it because… He don’t remember what his sin would be.”

Yosuke blinked. “Do you… Think that could be it?”

“We all done bad shit,” Irarako said, “Even I… I think what I did, prob ain’t the worse of it all. I feel more guilty than matters to. I didn’ really _do_ anythin’, an’ even so. It’s bad enough, I gotta forgive other people. I can’t be forgiven if I ain’t forgive.”

“Without your memory, it must be hard to tell,” Shin said, “Whether or not you’re throwing stones from glass houses. Even so, it’s disheartening to hear that you are unwilling to be gracious toward Yume…”

“I think so too,” Syoko admitted, “Yosuke, I. You know what it is, right? What would probably be my sin. If you’re thinking this way about Yume, have you thought badly of me this entire time?”

Yosuke shook his head. “I’m not… No, I don’t think _badly_ of Yume for it. I just don’t think she’s learned much from it, there’s a difference. I want to encourage her to do better? I know how hard it can be to manage anger and how destructive it can be! And it _still_ is!”

“He’s right.” Yume groaned. “Shit. I gotta manage it better, I can’t keep… Doing this kind of crap. I just don’t know how to deal with it, yknow? And it’s fine, to judge me for my sin. I wasn’t worried about what you’d think of me. I was worried you’d be shocked, but you’re not. You know what kind of person I’ve been. We still have to work together, no matter what you think.”

“You have to be less reckless,” Yosuke said, “In general, that’s all. You probably have more restraint than you did back then, but caution’s important to. Think before you act, and all.”

“Will you let us be this critical of you when you eventually do something which gets other people killed?” Shin asked, “Just wondering. Because if so, then I certainly will be.”

“Yeah, of course? I wouldn’t want you to hold your tongue or anything. If I fuck up, and you’ve got advice for how I can not fuck up, I want to hear it.”

“With that in mind, I think this was an unnecessary argument, and it’s perfectly fine. We shouldn’t be afraid to offer constructive criticism to each other.” Shin crossed his arms. “Likewise. While I’ve admitted upfront that I’m quite useless, if you do see a way for me to be helpful to you, then make sure to let me know. Now then, when it comes to the boss… Now would be the time for me to utilize the ranged pellets, yes? Sparingly, but of any time to utilize them…”

“Assuming it’s not immune,” Homura said, “Cause, we don’t have a clue what the boss is actually gonna be like. For all we know, our most powerful stuff right now won’t actually do any damage?”

“Ain’t that kinda intense, givin’ immunities to a first boss?” Irarako raised an eyebrow. “Doubt that’ll actually be the play here. Sides. What sorta immunities could _anyone_ based off those vidyas even end up with?”

“It does appear to be unlikely… That a creature taking roots in somebody as stupid as Nanjo, basic as Shouto, or headstrong as Yume, would actually have much in the way of special defenses!” Saya chuckled. “Yume’s strategy, after all, appears to be that the best defense is a good offense.”

“And what’s so wrong about that?” Yume shrugged. “It’s worked so far, the only time I’ve needed to be extended myself was when _Tsubasa_ stabbed me. And two of you had to hold me back for that to even happen!”

“I do apologize for the trouble…” Syoko noted, having been one of those two. “But I was just trying to get you to come back.”

“Seems to me like you can’t offer any straight apology,” Katsue spoke up, “Can’t you say sorry? No buts, no ‘I was just’...”

“That’s…” Syoko trailed off, then sighed and shut her eyes. “Oh, you’re right. Katsue… Would you mind terribly, if we spoke in private a bit after this? If you’re wary, feel free to bring a weapon. Having just been extended, I’m still unarmed, and will stay that way until somebody returns a weapon to me.”

“I didn’t… Really expect that you would call me aside to kill me,” Katsue said, “I am willing to talk, away from the group. I’ll leave if I think that you’re still dodging the issue, though.”

With that agreement, the girls stepped away. The rest of the group was left standing there. Shin lifted his head. “So. You suppose they’ll stop their feud?”

“I know both of them… Decently well?” Yosuke shrugged. “I’m not really sure if they will. I’d say this one’s on Syoko.”

“You would?” Saya asked.

“Yeah, totally. I mean, if she said dumb shit like that to me, I wouldn’t take it personally… But that’s just me. It _was_ dumb shit, so I don’t blame Katsue for being upset.” He tapped at his chin. “I don’t know. If Syoko’s putting out the olive branch, it’s more likely. I kinda hope they make up, it’ll be a lot easier if Katsue’s not being constantly at her throat. Not that we need to get along to succeed, but it’d be more pleasant, right?”

“Mm!” Irarako nodded. “I dunno bout the rest of anyone else, but I wanna all be friends!”

“Even knowing what I did?” Yume asked, “Even knowing… Everyone here has probably done something along the same lines? Some ‘sin’ like that?”

“I count for everyone. If sinners can’t be friends each other, who else gonna friend the sin? Mayb I don’t know all what everybody real well. But I think, all precious friends. Just don’ go thinkin’ when you see _my_ vids… That I ain’t friend material no more, okay?”

“I don’t think anyone’s real worried for yours, Ebizakaya,” Homura said, “You make a good point, though. I promise, my opinion of everyone… Won’t change, no matter what sins you’ve committed or had leveled against you!”


	277. Stage One, Day 4: Language of the Ancients

Syoko and Katsue made their way out of the dining hall area and approached the greenhouse. Katsue pressed a hand against the glass. “Seems whenever I’ve got something serious to say, I find myself here, huh…”

“Oh?”

“I had a conversation with Yuji… Which went nowhere.” She chuckled under her breath. “That happened a lot, but I’m telling you, it’s my fault. I could have told him, anytime, what was really going on and how I really felt… The kind of things you’ll certainly learn from my conquest videos. You understand that now, right? You were mistaken about him.”

“I’m not sure it’s fair to put all the blame on yourself,” Syoko said, “As an outsider. But please, do, go on. I want to understand.”

“Yuji Sato…” Katsue clasped her hands over her heart and looked away. “Never took shocks well. So I never told the truth, of my ‘sin’. You don’t need to know what it is until we get there. If I could have… Actually shared the truth? It would have been okay. As it was, things went sour once. We really were perfectly fine before then. We were a good couple. The entire time you witnessed us, well. We’d acquired a divide based on our memories. I recalled him turning his back on me entirely, and he recalled that we were still going strong.”

“Did he turn his back on you?” Syoko asked.

“You heard him during the trial, did you not? He wasn’t permitted to remedy it. He had no memory to know he needed to remedy it. And for that matter, well. I wasn’t me.” She looked out toward the setting sun. “I was still ‘that person’. Hiyoko Nageko, who would always lead him to harm. Who would always have a rotten connection that couldn’t be severed, until I became somebody else entirely.”

“I can actually understand it, when you put it that way,” Syoko noted, “Me, I have a connection I can’t sever, either. It’s one I don’t want to sever, though. I might be forced to… If something goes wrong. Almost nobody is left, with a meaningful connection to my past. So if I fail in a particular endeavor, I cannot call myself Syoko any longer.”

“What would you call yourself?” Katsue asked, “If you could no longer call yourself Syoko.”

“I haven’t thought about that. I hate the idea of losing my name. I don’t want any other name… Because somebody trusted me with this one. But I can’t claim this one if I fail. I’m really… I really am sorry for what I said. There isn’t a meaningful excuse for me to behave that way. If somebody accused me of such a thing…”

“Somebody could, couldn’t they? If I were a worse person, I might take the lack of a dysphoria shigabane to mean something unfortunate. As it is, I understand…”

“My tits and my meat are huge, what’s not to love?” Syoko shrugged. “In all seriousness, though. It takes a lot of effort for girls like us just to be ourselves, you know? And for me, I decided. I won’t hate my body at all, I’ll be confident in the entire thing. In everything about that… Because there are so many things I can’t be nearly confident enough about. Not nearly as much as I’d like, that is.”

“Color me surprised. What in the world is _Syoko Saihara_ not confident about?”

“Hah! Plenty of things. Just because I excel at many, many things in my life, doesn’t mean that I don’t get insecure! But then, you’ll probably hear all about those in _my_ conquest video, so please do forgive me if I say that I’d like it if you could keep my current image in your eyes for just a bit longer!”

“Mm… Well, my current image of you is that your insistence on being the best person in the room leads you to say some very insensitive things without thinking… But then, just hearing you actually have things you’re insecure about, I suppose, makes that a bit better. Whoever put you under so much pressure?”

“Someone I knew years ago. A friend of mine… Who, I need to be strong for. I have to do my best for every person in the world that I can. I have to use my multitude of natural talents for the sake of others. That’s the burden of being the best. I have to keep being the best, always, for the sake of everyone who isn’t as good as me. I have to live up to that idea. And, you’re right. Trying to do that? I do end up hurting people.”

“Why, then? Why try so hard? Isn’t it hard enough, just to be enough of a woman for people to see you for who you are? I think it is. It’s very difficult. And then, when you’re woman enough, there’s all sorts of other troubles. I never once thought I could even try to be perfect in my entire life. But at least, except for you. Nobody questions if I’m a girl.”

“It had nothing to do with you. I just… Completely misread your situation.” Syoko looked away. “And I hurt you with something unfounded. I was more worried about you potentially being abused, than I was about implying that sort of thing about you. I’ll admit it, I… Never had to worry about that. I can’t remember a time since I asserted my womanhood that anyone questioned it even a little bit. Not to say I don’t worry all the time that they will, but I suppose I’m not quite as tuned to those kinds of comments.”

“But you wouldn’t think that looking at me, would you? Even before I got the shigabane. That I was a boy being forced to play a girl, because of men who were mistreating me…” Katsue lowered her gaze. “Right? After all, I… I don’t think somebody in that position could look as nice as me. I’ve put in personal effort, I’ve tried. I’ve tried so hard.”

Syoko closed her eyes. “Of course you don’t look like… Mm. You don’t look anything like Shinjiro Nozomi did.”

“Who’s that?”

“I’m not all into true crime the way that Shinku is, but I still did _some_ research… I need to have general knowledge, after all. And he stood out to me, and he was somebody like what I accused you of. A young man, forced to appear as a girl for the sake of others who were being cruel to him. So I was jumping to conclusions, I. I tend to do that. It’s easier for me if I can connect things to knowledge, than look at them directly. So I thought, somebody like that existed in a Killing Game in the past, and that was a motivating factor for them… And I shouldn’t have.”

“Mm?”

“I guess the bottom line is that I have trouble seeing people. I see accomplishments and circumstances and patterns, but not so much… Human beings.”

“It’s a good thing I’m not a human being, then. You should be able to understand me more, if you try. I want you to try, and maybe if you will try, I’ll forgive you. I don't yet. But I'll give you a chance.”

“I’m not sure I’m a human being, either…” Syoko chuckled.

“What sort of being do you think you are? When you spoke the ancient tongues, heh… And don’t say dragon. Oh my gosh, do _not_ say dragon, I don’t think I could handle _that_ kind of self-importance from you.”

“Not a dragon.” Syoko laughed and shook her head. “Nobody special, even. While you’re a vampire princess, I was always just… A wayward shapeshifter.”


	278. Stage One, Day 5: To The Zanki Hatch

The following morning, the group of survivors readied themselves to go back to the ruins. They ate up and refreshed their stamina, but otherwise, there were no weapon or armor upgrades to be done from last time. Oddly enough, when they attempted to combine those nails with Yume’s bat, they bounced right off instead. It felt like those ought to go together, but the workshop would not permit it.

In any case, it seemed they were all as prepared as they could possibly be. Homura, Yume, Irarako, and Yosuke once again took up the lead. It seemed that their combat abilities were such that they were best to lead the group into peril at most times, although, the enemies obviously didn’t care to discrimintate between those who were combat ready and those who weren’t- Even so, the front-facing meat-shield ought to be composed of people who were ready to do damage on their way out.

Homura made a request just before they reached the bridge- He asked that in the future, as they had this past time, he be extended first in the event that he and several others were killed. It wasn’t a difficult idiosyncracy to comply with, so everybody agreed readily. Remembering Homura’s statements that he had previously used an X-Key, before ever arriving at the Zero Sum Game, it was understandable that he might want to be assured of as swift a return as possible.

Upon arriving back to the ruin, a few of the enemies had returned, though not very many at all. It was just the three- Two ravvits and one male creature, who had been defeated the first day they’d been here. Those who they’d seen before the first gate opened. Nothing after the second gate had returned to life at all, so it seemed that the ‘respawn rate’ had to do with the number of days which had elapsed since the last time that a particular enemy was killed.

Thus, they would be able to continue collecting resources just as they’d hoped; Animal products, at least. It wouldn’t be too difficult to come back here and kill ravvits to keep themselves fed, and maybe even hit a point they could start having a stockpile in order to bring food with them into the ruins to better keep their energy up. So far, they hadn’t been going _hungry_ with the amount of ravvit meat they were finding, but hadn’t been eating particularly well either. They were getting by, so it would be nice to be able to have some more nutritious meals which didn’t involve just stretching out whatever they had on hand.

The hallway with the grasping hands, despite having just been traversed yesterday, wasn’t taken without caution. And for good reason, because the group happened upon another male creature that wandered over, another one which begged for its life. Nobody let that parroting get to them this time, and felled it with ease. A quick investigation into where it came from revealed that no, it hadn’t just respawned immediately, but the path to the zanki hatch had changed. Where it had been a straight-shot from the cage that released the cow before, it now turned to the right and made a loop around.

Along the way that direction, there was a bottle of ‘soothing tincture’ on the floor, which was of course, pocketed. Though it was unclear what it would be used for, everything had to have some sort of purpose. In a world where survival was on their own heads, nothing could be deemed unnecessary. It wasn’t long before they found themselves at the Zanki Hatch again, approaching it head-on rather than it being on the lefthand side of the hall as it had been yesterday. There _was_ a map provided on their Monopads which increased in detail as the ruins were traversed, and it reported the initial route with icons that looked a lot like closed-store shutters.

Hopefully, if more of these alternative paths existed, they wouldn’t do so in a way that prevented the survivors from progressing. If they needed to call a day early, though, then they could certainly find something else useful to do with the lost time. As much as completing the Zero Sum game was important, the time dilation turning each real-world day into a week in the game did give them the feeling that they _had_ time. There was no real rush if they did lose a day to something going wrong early on.

“So… Once we open this door, we’ll have to go up against our first ‘boss’,” Yosuke said, “Call me paranoid, but after what happened with that cow, I dunno how confident I am about beating this thing. We need to have a retreat strategy, if too many of us get killed.”

“It seems like as soon as we decided ‘We’re leaving’,” Shin said, “The enemies stop seeking us out. We’re allowed to flee. I imagine that won’t be the case at all times, though. Perhaps the bosses don’t allow that kind of thing…”

“Hey!” Eva’s voice startled the group into looking at the monitor. “Osiris fucked up and didn’t tell you anything, huh? Just showed you Wrath Part Five and didn’t even explain what the deal is with the boss… Stupid. Anyway. The only enemies which can follow you when you’re retreating are enemies who know how to destroy an X-Key. The normal bosses aren’t of that kind. They can leave the boss room and chase you into other parts of the ruins, though. So you have to run away with the intention of going all the way back to Jabberwock Island, if you want the boss to stay in its room!”

“Basically, you get a free pass to ‘go home’. After all, it wouldn’t be fair if we told you that ‘all you need’ is one person to bring the X-Keys home, but that person doesn’t have any chance of making it,” Eva continued, “We don’t plan on playing dirty, we really don’t. We both wanna see if you can do it. We wanna watch the world burn, but that can’t be satisfying if you haven’t got a fighting chance to stop us! So there you have it. As long as one person decides to go back to Jabberwock Island, you’ll be able to recover from a major loss against most foes, stage bosses included.”

The monitor shut off again, when Eva finished with her explanation. Yume rested her bat against her neck. “If that’s the case, then we can go right in, yeah? We’ll retreat if we get down to three people alive, to be on the safe side and so we don’t drop as much of our stuff. We’ll never know if we can take the boss unless we see for ourselves, yknow?”

“You seem awfully calm,” Syoko said, “For the fact we’re about to face the monster associated with your sin, and all.”

“I just want it to be over with. For somebody else’s sin to be up next, so it’s not all about me anymore…” Yume shut her eyes and sighed. “Not to say I wish this kinda thing on any of you, but I’m ready for it to be a different person getting all this uncomfortable sympathy.”

With that, she reached for the hatch. Each of the eight locks turned green, and with a hiss, the door opened. There, in the garden, was the boss. It had one massive eye which turned to stare at the survivors. There were two cliones on its creature body. One was wrapped around its neck like a tied sweater. The other was coiled a length replacing where its forearm would have been, making the entire arm ridiculously long. And around that eye, without any face, a head of shock white hair.


	279. Stage One, Day 5: Creature of Wrath

“I’m your boyfriend…” The creature spoke in that same broken tone as all the others, “You should treat me like it.”

“The boss is… Shouto??” Yume questioned, then felt an arm around her waist to drag her out of the way of the approaching hand. It had wasted no time in lashing out, uncoiling the clione of its arm to reach for the survivors. All of them managed to dive out of the way, though it took Yosuke’s quick thinking to actually get Yume to move in her current stupor.

The creature of Wrath turned itself around, looking toward them again. Already getting their bearings, though, most of the group moved before it could even think about attacking. Not all of them, though. It shut its eye, and spoke. “Why’d Kami have to go and mess up her _body_ like _that_?”

When it opened its eye again, there was some sort of shockwave which emanated out from the area. Just one person was caught up in it. Irarako. “Wh- What, hey um! I can’t… I can’t move even a lil!”

The creature advanced on her as she just kept trying, and failing, to move. Staring and not blinking at all, like she would be trapped there for as long as it was still looking at her. By staring at the one person, though, it was thoroughly fixated and unaware of the other parts of its surroundings. Saya, despite being armed only with one of the sand-filled bottles herself, walked up behind it. She raised her weapon and readied to deal it a distracted blow, only for the jacket to move. It swung first away from her, then back through, its entire surface area smacking directly into her shoulder.

Saya didn’t have a chance against the force of the jacket clione, and was pushed against the surrounding wall of the garden area. The second she hit it, she turned to dust, and her X-Key fell to the floor. All of this had transpired in mere moments, and all of it without the creature taking its gaze off of Irarako. Its words dripped as it took another step in Irarako’s direction. “Two for the price of one, _sweet_...”

“That thing is… That powerful?” Yosuke questioned, taking a step back. “Everybody, don’t go behind it!”

“It does seem like if we approach from that direction, we’ll just get killed by the clione on its back…” Syoko said, “But we can’t just let Ira-”

Syoko was unable to finish her thought, because the creature arrived directly in front of Irarako. It leaned over her with the eye, and as soon as it was inches away from her face… “N-No!” Despite her protests against the watchful eye, it seemed that just being watched so closely by it was enough, somehow, to kill her. A second X-Key in the grass, and they hadn’t even managed to attack the creature yet themselves.

Getting their bearings, it seemed, was a challenge that proved fatal right out of the gates. Even though they had now seen what to avoid- Don’t get split up enough to get trapped in its eye contact, don’t approach from behind, and don’t assume safety at a range. There could be more than that, and they had just lost one of their strongest fighters already. This shell-shock didn’t last much longer, though.

Shin was the one who was able to deal the first actual blow, landing a pellet directly in the creature’s pupil. The corrosive substance inside obviously stung, and the creature squeezed its eye shut and began stumbling around the area. Katsue seized the opportunity to rush over to where Irarako had been killed, claiming her weapon for her own use, as well as snatching her X-Key at the same time. Yume, similarly, ran to grab for Saya’s X-Key, though none of the items she’d dropped were worth retrieving until after the fight was over.

The creature, stumbling around, started to lash its arm out in whatever directions it could think of. It found its mark in Syoko, who had walked up close on its right side. Though she was impaled by its clione, she didn’t fall- instead taking the opportunity to get one admittedly weak blow in before drawing back and holding her other hand over her wound. With the shigabane she had, it seemed she was able to endure this. Thanks to Syoko’s distraction, Homura was able to get a good slash in, followed by whacks from Yosuke, then Yume. All of them retreated away just in time before the creature spun in a circle, intending to smack the jacket clione against anyone in the radius around it.

When it stumbled, dizzied by the spin, Katsue drove Irarako’s weapon through its stomach. Before she could pull it back to withdraw, it opened its eye again, the burning seemingly worn off. It went to fix on Katsue, freezing her in place just the few steps away she’d managed to back up- Before it could do any worse this time, it was again blinded by a well-aimed pellet from Shin. Unlike the time before, it reacted immediately. In the same moment as it squeezed its eye shut, its arm also went all the way out in that direction, piercing through Shin’s neck.

Syoko had regrouped closest to him, so she was able to catch the pellets before they would have fallen and cracked on the ground. She got the X-Key too, but in that moment it was actually more imperative to make sure the pellets could still be used. She pulled one out to take aim, despite the eye currently being closed, and had no luck. She scoffed. “Anybody else have good aim? I don’t want to waste these on missing the enemy!”

“Pretty sure that was Tsubasa’s one combat-applicable quality…” Katsue complained, weaving her steps back around to attack from a safer direction. While Irarako utilized this weapon with jab-based kendo tactics, Katsue had a much more elegant approach. It was similar in some part to the way Yuji had handled that polearm during his execution, but more like a dance. It was like she barely held the weapon at all as she moved, but still put in plenty of power when she actually landed an attack. “I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, throwing things.”

“Urgh…” Syoko slipped the pellets into her bag. “We’ll just have to be extra careful of that eye, when it recovers again…”

“This one seems a lot smarter,” Yosuke said, “Than the regular creatures. It adapted, to get Shin out of the picture after he blinded it a second time…”

“Who cares how smart it is?” Homura asked, the others unable to actually see where he was. A second later, the jacket-shaped clione fell to the ground, and Homura popped out from behind. “We’re smart too, aren’t we?” He twirled his axe a bit. “We don’t have to just avoid its attacks, if we can prevent it from making those attacks in the first place.”


	280. Stage One, Day 5: Kill My Boyfriend

Having made his point loud and clear, Homura jumped out of the way of a swipe from the creature’s remaining clione. With it stretched out towards him, Katsue leaned in. Yume and Yosuke’s blunt weapons couldn’t really cut through the clione bits, and were more suited to knocking hooves off of cows, it seemed. Katsue’s weapon was large enough that when she pierced the clione, it only had a few strings left on either side keeping it together, which came apart the moment it tried to readjust and attack in Katsue’s direction.

“_What the fuck is your problem… babe…!?_” The creature shrieked those words and opened its eye again, adjusting. It had lost two of its weapons, but couldn’t be blinded with corrosive pellets again, so it would rely on that. It turned to find Yume and locked on to her without hesitation- Of course it had to be her.

“You know…” Yume grit her teeth against the creature’s gaze. “All you can do to me this time is kill me. That doesn’t fucking matter. I’ll come back. We all will. But you… You never will. Not as a goddamn human, anyway. And if you insist on coming back as this thing, we’ll just have to kill you again and again. Long as this shit takes.”

Anyone listening in wouldn’t be able to tell that she was currently frozen in place, she was confident and unafraid. Then again, she had no reason to be. After all, the creature of Wrath was missing its cliones, including the one which had allowed it to focus on a single target at a time. Its back was completely unguarded against a rain of blows from Yosuke, Homura, Syoko, and Katsue in turn. All four of the others did definite damage, though still not yet enough to defeat the boss. It was knocked forward by the attack too much to maintain eye contact, though.

Yume took the opportunity to raise her bat and, before the creature could look at her again, brought the weapon right down on it. The bat sunk into the eyeball, and it seemed like it might go all the way through, when the creature turned to blackened dust which ran down into the water, staining it. Where the creature had been, there was something on the ground.

The creature’s widow, as one might call her, crouched down to reach for the item. Pulling it from the dust, it was clear that they were the wine glass clings that she had once encouraged Shouto to buy. Her breath hitched in her throat as she closed her fist around them, then held them to her chest.

“You did love him before, huh?” Homura noted, “No matter what he ended up doing to hurt you, it must’ve stung to have to kill him. Not just the one time, but twice now.”

“I loved a version of Shouto I imagined. He ended up being garbage, but we were barely teenagers. We were still just kids, when I loved him. We both became much worse people over the next couple years, without even realizing till it was too late. So he raped me, so I killed him, both of us were rotting from the inside out. But only one of us got thrown away.” She looked down at the water. “I don’t know if I’m better now than I was then. Maybe that’s why the boss wasn’t based on me after all. That kind of monster would be the same as I am today.”

“I don’t believe that to be true.” Katsue held her weapon down at her side. “Would I not know it, if you were truly a monster? No, you’re just a person.”

“I’ve been cruel to you too, Katsue. I’ve been cruel to everybody here-”

“When you were cruel to me, you were trying to protect Nanjo. Other slights, you’ve been trying to protect yourself. I’m not wrong, am I?” Katsue said, “You cannot be a monster, really. You tried to protect your brother even when he no longer tried to protect you. Monsters don’t care about that kind of thing.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“What do you mean?” Yosuke asked.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next. To keep going after all of this, you know…? I should be able to move on, but should I actually do it? Is it okay, if all I want to do know is forget about Shouto altogether, or am I supposed to remember him, because I’m the only person who would? Should I just try to forget the version of him that hurt me, and remember the Shouto that I did love, back then? I don’t… Know.”

“You don’t _have_ to do anything, except for what’s best for you,” Syoko offered, “So feel free to forget him if that’s what you need. You have no obligation to uphold the memory of somebody who no longer exists.”

“I’ll think about it.” Yume slipped the wine clings into her pocket, then turned to see a door which was open at the far end of the garden that had been shut during the fight. She turned to approach it, and the others followed after her. In that room were several strange items which looked a bit like screwdrivers, and another Extend Machine. It lacked the buttons that theirs had, but had a button theirs didn’t. Yume didn’t hesitate to walk right up and pull it out, at which point the screen on the Extend Machine lit up. She jumped back, then composed herself at seeing it was just Extend TV.

\--

“Hey kids!” Eva waved. “Welcome back to Extend TV, and congratulations on your decisive victory!”

“Doesn’t a decisive victory usually require a side to win with no casualties? Three of them got killed.” Ris pressed a finger to his temple. “Not that I’m not impressed, of course. You did quite well. Your reward is the button you carelessly ripped from the Extend Machine here. We’ll explain what exactly that does after you install it into the machine back home.”

“And with that, you know, you’ve conquered the whole of your very first ruin! Tutorial completed! Get ready for things to get a lot more difficult, but a whole new world of possibilities are opening up to you when you install the upgrade, too. Finally, we haven’t got any other tapes of wrath on hand, but that doesn’t mean we’re shit outta stories about this sin! Ris has got _one_ more little thing to share with you…”


	281. The Story Of A Couple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this video at the beginning is me, the author, voicing Osiris, I'm very nervous about posting this, appreciate my voice I guess? aaaaaaaaaaa

“Now then…” Ris stood center stage on the monitor. “The Conquest Videos tell one story. In this case, it was the manner of how one Yume Mirai came to commit the sin of wrath. Even so, I’m sure you have all heard of ‘sins of the father’, haven’t you? So a sinner’s story remains incomplete, if you know not what sin came before. Thus, I would like to tell you… The story of a **couple**.”

\--

Once there was a man and a woman, and they were very much in love. A picturesque ideal to begin with, wasn’t that? The man’s last name was Mirai. The woman’s maiden name had been  
Amami and, as one might assume, she was the eldest of the Ultimate Inventor’s younger sisters, just a year younger than him. Though she had experienced a difficult life under the hands of her father, she denied her invitation to Dome City and instead sought happiness close to home. When she and Mirai met at work, they fell for each other very quickly.

They were both sales associates at a company- A frankly uninteresting career that they shared, but that was alright. When it began, they were uninteresting, normal people. Just a couple who fell in love, and got married, and decided that they wanted to have a family. Both of them had lives before that they wanted to leave behind, and were perfectly ready to do that with each other. Their children would never have or know any grandparents, in their situations, but that was fine too. The two were married, thus becoming the Mirais, and set about having children.

At the birth of the twins, they were both very small babies, such that they needed to be kept several days longer at the hospital to be certain that they would indeed start to gain weight. Such, also, that only one of the babies was predicted. The name decided for that baby was Yume, because she was her parents’ dream. The name for the other, Kami, was a decision made at the time of their surprising birth, a title given because the second baby was a ‘gift from God’.

Everyone would assume that parents who were this inclined to have children, would do everything they could to take good care of them and never leave. Any who know the twins today, might now wonder… Am I telling the truth? Could this man and woman really be the parents who abandoned Yume and Nanjo to care for themselves during middle school? That would be the sin of those adults, of course.

The woman’s past she wanted to escape was that of an abusive father in a difficult household. The man who brought the name Mirai wasn’t staging his escape from as simple a suffering as that one; His was of a complicated nature, and the name ‘Mirai’ was one which he hadn’t begun with at all. The woman went to Kobe with the intention of getting far away from her father, but the man went to Kobe to pay off a debt. His name had been struck, eradicated, destroyed from this world and turned into ‘Mirai’. In return for becoming Mirai, he would do bookkeeping for the Yamaguchi. Over time, he’d developed a pleasant relationship with them, and his work for them was nothing that was actually illegal. No laundering, just budget tracking.

Certainly nothing worse than the reason he had shed his name before. Were he a more virtuous man, he could have received witness protection from the government. As it was, he wished to hide his sin and run from the consequences. Whatever his name had been before it was Mirai, he had been made to remove those others from the world. Through a complication of mistakes he made in his youth, and the cruelty of man, he found himself coerced.

Mirai had, as a teenager, got his nose into a number of things. He was a snotty kid who wanted to succeed, but wasn’t very talented. When he discovered his rivals were involved in criminal activity, swiping and selling off drugs from one of their parents’ pharmacies, he didn’t hesitate to rat them out. Those kids went to jail, but as was the nature of the underbelly of the world, the debts that one of them had been paying with that activity were saddled onto the youth instead.

See, one of those academic rivals came from a very poor family. His friends were better off, but not in good enough family situations to support him in his problems legitimately. Theft and illicit sale of pharmaceuticals was the only way the wayward group of friends could think of, to pay off their friend’s mother’s debt to the local loan sharks. I find that name absurd. Sharks are much more noble creatures, than those types of men. The boy’s foolish decision to snitch for his own selfish academic success would be his downfall.

Of course he couldn’t pay the inherited debt. In that case, the men told him, he would have to face the consequence. The jailed boy’s collateral was the life of his mother, and he had no father to speak of. Thus, his collateral was ‘his parents’. The same would apply to Mirai. If he couldn’t pay the money right away, then he would kill his parents with his own hands, and the sharks would come to collect on the life insurance.

To make matters short, Mirai failed, and was pushed into the murder that was requested of him. Those who shared his name before he became ‘Mirai’ would suffer a death far more painful if he refused to pull the trigger, as would he himself. Cowardly, and it was cowardly for he thought of himself and not of their suffering. A single action, like the flap of a butterfly’s wing, allowed one petty sin of envy towards his classmates to spiral out the course of his life.

What, you didn’t expect that wrath would lead to wrath, did you? All sins can be traced back, after all, to the same source eventually. Sin is sin, and leads to sin, of any sort. In this case, envy leads to wrath. Ah, but you must be wondering… In this sorry history, it was all before our man became Mirai. And if this were only his story, it would be the story of a man, not the story of a couple.

It was not the loan sharks who pushed Mirai into protection, but insurance agents. The money had already been acquired and passed on, and there was nothing to be done about it. The timing of the deaths was suspicious, and just before Mirai was going to be found out for his part in the fulfillment of that life insurance, he took off. He ran, and ran without direction until he had the idea to ask for a new life from the yakuza. He sought out the Yamaguchi, and received his identity- His ‘future’, so to speak, with the woman who was then named Amami and would, too, be named Mirai once they had fallen in love.

How did this sin become that which abandoned the twins? I’ll tell you, it was not abandonment. If anything, it was far too much love for their children which allowed the couple to pave the way to Yume’s wrathful sin. The loan sharks did not find Mirai, and neither did the insurance agents. It was the classmate whose debt had been dropped on his shoulders.

That classmate, against all odds and the efforts of the mob, was able to find his way to Mirai. He was just on vacation in Kobe with his mother, when he spotted him. Though Mirai now bleached his hair and wore contacts to hide the natural pale yellow, this boy recognized him. He swore to never forget that face, after all, when he heard what had happened. His mother was alive because of Mirai- So he called him out to meet in a karaoke room, to express his gratitude and sincere apologies.

Mirai was happy in the life he’d made, and bore no ill will towards his past. But, his wife, who had joined him for moral support, was not so readily convinced. She said…

“You’re telling me that my husband killed his own parents because he was being threatened?”

“Yes. If he hadn’t, they would have been killed anyway, and him too, and my own mother for good measure. I don’t know if I can ever make it up to him… He was just trying to do the right thing, reporting me for my crime, but because of me, that ended up happening.”

“I see…” The wife reached into her purse. “If that is the case, then he cannot be trusted not to do the same to, and he cannot be trusted to protect, our children.”

There, in that karaoke booth, she didn’t hesitate an instant to draw a gun from her purse and fire it at her husband’s head, just the way he had been made to kill his parents himself. She gave a slow blink, then looked at the gun, not at her husband’s body at all. “Ah. Well, I’ve just killed my husband, haven’t I? So I cannot be trusted not to hurt my family either. They would be better off without either of us. That’s fine. I’m sure… After my husband’s loyal service to them all these years, the Yamaguchi will be sure our children do not suffer alone without us. If they have half a brain in their heads, they will not tell the truth. They’ll say we ran away, to live happily without the burden of children. That’s better than this, isn’t it?”

**Bang.**

From Mirai’s sin of envying his rivals’ grades, was born the deaths of five people. His parents, himself, his wife, and eventually… Shouto Kodaki, at the hands of his wrathful daughter. Perhaps if he had lived, he would have never let that boy hurt her the way he did. Or his wife, may have been even more likely to prevent the outcome. Perhaps if either parent lived, their children would have never twisted up the idea of ‘love’ deep in their hearts, fearing abandonment so much that they both clung to the same young man willing to take full advantage of that…

But then again, I’m no expert. I have no way of telling you what _would_ have changed. Maybe, after all, nothing would have. All I can tell you of is what’s been made history in this world. I wonder, if once you’ve witnessed every sin I have to share… Will you have _any_ desire left to illuminate a brighter future for humanity? We’ll see.


	282. Stage One, Day 5: After The Battle

The group of survivors returned to Jabberwock Island. Rather than install the Extend Machine’s upgrade right away, they decided to just call it a night after extending those who’d been killed during the boss fight. Homura got the others to hand him the X-Keys, and set about bringing back their friends.

Saya Yoshiro _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Wrath:** Reduced damage taken from Wrath-based Enemies.  
**Death by Clione Jacket:** Reduced damage taken from Clione Jacket attacks.  
** Death by Harsh Blow:** Reduced damage taken from Blunt attacks.

Irarako Ebizakaya _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Wrath:** Reduced damage taken from Wrath-based Enemies.  
**Death by Paralyzing State:** Reduced damage taken from Clione Eye’s attacks.  
** Died while Unable to Move:** Reduced chance at being afflicted with paralysis.

Shin Tsubasa _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Wrath:** Reduced damage taken from Wrath-based Enemies.  
**Death by Clione Arm:** Reduced damage taken from Clione Arm attacks.  
** Death by Being Impaled:** Reduced damage taken from Pierce attacks.  
**Death by Long Grasp:** Increased chance to dodge attacks from more than 2 spaces away.

“So,” Saya started as the others were still being extended, “You guys did it.”

“We won.” Yume smiled. “Shinku figured out that we could cut off the cliones, so once we disabled some of its attacks, we had a much easier time of it. You had the right idea of getting up behind it while it was using the stare attack, just needed to get rid of its defenses against that first.”

“Are you… okay?” Saya asked, tilting her head. “After seeing that creature, and… The story about what your parents did…”

“I… Don’t really wanna talk about it in front of everyone, but nobody has to _worry_ too much about me.” Yume crossed her arms. “I’ll talk to you about it alone, though, Saya. I do have some thoughts I wanna get worked out, uh. After we eat.”

“Certainly.” Saya nodded. Syoko wandered off to get dinner put together, then everybody regrouped again to eat. There wasn’t much to be said- Yume already noted that she only wanted to address the events of the day in private, but nobody could really get what they’d seen out of their heads enough to even make small talk. The boss creature was one thing, but the story which followed, too…

It was one thing, for most everyone here, to think about their Conquest Videos. Yosuke was the only one who expressed that he might not know what his videos would be about. This story, though. This was about something that Yume had obviously never known before; If all of them had something like that in store, the story of ‘their sin’s root’, then they’d all be caught off guard. Nobody knew the full story, for those kinds of things. Why it was that they ended up committing their own sins.

Yume and Saya went off to the beach, where they sat down next to each other. Yume took a deep breath. “You know, Saya. Finding that out about my parents, I don’t even… Know how to feel. Guess I’m kinda fucking dazed.”

“You don’t have to know how to feel. I will listen to anything you wish to share, though.”

“I guess I was kinda used to thinking that our parents just didn’t really care about us, in the end of things. But then they did, right? Both of them were messed up, so they only cared about us. That’s why they ended up that way, I…” Yume dipped her head. “Is this how Nanjo felt, do you think? When he realized I was a murderer, did he think… How could somebody be so fucking blind that they hurt a person they’re close to and think they’re doing the right thing?”

“But you weren’t right? Close to Shouto, anymore.”

“I don’t mean Shouto, I mean Nanjo. He knows that I… Wouldn’t have actually gone to the trouble of calling Shouto out to kill him, if he hadn’t also been a douche to Nanjo. If it was just me, I’d just try to stay away from him as much as I could. But that’s not what Nanjo would have ever wanted me to do. He was done with the way Shouto hurt _him_... So I should’ve only thought about what he did to me.”

“I think it makes sense that the thing which pushes you over the edge is his behavior towards somebody other than you. You love him. You loved your whole family, quite a lot, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Then I was just angry at them the whole time and I’m… still angry. I can’t just shake it. I’m pissed that our parents left me and Nanjo behind, even though the reason’s different. And despite everything, I can’t stop buzzing, like shit, about how Nanjo didn’t… He was never on my side after that. He said I was out of control for killing Shouto. He never had my back again and even though I regret what happened and I understand why he stopped trusting me, I’m still _so_ mad, and I never stopped being mad even when I thought he was dead for real.”

“...I let myself be killed by the creature on purpose,” Saya said.

“What??”

“You’re being honest with me. Yosuke told me that the only way to expect honesty is to also be honest. And I want you to know that if you see yourself as ‘imperfect’ for these feelings, I must be too.” She looked away and held a hand against the back of her neck. “I allowed myself to be killed. I didn’t want to face that thing. I didn’t want to, even with it obviously not him because he’s dead… Interact with the person you loved before you met me. I know it doesn’t make sense. It was not him, and you no longer loved him when you killed him. Even still, it… I am nothing like him, not even the him that you did love. So I didn’t want to be there.”

“It’s good that you’re not like him. I liked him when we were in middle school. Do you _want_ to act like a middle schooler?” Yume asked, then shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a weird thing. I wouldn’t have been there myself, if I could get away with it. But it was my own boss, so I couldn’t really, yknow? Besides, getting killed by him might’ve still been worse than needing to be there.”

“I imagine it may have been. Yume, um… Is he the only one? The only person who ever made you feel like you were weak?”

“Yeah, that’s… Exactly it.” Yume chuckled bitterly. “Well I guess we just have to see if I can read you that well, after I see your conquest videos. Think there’s a chance you’ll be next?”

“Given my connections to the creators of this game… If I was not first, then I must be last, or close to it. I won’t be the one who’s next. I can tell you, though. If you really want to know before then… I can tell you about my life before we met.”

\--

And as those two girls spoke to each other, Irarako Ebizakaya found herself alone, staring up at the sky and wondering why it was that she was alone. Why she couldn’t bring herself to ask if Syoko Saihara might deign to give a girl like her a shot. Why she had never been taken away from her miserable life, by the person she knew was somewhere out there. Would Osiris tell her that story? Would she be able to learn?

**Who was it that Mama meant, when she said Irarako’s father was an alien?**

And why had that father never, ever come to save her from this earth?


	283. Stage Two: We All Fall Down




	284. Stage Two, Day 6: Towa Forest

There was a loud noise during the night.

The very next day after Yume’s ruin had been completed, well, that night. There was a noise, a momentous thud and shaking as if an earthquake had occurred, though not so obvious that it would wake up everybody, and not bad enough that it warranted investigation from those who had heard it. It was the next morning, then, when anybody found out what the probable source of that noise was.

Irarako wandered out to see that Saya was outside, hardly looking like she’d even moved since she and Yume went off to talk the previous night. Though Yume was nowhere to be seen. “What’s the hang, Saya-shiro?”

“Mm?” Saya turned, but her eyes didn’t leave the object of her frustration. “Oh, Yume and I stayed up quite late. She went to bed, but I stayed out here. This dot on the horizon seemed to be moving closer, and I was correct, as it is now here. I imagine that is the next ruin.”

Irarako looked over to it. It was… A floating forest. Set deep within it, there was definitely a building, but its nature was obscured by the dense trees that made up the rest of the landmass. Roots were even visible curling out and around, down into the ocean. “Damn, sure did just pop right up huh? What ruin you’d be thinkin’ whose is?”

“I recognize the location, but it has no personal meaning to me, so I doubt that it’s mine. I know I was never the only person here who ever lived in Towa…”

“Nah, like for ex, Evie Pals were from there,” Irarako said, “Well, city proper he was. Not forest like that.”

“Towa _is_ more like a prefecture, than just one city… There are completely rural areas that are technically within its limits,” Saya explained, “I’ve seen most of the city, myself. There was a very extensive underground train system.”

“Oh, the trains real went out that far…? Never woulda thought…”

“More than a decade ago, yes. But I’m just familiar with the tunnels left behind after they stopped running several of the routes.” Saya put her hands on her hips. “That was one of them. But, yeah, that place… Means nothing to me on its own. Nothing ever happened there. So it’s somebody else.”

Irarako glanced away. “What do ya think… How wouldja feel if it _was_ yours?”

“Quite frightened, to be frank. I know that location means nothing to me. But if it suddenly did, then, well. That’s something which even I was unaware of. No matter how much I’ve been through over the course of my life, it would still be unsettling to learn that there was more. All the same, I can’t say any part of my life is actually unaccounted for…”

“Ehh, I meant more… Are you worried ‘bout other people seein’ it?”

“I wouldn’t say worried. More that… I don’t believe you need to. I already complain more than I should, and feel bad about that. Having everybody know about my life, I’m sure you’ll feel bad for me. Or just feel awkward, knowing so much about me. Either way, it’s not going to be pleasant for you, so I’m very sorry.”

“Ain’t worried people gonna think less’a you?”

“People might think less of me for making them think about these things, but I doubt that anyone will actually change their opinion of me as an individual based on my past itself.” Saya turned away from the ruin and started to walk over to the dining hall’s remnants. “Then again, only time will tell, right? Let’s just go see the others.”

“Yeah. The new ruin’ll prob get its bridge after we update the Extend Machine? Thinkso.” Irarako shrugged her shoulders as she followed along. “Or may tomorr? But wanna it today, kinda. For to keep going explore.”

“Do you enjoy exploring the ruins?”

“Reckon course!” Irarako smacked a hand to her own chest. “Up my alley, ain’t? Fightin’ good, an’ doin’ our best… Feels like gettin’ stuff done! Back in the Killin’ Game, well. Ain’t so smart to the mysteries, me, get? So’s just hadta sit there n’ try wrappin’ my brain while other people sort stuff out… Then all sit aroun’ till somebody got killed again. This way, I know! We’re gettin’ closer to the end, an’ we either succeed or we fail! Don’ have to doubt each other and worry that bein’ alone with somebody means death forever or nothin’.”

“That makes sense!” Syoko suddenly joined the conversation, stepping up from where she’d been sitting at one of the tables. “Ah, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but you were right there and I wanted to reassure you that what you said is reasonable, and all…”

“Ain’t it? Anyway, Syoko. You see the new ruin out there?” Irarako pointed back behind herself.

“I didn’t notice, actually. I came straight here to cook for breakfast. Maybe we can share duties a little later on, once we get more ingredients… But I think it’s safe to say I have the most skill, for the sake of stretching our resources as far as we can,” Syoko said.

“Understandable, yes. Thank you for your services.” Saya lifted a hand to her chin and laughed a bit. “The ruin appears to be the forest from the far outskirts of Towa City. Though I recognize it, it probably isn’t mine…”

“Is that so…” Syoko crossed her arms and took a step back, before throwing a look over in the direction of the Extend Machine. “Well, the others are already here… Shinku’s really anxious to see what the upgrade does, so let’s all go over there, right?”

“I wanna see it too!” Irarako pumped a fist. “Cause if we gotta upgrade what makes the explorin’ easier, then all the great betterments! Faster, tiger! Beat the game, save the world!”

“We can do it!” Syoko agreed, tossing her hair with a hand on her hip. “Towa City, huh… So that’s not gonna be either of the Dome City kids we’ve got left here. I can predict pretty well what each of our ruins are going to be, honestly. And Saya, you think it isn’t yours?”

“Right.”

“...Well then, I suppose there’s no use wondering. The person whose ruin it is will either tell us, or have it revealed with the first conquest video, so it isn’t as if it’ll be a mystery for long…” Syoko smiled, then set off for the Extend Machine so that they could all install the upgrade together.


	285. Stage Two, Day 6: The Vat

The three girls joined up with the rest of the group by the Extend Machine, and the very moment that they approached, Yume pressed the button into the waiting slot which matched its shape, and the screen lit up in the same moment as something ejected from the front of the machine.

“Oh!” Eva exclaimed on its screen, “The Extend Machine popped a boner!”

“...Actually, that’s the _vat_,” Ris said, adjusting his glasses. “It has multiple uses, though you’ve only just unlocked one of them. Another will come after the second ruin. All of these uses do, however, related to placing objects in it.”

“I see. So its _pussy_ popped-”

“I _will_ murder you again.” Ris glared at his scene partner.

“You can’t keep doing that! I tell ya, you have no idea what’s gonna happen! Extend me too many times and you’ll regret it. Besides, we’re partners in crime, so we each only have half the info we need to give these kids. The longer I’m dead, the less informed they’re getting… That’s not fair at all!”

“I think they’re more than willing to give up a few factoids for the sake of spending blissful moments without your presence.”

“No!!!” Eva stomped a foot. “Stop! Killing! Me! Jeeze. You’re not even the fun type of person to kill, so I can’t retaliate or anything…”

“Can we just explain the vat already? I hate the quality on these screens.”

“Why _are_ we on this screen anyway? There’s a CRT _right_ next to the machine.”

“Because we are explaining the vat. So we need to be on the same machine as the vat. To walk them through the process…”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It doesn’t, but I don’t make the rules…”

“RIght, so this is just a nitpicky little power trip from Merry!” Eva giggled. “Awe, what a silly. Arbitrary rules for us as a way of getting back for taking over with _our_ game instead of her lame-o formulaic one… Pft. Sorry Merry~ Maybe you shoulda paid more attention to what I was getting up to instead of spending all your time in the NWP with that fakey, huh babe? SO… this vat. You can use it to upgrade all sorts of things!”

“Particularly, to upgrade the facilities. For example, if you can find, or manage to create, some glass, then you would place that in the vat to repair the greenhouse,” Ris explained, “I do believe you currently have the ingredients necessary to upgrade the kitchen, if you’re willing to part with them.”

After Ris said that, a pop-up covered the hosts’ faces on the screen listing off the necessary ingredients for a kitchen upgrade. It required two sticks, a rock, and a ‘sharp ivory hoof’. The image looked identical to the cow hoof they’d used to sharpen Homura’s axe, and by extension, the one they had received from the cow that had been let loose with the pedestal booby-trap. So they did have one on hand; And, frankly, if it turned out more were necessary, that one in the first ruin wouldn’t exactly be difficult to track down again once it respawned.

So, the various inventories those items were spread throughout- as nobody bothered sorting out their bags before going to sleep last night, were raided for the ingredients that were then placed into the waiting vat right there before them. Once all of the items had been deposited, the vat retracted into the Extend Machine.

“And just like that!” Eva waved her hands. “Your kitchen has reached _level two_! You’ll be able to check what the requirements are for all your other facilities too, but anyway. The upgraded kitchen will let you cook more different things. You hadn’t run into this problem yet, but some of the meat you’ll find in the second ruin is incompatible with the level-one kitchen! No eaties allowed.”

“I think you already encountered this issue in the workshop. Certain recipes are incompatible with level one of that, as well. Most facilities have five levels, but some don’t go quite that high.” Ris held up a hand with all five fingers out. “This is of course, not the only option you’ll have to improve your chances as you go. Additionally, it’s fully possible to keep going without ever upgrading a facility. It’s not required in any way. If you choose that you’d rather use the required materials for other purposes, that’s your decision. Anyway. We’ll see you on the other monitor soon, after you have a look at the list for yourselves.”

The screen flickered, and came up with, as Osiris said, a list instead. The survivors crowded around to read the contents reflected there.

**Kitchen Level Three:** _Allows for more cooking options._  
\- 0/3 Toxic Beak  
\- 1/1 Partition  
\- 0/2 White Fish

**Bathhouse Level One:** _Replenishes stamina a small amount if used once daily._  
\- 1/3 Wood Planks  
\- 0/3 Seaweed  
\- 0/1 Leather Scrap

**Greenhouse Level One:** _Generates a few fruits and vegetables each day._  
\- 0/3 Glass Panes  
\- 0/1 Aromatic Flower

**Workshop Level Two:**_Allows for more crafting options._  
\- 1/1 Partition  
\- 0/1 Fireproof Fur  
\- 0/1 Rock

**Bedrooms Level Two:** _Unlocks the use of ‘bunking effects’ between roommates._  
\- 2/1 Ravvit Paw  
\- 1/1 Soothing Tincture  
\- 0/1 Long Grass 

“So…” Yume was the first to speak up, “That partition thing we got, it’s for this kinda use, huh? There’s a whole lotta stuff on here I don’t recognize, though.”

“Some of these are things we do have, but we stored them in the remaining lab areas,” Yosuke said, “Like more rocks, and seaweed. We definitely do own those, just not in our bags right now. But… Yeah. The kitchen-three stuff might not turn up for a while now, but some of this shit’s gotta be on that new ruin! Are there any of these you guys wanna prioritize?”

“Probably unnecessary,” Syoko said, “The only overlap in requirements between any of these is the partition, and we don’t need another one of those to make the bottom-tier upgrades.. The bathhouse and greenhouse don’t seem especially difficult either… Likely because we’re taking them from ‘unusable’ to ‘functional’, rather than meaningfully _upgrading_ them.”

“Those ‘bunking effects’ are intriguing,” Shin said, “Another way that this Zero Sum Game actually behaves like a _game_. I imagine they’re stat boosts of some kind. With that in mind, I’d like to make that upgrade if possible. As soon as we’re able to get some long grass… To satisfy my curiosity, is all.”

“Prob’ll be long grass in that new ruin,” Irarako said, “Cause, know. Forest n’ all. Ack-chully, that ruin is…”

Before Irarako could finish her statement, however, the CRT blared to life with an interruptingly-loud rendition of the Extend TV intro tune. It seemed that Eva and Ris were insistent on being the ones to introduce the nature of the second ruin which had drifted onto Jabberwock Island.


	286. Stage Two, Day 6: Interactive Media

“Hi kids! Welcome to an actual, official Extend TV for the first time in a lil while!” Eva pressed her fingers together and fidgeted in place. “Oh no, I got so used to the improvisational style of popping in to explain things, I dunno if I can make the switch back to prestige television! Ohh, I’m so nervous!”

“There’s nothing prestige about Extend TV.” Ris held his hands out to his sides. “We’re a cross between a game manual and an edgy comedy duo. Oh, and a travel guide now. After all, today we’ll be advertising the wonderful Kashiwagi Forest at the outer border of the Towa City Metropolitan Area.”

“Despite its name, Kashiwagi Forest has more than just oak trees! It’s got all kinds. Maples… I don’t know other tree types. Ris and I are animal-type scientists, not plant-type. A beautiful man-worn dirt path winds through the forest, and built at the end of that path is a dojo! It teaches traditional arts to all the little kids who live around the forest, and some from the city too!”

“It’s a national park that’s also considered a ‘suburban area’,” Ris said, “And sorry to say, since Towa relaxed its borders, the locals have had to put up with some harrassment from tourists who think that the homes within the forest are part of their vacation too. Though, since you’ll be exploring this ruin thoroughly, I suppose you’ll be playing the role of those tourists, breaking into those houses which would now be inhabited only by creatures.”

“Kashiwagi Forest Dojo is also used for competitions!” Eva raised a finger. “Though there are other teaching dojos dotted around Towa City, they’ve all got limited space, being in an area of high population density. Cramming all those cute little kids into a retail lease space to swing swords around. Some of them don’t even have tinted windows, so random people on the street can watch!”

“That can’t be good for nerves during high-stakes events like tournaments. It makes sense that they would want to hold those at a dojo with more space and privacy to it.”

“Mhm, I guess so.” Eva shrugged. “All in all, the forest’s a great place to take a day trip! Walk around and see all the natural beauty, as it gradually gets more and more spoiled by the bad behavior of those very same tourists who wanna see how pretty it is. All the people living there probably hate the way Towa City started actually letting non-residents into the area!”

“Indeed. In the effort of becoming less of an isolationist society within Japan, Towa City did forsake its vulnerable rural community for the sake of the tourism industry. I wonder, though. Is that a worthy sacrifice? One small community of individuals, to share the charity and sense of virtue within the prefecture with the rest of the country?”

“I commend the effort to stop acting like the rest of the world doesn’t exist!” Eva clapped her hands. “But maybe it was too little too late, yanno? What we’re about to see… Maybe this person’s sin wouldn’t have happened, if Towa never relaxed its borders, or if it had relaxed them much sooner! The ultra-targeted attack of the timing on this individual’s health and safety!”

“Given our focus on the Kashiwagi Forest Dojo, of all the buildings which exist within that area… I believe it should be simple to determine who exactly we’re referring to. In any case, it’s in the dojo that you’ll find the next upgrade to this Extend Machine, and clear your next objective.”

“And of course, it’s in the forest leading up to that dojo where you’ll get to see the next new exciting set of conquest videos!! Aren’t you looking forward to it? I know that I am! After that last one, I have to wonder what sorta backstory could be even more thrillingly disgusting! Or is that disgustingly thrilling?”

“I think it’s disgusting that you’re thrilled by it,” Ris said, “And there’s no guarantee that it will be ‘more’ anything. The order of the ruins was not selected in order to be increasing in the harshness of Conquest Videos, but to increase in the difficulty of the ruins themselves to clear. I personally believe that it’s pointless to say ‘this suffering is worse than that suffering’, but there _is_ no guarantee that future videos will be as… Hard to watch as that one was.”

“Mm! They might be lame-o boring easy for Ris to watch. Or even harder for Ris to watch, which is what I’m hoping for! Kids as messed up as you have definitely got juicy, juicy pasts. Deliciously scandalous. Kahaha, I might just rewatch that Wrath Part Four all over again to-”

“No.”

“Eh… huh?” Eva blinked to hear that Saya had interrupted the broadcast with her firm rejection of that idea. “You’re really cutting into our comedy-duo bit? Dontcha know that’s rude-”

“You crossed a line with that ‘bit’ just now,” Saya continued, “You will absolutely not be doing that, and you will absolutely not finish that statement. I won’t allow you to imply that sort of thing about my girlfriend, Evangeline.”

“...And what’re you gonna do to stop me?”” Eva’s expression turned legitimately harsh for the first time since Extend TV had begun. “I’m just jokin’ around, sweetie. Don’t get your bra in a twist!”

“Do not joke about those things. If you’re the type of person who would seriously do something, you can’t claim it’s only a joke. I can’t stop you from here, of course. You’re somewhere else talking to a camera…” Saya lowered her head and sighed. “Even still, I can’t just _not_ say something.”

“Ah.” Eva’s grin returned just as quickly as it had vanished. “Okay, Sa-ya! I respect it, I respect it. Takes guts to stand up to me, even if I can’t do anything to _you_ from here either. I’ll cut it with jokes about Yume Mirai, right? Won’t make you any other promises, though. Spent up my cheer and goodwill on something like that, my gift to you. Do you think you made the right choice, on what I’m not allowed to joke about anymore?”

“You obviously won’t be convinced not to make those kinds of jokes about anybody else. Limited to Yume, so… Well, it is the right choice. That’s what’s important to me, that you leave her be. I don’t want to be made to think about those things.”

“Sure. Well, that killed all my energy anyhow. No more comedic flow, thanks a lot. Guess I’ll just go. I’ll be thinking of you~!” Eva waved and walked off the screen.

Ris watched her go, then turned back to the camera. “I’m sorry. She does have a point, I don’t know what could happen if I keep extending her over and over. You shouldn’t need to deal with that, but I’m afraid we _are_ partners in this endeavor, much as I wish she wouldn’t behave so unpleasantly. Illuminate a brighter future for humanity on the new ruin, and all that.”

The screen went dark.


	287. Stage Two, Day 6: Sinner's Admittance

“...Yeah,” Irarako admitted with a sideways look. “Kashiwagi Forest, livin’ there. Was my whole life, an’ yea. The dojo there’s what where’s the one I helped out teachin’ those kids I’ve mention before.”

“So your sin has something to do with that place…” Yosuke observed.

“Hey!” Irarako, in a mostly nonthreatening way, pointed her weapon in Yosuke’s direction. “Don’t assumption! Ain’t nothin’ real bad, already told you that. Only reason I didn’ say it was my ruin at first was cause… I’m scared after y’all know my sin, think I’m weak. Promise, no matter what you see in there. I’m… Real strong person, kay? An’ I’m good, too. What I did wrong back then was… It ain’t somethin’ I could do nothin’ about.”

“Hm…” Syoko crossed her arms. “You’re saying you were just a victim of circumstance? It seems a bit unfair, to actually call something like that your ‘sin’, doesn’t it?”

“If somebody…” Katsue stepped forward. “Is harmed by your actions. Even if there is no intention, and no avoidance of taking the action available to you, that harm is still meaningful. Think about Yume’s father. He could not escape from the path once he was set upon it, which led him to murder his parents. That does not absolve the act of any moral weight. It was a bad thing, even if he had no choice but to do it…”

“I agree,” Shin said, “A sin that you’ve been forced into is still a sin, and still something that deserves to, on some level, receive judgment. Not to say that it makes any difference to me, but… I don’t think anybody is going to say that my sin, when we reach that point, is any less terrible for my lack of agency in it. I’m sure I won’t receive that treatment, so I won’t give it to others. Still, I’m perfectly willing to forgive others, even for sins which _do_ have agency in play.”

“Ye…” Irarako looked down at her feet. “Feelin’ that. Like said, ain’t my fault what happened. Couldn’ avoid it, but don’t mean it wasn’t a bad thing. Just, I’m a good person even though it did, right? Wan’ you guys to think that. Believe me…”

“None of us doubt you,” Yosuke said, “It’s pretty obvious… No matter what happened in your past, that you’re a good person right _now_, and that’s what’s important.”

“A charming sentiment, Yosuke,” Katsue said, “But truly. Are you sure you can maintain that perspective moving forward? After all. There are sins which cut to the core of who a person is…”

“Well,” Yume said, “I’d say mine was one of those, and I got just about as much judgment for it as I could expect? Like. Nothing that actually made me feel like shit. Reasonable stuff. I dunno why everyone’s being so worried about this bull, I mean… I literally committed a murder and you’re still sticking by me.”

“Some might say that the murder you committed was admirable, in comparison to certain alternatives…” Katsue said, “But you’re right. This isn’t something to get all caught up in. Either people hate us for our sins, or they don’t, but I do doubt it’s likely that Irarako has anything worth worrying over.”

“Well, ain’t about to know till we get up in the ruin an’ start seein’ my conquest vids, right?” Irarako crossed her arms and shrugged at the same time. “Burnin’ daylight here. An’ tomorrow’s what, resource day? Should at least get checkin’ new place before we’re back goin’ for stuff at old place.”

“Let’s get going, then.” Yume gestured back in that direction and started walking. The others fell over themselves a bit to follow after her- It seemed she had no intention of stopping with the unwarned-for movements even now that her ruin was completed.

“It does make sense to scout the area a bit today, then dive in more thoroughly after we’ve gathered resources for a day, to be in our best shape,” Shin said, “And if there are any new, intimidating enemies which get the jump on us… Yes. Let’s empty our inventories as much as we can, so that if we do pick up an excess of new Shigabane, there’s less to pick up.”

“Where did you ever learn all these strategies anyhow? Were you taking lessons with Snow before he died?” Syoko asked.

“Uh, it’s not so much…” Shin trailed off. “Strategies, exactly, it’s just… Base logistics? Any one of you would be thinking of these things just as much if you considered the way things work here as the ‘game’ that they are. Everything I’ve thought of is just playing within the rules set forth for us.”

“Ahah… Well, it’s been a long time since I played any games like that, RPGs or anything.” Syoko scratched the back of her neck. “Really, I only ever played party games with my friends for the past five years. Mariokart-type stuff.”

“I only occasionally was able to play games myself, but somebody I knew was so fixated on them that he’d just talk about their mechanics for hours… I didn’t know what he was talking about most of the time, but I suppose I did pick up on some of it.” Shin shrugged. “I liked hearing him talk.”

“Wow, that’s pretty gay,” Homura said, “But I guess from uh, everything you’ve ever said, that didn’t exactly work out?”

“Evidently not.”

The group went on to follow Shin’s advice, setting down all their materials and some of their equipment, too. Only the front line needed to keep their armor and weapons equpped right now, for this scouting mission, leaving them with plenty of empty inventory space to avoid dropping on the ground within the treacherous ruin. Fully prepared to check out what awaited in the second ruin, the survivors approached the bridge which would lead to Kashiwagi Forest.

Irarako, Yosuke, Yume, and Homura made up the front lines again. Their combat abilities were clearly the best among the group, so it made sense for those four to bring up the front with their respective effective weapons at default, only to rearrange if one was killed or became somehow incapacitated. Fully prepared to lose badly at their initial exploration, they set off across that bridge to a new challenge.


	288. Reality 8: Rei's Disgust

**Location: ISS SPEAK**   
**Date: September 10th, 2128**   
**Time: 1700 Hours**

Rei Kaguya was hiding, now.

For all their talk and bluster, they were actually kind of intimidated about being around these people. One on one with Renji was one thing, but this was another altogether. Nanjo was fine, they had no reason to worry about him. Evie, they didn’t really know anything about him but they weren’t concerned, same with Yuji. Tooru was worrisome, but most of all were Hikari and Ayano. After all, those were the dead who would know who they were, now.

When Speak had disabled the limiters which ‘reversed’ a person’s memories to a ‘stable’ point, the Luciora had decided to go to the opposite extreme. All memories a person could have had were returned to them, even if those memories had been intentionally overwritten. So Rei didn’t want to see those people. They didn’t want to face an Ayano Ueda and Hikari Ruka who had everything returned. Sure, they were against the initial erasure of those memories, but dealing with that kind of fallout without their brother around…

“Kaguya?” And speak of the devil, Ayano had found them. Her voice was soft and gentle, but that didn’t keep Rei from jumping up and going to run away, only to hit their head on a wall and fall over. “Oh! Oh dear, are you alright?”

“I didn’t wanna see you…” Rei complained, “You remember everything now so I don’t… Wanna. You’re not Ayano who I wanted to help understand, you’re Ayano who just stood by and did nothing while-!”

“I’m neither.” Ayano cut them off. “I’m not either of those Ayanos, Kaguya. You have to understand that, right? I was the Ayano you wanted to help, and then a bunch more things happened. And I only just remembered… The incident. I don’t know why I did nothing back then and I don’t know. What to even make of it. It doesn’t feel anymore like I was actually there, it’s like I’m looking at a report of the incident and trying to piece together how I felt and why it happened, and… And I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” Rei asked, “Like that’s enough to make up for…”

“Obviously it’s not.” Ayano shook her head. “Nothing’s enough to make up for what happened. I mean… I don’t expect you three will ever forgive me. I don’t really want to talk about that, though. I wanted to ask you… Why did you come into the Neo World Program at all?”

“...The Luciora that Homura and some of the others brought in with them was saving people’s lives. Like, it saved Renji and Nanjo. I figured that could be happening, and when I got close enough to see the levels in the system, I had it confirmed. So I delivered more Luciora.”

“I thought that might be the case.” Ayano adjusted her glasses. “So despite everything, you did that… Thank you for saving my life, Rei Kaguya.”

“Buh-Wha-No I- I didn’t! I hate you!” Rei flailed around. “I hate all of you, you can rot in Hell forever for all I care!”

“What happened to wanting to help a version of us?”

“What happened is I couldn’t help you and nothing got better and actually things got worse and everything sucks and you guys, are _everything that sucks about everything!_ I didn’t want to… Rescue you. I just wanted to make sure that. No matter what happened, nyahaha… Nii-chan wouldn’t die. But you don’t care about that.”

“I am a weak person,” Ayano said, “Anything I… Any way that I cared about the incident, I had to also care about other things I didn’t want to think about at all. The others were disgusted and horrified about the memories being removed, but I still kind of wish that I never got them back. I don’t like to think about these things. I… Would have rathered be able to look at everyone involved the same way I always have.”

“I know. It’s not like you wanted him dead. You just never cared about him as much as you cared about other people. None of you ever did. That’s why, the best times were just the three of us. Without any of you, kek. Useless.”

“The three of you…” Ayano looked away. “Mm. That’s right. One person… Was able to avoid having their memory erased, right?”

“_Sara_ would have died before she let them take away her memories. The rest of you just went along with it because it was easier.” Rei looked away, glaring at a wall. “I thought I could have got through to you, you know. But then you get grabbed for this Killing Game and it’s just the same as always.”

“It isn’t like we… We couldn’t remember the time we spent with you either. You know this. They…”

“I know. I can’t forget, even if I really wanna.” They squeezed their eyes shut. “But I thought some part of it would stick, you know!? Like you’d remember _something_ I ever said to you but there it was the _same as always_! All of you! Calling my brother your friend, but treating him like garbage! Talking about Dome City like it’s perfect, like it’s a good place at _all_! I stayed in that fucking cesspool because I thought it was the city’s fault that you were like that, and I could help you be better and remember and get _out_ of there. But instead I… I suffered for months on my own in a place that didn’t even want me to exist, for nothing. For the sake of people who wouldn’t _change_!”

Ayano took a few steps backwards and wrapped her arms around herself.

“So I didn’t care about your life. I mean it, it’s not me trying to be cool.” Rei turned back around and locked eyes with Ayano, which set both parties wavering in their stances, uncomfortable. “I liked it here when just Renji was awake. We were friends. But I’m such a stupid kid, right? It’s better for Renji if the others wake up. So now you’re here. And it’s nyaht like I can ask you to do me the favor of ejecting yourself, and Hikari, and what _used_ to be Jun, through the airlock. So let’s just keep out of each other’s way, capiche-bash-bosh?”

“Do you hate the others this much?” Ayano asked.

“Those two?” Rei brought up a hand like a paw to their chin and looked up at the ceiling. “Nope. Not this much. I still don’t care if they die, but, hey. At least they tried. You three didn’t even do that.”

Before Ayano could try to defend herself any further, Rei opened a door and disappeared through it. She moved forward to open it, but they’d already made their way beyond easy tracking distance. They really didn’t want to be around these three. Even Hikari, who had only taken the side that she did out of devotion to Ayano, had earned the ire of that child.

After all, when it came to the Incident, there were three sides for the Dome City kids.

The side of the criminal, the side of the victim…  
And the side which despised Dome City’s creation of both.

Rei thought, there was only one good side to take, and anybody else... Was at best, a coward.


	289. Stage Two, Day 6: Kashiwagi Forest

The survivors stepped onto the land which belonged to **Kashiwagi Forest**, the next ruin in line and the one which most likely represented the sin of Irarako Ebizakaya. Unlike the last one, which had come across as fairly straightforward, there was no obvious objective ahead. A dirt path was laid out before their feet, heading into the forest, but it made a right turn and disappeared into the wilderness within only a few steps of the entrance.

The moment they were in the ruin, too, the world seemed to shift around them. The bright summer sky darkened with cloud, and there was a heavy humidity sitting in the air on all sides in mere seconds. Kobe’s Shopping District gave the impression that it _was_ just a drifting ruin which had washed up by Jabberwock Island- Kashiwagi Forest did away with that pretense completely, behaving more like the group had stepped through a portal directly into an entirely different region of the world.

“This is where you lived?” Yume questioned, “Gross. How do you even wear a sweatshirt like that?? It’s so… Sticky.”

“Actually,” Katsue said, “It’s not _that_ warm, just, well. Sticky. It’ll actually get kind of cold once that rain starts… It could be the same way in Okinawa.”

“Eugh. I don’t like that.” Yume shuddered.

“I’m with you. These kinds of climates weird me out,” Homura said, “But, well, we’ll have to make it through anyway.”

“I’m sure those clouds what gonna turn to rain, some point,” Irarako said, “That any better?”

“Yes,” Homura said.

“Absolutely _not_!” Syoko complained, “Do you think that’s going to happen today?”

“Nah. Lot further.”

“Okay. I’ll need to use a heavier-duty setting spray to make sure my makeup doesn’t come off… Though, I do Extend with it on, so maybe I don’t actually need to worry? Hm… May as well be on the safe side, though. Since I do _have_ that kind of setting spray available to me, in my lab.”

“You _Extend_ with your makeup on?” Katsue raised an eyebrow.

“Of course I do! I can hardly even picture what my bare face looks like, so there’s nothing for the NWP to draw on to create a version of me who’s wearing no makeup whatsoever.” Syoko shrugged. “I don’t even look at myself, between when I take off the old makeup and put a new layer of foundation on.”

“...We don’t have time to unpack _all_ of that. Well, not until your ruin, anyway,” Homura said, “For now, let’s just deal with what’s in front of us. This forest looks, uh… Easy to get lost in.”

“It kind of does,” Saya said, “But we were told that ‘as soon as we choose to flee’, we won’t be interfered with. So the confusing nature of the forest will only be an obstacle as we move forward… We will either know the way back naturally as soon as we decide to flee, or be afforded the time unbothered to figure things out if we do get lost.”

“That’s good to keep in mind,” Yosuke said, “Running away is always an option…”

“Till it’s not,” Yume said, “It’s possible, yknow? That there’s something that can go wrong. They didn’t say it’s an always kind of thing. It isn’t _always_ an option. We’ll get a warning if it isn’t, based on what they’ve said. A head’s up, that we won’t just be safe. But that doesn’t mean they’ll give it to us _before_ we’re in the real danger we can’t escape from.”

“Do you really think that Osiris would do that?” Katsue asked.

“Just go on Extend TV and tell lies? Yeah.” Homura shrugged. “They’ve got a serious good cop bad cop deal going, I guess. Evangeline is disgusting, and Osiris sympathizes with us. But don’t forget! They both want us to fail. They want the world to end, and we’re the people who stand in the way of that!”

“Well… That’s good to keep in mind,” Saya said, “For all he talks about disliking her, Osiris still decided to work with her as much as it took to set this up. Now, it’s perfectly possible to work with somebody who you hate and disagree with completely… Eva is particularly good at wrapping people up in her schemes, for that matter! Even still; We can’t just trust him by default because he’s the one who isn’t a pedophile.”

“Isn’t attraction to teens when you’re an adult called ephebophilia?” Yume asked, furrowing her brow. “She said that weird shit about me, but…”

“Oh, trust me. There is no limit.” Saya shook her head. “I cannot imagine a single depraved act which Evangeline would not at least consider doing.”

“It sounds like you knew her fairly well…” Shin said, “Unpleasantly so. Why was she involved in your life so much? If she were just working on this…”

“Merry.” Saya put her hands on her hips. “You heard that, right? Mercury Mars, called Merry, by Evangeline Carroll. She wasn’t just planning this, she was… Trying her level best, to date my ‘mother’. So yes, I have spent a lot of time around her in my life. So I do not trust her at all, and I don’t trust Osiris for associating with her, myself.”

“Still. I want to believe that he’s at least telling the truth when he says these things are fair,” Katsue said, “He seems like… I don’t know. Osiris strikes me as the kind of man who bears a curse, not much unlike several of ours. The sins which weigh on our shoulders, he has one as well. Just like us. Sins done against us, and our own sins performed. I can tell… We are governed over, in this game, by one monster made of nothing, and one fellow sinner.”

“I don’ trust you just cause we all same being sins,” Irarako said, “Trust you cause frien’shippin’. Don’ trust Ris-man what just cause he call the bad bad, an’ cause he obviously been suffers. We all been suffers without wantin’ world ending! Ain’t no excuse.”

“I guess there’s no way of knowing if we can trust him or not, till something he told us gets proven wrong…” Yosuke noted, “So I think we should just assume, until then, that we’ll get a fair warning if we won’t be able to run away safely all of a sudden?”

“Indeed,” Shin said, “Although, I wouldn’t put it past the both of them, to do something very subtle and claim that was meant to warn us. Like when a game autosaves and you know something is about to go down… That kind of thing? We need to stay alert.”

There was a rustling in the grass around them.

“As if we weren’t _already_ staying alert.” Syoko laughed nervously.


	290. Stage Two, Day 6: Inaccessible Enemy

Moving forward along the dirt path, the ‘gimmick’ of this ruin came to life. While Yume’s ruin hadn’t revealed itself to utilize those pressure plates until after the first conquest video, this one threw them right into the thick of things. It was only a few steps in when they started to hear the sounds- Well, Yume couldn’t hear them, but the others could.

“Wait…” Homura muttered, “Those footsteps don’t sound like they’re coming from anywhere on the path…”

“There’s rustlin’ noises too?” Irarako said, “Thinkin’... Mus’ be enemy creatures up in these there underbrush.”

“Even I can’t see anything through the ferns…” Shin said, then tried to take a step into the bushes only to find himself pushed right back out. “And I suppose we can’t get in there…”

“Lemme try uh…” Irarako thrust her weapon into the grass, and it was _not_ pushed back out. So that confirmed her theory- The survivors could not walk into the underbrush. Enemies could. They could still attack the enemies which were in the underbrush, as long as they were close enough and managed to pick out the sounds.

“Urgh…” Yume put the facts together. “So at least for this section of the ruin, we’d only be able to hear the enemies, not see them? Doesn’t bode too well for me, what with my _apparent_ lack of ability to hear properly.”

“I’ll stick at your side,” Homura said, “I hear too much, always, so maybe we’ll balance each other out!”

“Awe, thanks Shinku. Appreciate it.” Yume chuckled. “Like, for real, who’d’ve guessed that I’d end up having this kind of a dumbshit disadvantage without even knowing until it actually became a safety issue?”

“That’s probably because…” Syoko said, “Your parents were out of your lives too early, so you weren’t getting the usual health checks you’d be receiving, right? You probably only thought about your normal doctor, and didn’t even think you might need hearing or vision assessments. Not to say that anything _seems_ to be off with you or Nanjo’s sight, but as a general example.”

“Mm. Yeah, I saw my normal doctor, and a sleep specialist for a while… Then I kinda ended up his lab assistant, and things went from there, for me to get my talent and all,” Yume agreed, “So I guess it just… Never caused me any real issues before, so I didn’t think to catch it, until now when it actually _is_ causing me issues.”

“If it’s any consolation, you’re not the only one!” Homura offered.

“Only one… realizing something is a problem where it never was before?”

“Right,” He confirmed, “I’m not gonna snitch on who it is or anything, but there’s at least one person here with some kinda chronic pain that’s interfering more with this weird-o ‘everyday life’ than it ever used to. I can see it in the way they move. Oh, and as for me, I’m kind of in sensory hell what with it being unsafe to put my headphones on, but that’s nothing I couldn’t predict.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said, “That checks out. I noticed it too… I’m also not gonna say anything, though.”

“I always forget how observant you can be,” Syoko said, “But then again, that was pretty helpful back during the Killing Game. Don’t be looking _too_ closely at all of us, though. You might find something out you’d rather not!”

“Oh no, I’m the one who can draw conclusions about people from watching them,” Katsue said, “Yosuke sees facts and I see feelings, so to speak. I determined the curse of him, after all. Also of Shin, and I’m beginning to envision the curse which plagues you as well, Syoko. Not, of course, that I’d share this wisdom. I would dare not usurp the role of the Conquest Videos. It would be cruel to the concept and to the individuals whose curses I’d expose.”

“Everyone here is… So much.” Yume rolled her eyes. “But I guess that’s fine… It’s useful in a way? I mean. I dunno what Katsue’s thing is supposed to be good for, but all this observation and special eyes and whatever. Gotta help us figure shit out somewhere along the line.”

“Hey, it’s just the one special eye.” Shin chuckled. “But I agree. We’ve actually ended up with a pretty good group for this… Even if I’m useless in combat myself, all of us have got skills which helped us not get killed up to this point.”

“Does that real hold up what when somebody were never an attempt on they life?” Irarako questioned, holding a finger to her chin.

“I did receive an attempt on my life. It was a bit underhanded, but I did survive with my ability to read people,” Katsue said, “When it comes to our enemies… Perhaps I can serve a use when we encounter one with enough personal presence to attempt to destroy our X-Keys.”

“I also had an attempt on my life made,” Shin said, “But it was nothing about me in particular which allowed me to survive. It was because my assailant didn’t really want to bother the moment it seemed like I would be difficult to kill.”

“...You’re telling me that Tooru tried to murder you at some point before he killed Ayano?” Saya asked, tilting her head to one side. “And you did not think to mention this sooner?”

“You let us flounder around for an entire trial before admitting you knew it was him the entire time,” Yosuke said, “So I don’t think you can talk.”

“Touche. Then, I amend my statement. He tried to murder you, Tsubasa, and you still admitted to us that at some point you were attracted to him?”

“It isn’t like I ever actually feared death.” Shin shrugged. “So I would have been fine with that. Of course, I have no intention of being foolish here. Little use as I may have, I know that one less person still represents a decrease in power for us.”

“It sure… Hey, be quiet for a second-” Homura started, but was cut off by the appearance of a cow from the underbrush. It knocked him aside, then trampled over Yume. She was turned to an X-Key, but Homura managed to survive the hit- His Shigabane from the last time a cow had attacked him. The first reaction of the remaining members of the group was to turn and attack the cow, felling it before it could do damage to any of the others.


	291. Stage Two, Day 6: Septic Squirrel

“Looks like… That Shigabane helped me out,” Homura grunted, “But not so much for Yume, ugh…” He reached down and grabbed her X-Key. “Sorry about that. Said I’d keep an ear out for you, but by the time I heard the thing coming, it was already too late.”

Yosuke took a step forward and scooped up Yume’s weapon with a sigh. “Those cows… Really have a knack for getting the drop on us, huh?”

“If we hadn’t been talking, I’d have heard the hooves sooner,” Homura admitted, “But it’s kind of awkward to just walk through this whole place without saying a word to each other, so… You win some, you lose some, right?”

“Yume will understand. She would also prefer if we were not entirely silent during the process of this exploration. That would be quite unpleasant! When we’re talking, everything feels less scary than it actually is, after all. The lurking threat of enemies in the underbrush is not nearly so terrifying when we can turn to each other for comfort!” Saya laughed, taking a few steps forward again. “We still have seven people, so I think we can keep going a bit, right? Especially since we came into this assuming it would be a scouting mission with casualties.”

“Would say what that for unpleasant Yume key,” Irarako said, “But, pretty sure she’ll down for it anyhow. I know I’m down for to be key longer though not happy, for sake of get more done not turn back immediate.”

“...Are you okay, Ira?” Syoko asked.

“Eh? What for? Real fine!” Irarako flexed an arm and laughed.

“Your accent’s a bit stronger than usual, is all,” Syoko said, “Even I’m having a bit of trouble understanding what you mean… So being here, it must be getting to you a bit more than you let on. Am I right?”

“Ain’t well. Not so ease. Haha.” Irarako scratched at the side of her cheek and took a few deep breaths. “It’s real frighten… The enemies what can’t be seen. Forest thicker’s a shit, uh. Um. Sorry. Nonsense is… My brain it’s, thoughts, thoughts are too… Much and not enough. All once. Ugh..”

“Whatever happened here… I’m sorry,” Syoko said, “If you want to turn back now after all, it’s perfectly fine. We don’t have to keep exploring today, we can take our time if it’s too much for you.”

“Ain’t too much, nah, not really, it’s. Well. It’s always gon’ ta be too much. Ain’t like turnback would make a diff, it’d just be same when we return, after tomorrow, so it’s. Ain’t big. Ain’t nothin’ at all, it’s fine! One way or another. Got’s deal with it.”

“That’s… Okay,’ Syoko said, “But I understand how places with bad memories can be difficult to go through…”

“Eh? Eh yeh, uh, yeah…” Irarako shook her head as if she was trying to rattle something out of it. “Reversed from what Yume’s was like. Normal place begin, bad place late, but I’m... Spent loads time in the dojo, dojo’s fine. Not much time out here. This far. This… overgrowin’. So much ain’t know where to go, how to go. Real scary.”

“I don’t think the path has looped back on itself at all,” Yosuke said, “So we aren’t going to get lost, okay? Until we see any forks, we know we’re just going the only way we can go, not repeating our steps or anything. And we do have maps available to us if it _does_ start to get complicated. So it’s not like in real life; We can’t, and won’t get lost.”

“We won’t… No gettin’ lost,” Irarako said, “An’ no… It’s just us. Us ‘n the enemies. No other real people, none normal, none good real. So’s if we do mess up, just us the consequence. Just us.”

“Yeah, Ira, just us,” Syoko confirmed.

“We are the only ones here,” Shin said, “For better or for worse.”

“Us n’ the enemies, that- Guah!” Irarako stumbled backwards, then started to wave her weapon wildly around. Nobody could tell what she was fighting against, till the same thing landed on Homura’s face instead. It looked like a squirrel, but wrong; Like most of the animals here did, of course. This one was… A squirrel, if a squirrel was guaranteed to live for thirty years regardless of aging or injuries. Homura managed to catch it on his axe and toss it to the ground, killing it in one hit, but the damage was done. He and Irarako both had chew marks bleeding on their faces…

And they looked _instantly_ septic.

“This is…” Homura grit his teeth. “It barely even, got me, why does it hurt so much…?”

“It feel… Skin’s eaten?” Irarako had just the same questioning, panicked tone to her own voice. Both of their wounds were quickly becoming more and more disgusting in mere moments.

“C-Can somebody… Kill me?” Homura questioned, “I don’t know how long this is going to t-”

Nobody needed to take him up on his request, because he was cut off by his own dissipation. The same happened to Irararako maybe a half second later, and both of their X-Keys hit the ground. Syoko reached toward the keys, then hesitated a second, before scooping them up and dropping them into her bag. “I don’t know if whatever happened there could still be contagious through the keys, uh…”

“Bacteria doesn’t work that way, Syoko.” Katsue stepped forward and patted her shoulder. “That’s what that was. Those wounds were… Whatever these squirrel creatures are, they must be absolutely disease-ridden and disgusting. Toxic blood coursing through their veins. With that sort of thing, I suppose all we can do is our best to avoid being bitten, though they’re awfully fast. I imagine these two will get a helpful Shigabane…”

“They both said it hurt so much,” Saya said, “Well. That’s not surprising, is it? Eva and Ris never said that every death we could get would be fast or painless. Just that our corpses would disappear too soon to be desecrated, and that these creatures aren’t intelligent enough to keep us alive and in pain.”

“Oh of course. Rules lawyering to make us believe we wouldn’t experience anything like that.” Shin adjusted his sleeves. “We should return home. Obviously, we’re underprepared for this, but seeking out more resources in the old ruin might help with that. We definitely can’t keep going without Irarako herself, for that matter.”

“She was pretty uncomfortable. Maybe she’d prefer if we did?” Syoko offered.

“We can’t do that.” Yosuke shook his head. “Tsubasa’s right. We’ll go back for now, and try this again later on.”


	292. Stage Two, Day 6: Back To Base-ics

Homura Shinku _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Rabid Pest:** Reduced damage from Rabid Pests  
**Death by Toxic Bite:** 60% chance to avoid being afflicted with the Toxic status condition

Yume Mirai _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Ivory Cow:** Reduced damage from Ivory Cows  
**Death by Trampling:** Reduced damage from Trampling  
**Died After Overcoming Trauma:** Will extend with statistical and visual ‘upgrades’

Irarako Ebizakaya _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Rabid Pest:** Reduced damage from Rabid Pests  
**Death by Toxic Bite:** 60% chance to avoid being afflicted with the Toxic status condition

After the survivors were extended, one thing was immediately clear; The nature of Yume’s new Shigabane. She got up from the Extend Bed looking completely different than she had before; Not that her face or body had changed, but her style had. She wore a new outfit that was similarly flashy to her old one, but a bit more practical, with a shorter skirt and spats underneath, but a longcoat to keep up her usual large silhouette. Her hair was shorter too, with ringlets all around her shoulders rather than the usual two in front.

She gave herself a turn around, examining the new outfit. “Can’t say I expected this, but, sweet! I look pretty damn cool if I do say so myself.”

“New outfits…” Katsue clasped her hands together. “That almost makes this whole thing worth it! And is it just me, or do you look older, Yume?”

“I can’t see my face.”

“It’s not just you,” Syoko said, “The way it noted ‘upgrade’... It’s as if the shigabane actually decided to create a picture of what you might look like five years from now.”

“Is that so?” Yume asked, then frowned. “Shit! Does that make it weird that me and Saya are dating??”

“You’re nearly adults to begin with, and it isn’t as if your mental age or your lived experience have changed any,” Homura said, “So I think it’s fine! Pretty funny to think about what _I’d_ look like more grown up though, doesn’t it? I’m not about to get any taller!”

“You’re still taller than I am…” Yosuke crossed his arms. “Then again, maybe the new outfit will give me shoes with lift inserts or something!”

“Awe, I’d trade heights with you if I could, but that’s not much,” Homura said, “Really, it’s kind of a miracle I’m as tall as I am!”

“Pft.” Yosuke stuck out his tongue.

“Speaking of upgrades…” Shin took a step forward. “When that cow charged, it stirred up some of the underbrush, so it seems I acquired a piece of ‘long grass’. We needed that in order to unlock bunking effects, correct?”

“That’s right, we did,” Syoko said, “Good thinking… We should do that upgrade, and maybe bunk strategically for the sake of our gathering day tomorrow? If these effects have that kind of use, anyway.”

“Only one way to find out, really.” Shin walked right up to the Extend Machine, hit the ‘upgrade facilities’ button to pop out the receiving vat, and dropped in the long grass. The soothing tincture and the Ravvit Paw were both currently in Syoko’s possession, so she dumped those in as well. The vat retracted, then a celebratory chime sounded from the Extend Machine before Evangeline alone appeared on the screen.

“Congratulations! Now if you decide to have depraved swinger sex with each other, or I _guess_ just platonically sleep in the same room, you’ll get bonus effects the next day!” Eva raised one finger in the air. “Right-on! Here’s how it works! Two people use the same room. They give the other person their bunking effect! This effect works while a person is among the four in the ‘front lines’ who readily attack enemies you come across. If both people are in the front lines, the effects are doubled, and do apply to both of you in the event they have an individual effect!”

“Isn’t that nice?” Eva continued, “And here’s the breakdown of what those effects are. Remember, the effect ‘of a person’ is actually what the person who shared the room with them gets! Homura Shinku grants the chance to survive a fatal hit with one hitpoint- Clinging onto life! Yume Mirai lets you earn back more stamina from eating food. Katsue Nageko flexes her vampiric seductress powers to let you sap health from enemies when you hit them. Shin Tsubasa makes it more likely that enemies will drop good items. Irarako Ebizakaya ups the power of your basic, that’s not-charged-up, attacks~ Great in a pinch. Syoko Saihara gives you a chance to reflect clione attacks back at the creature who made them. Yosuke Oowada improves your mapping range, in an oh-so-touching tribute to his dearly departed. Last but not least, Saya Yoshiro! Sleeping with this gal lets you carry a whole lot more things.”

“And that’s it!” Eva finished, and just as abruptly, the screen of the Extend Machine went dark.

“...Awkward phrasing aside, we can certainly work with that to improve our chances at finding useful items tomorrow,” Syoko said, “So let’s figure this… Well, we don’t all need to go into the ruin either, do we?”

“Mine not so wantin’, and the bunk’s good normal ain’t for real gather though. Stay here n’ check for anythin’ else washed up the beach, et-cett.” Irarako crossed her arms. “Sides, kinda used to sleepin’ room alone.”

“And I can’t imagine anyone is really gonna exert enough stamina to get use out of mine,” Yume said, “So I’ll stick around here and help out Ebizakaya. Saya, your effect seems really useful for their purposes, though. So looks like I’ll also sleep in a room by myself. I guess I’ll use Nanjo’s.”

“Yes, certainly!” Saya nodded. “Yosuke? I believe that you’d be most suited to have your carrying capacity increased even more, so we should share a room. That mapping range tool of yours will be very useful in general, but with an increased ‘range’ we should be able to fill out any gaps in our map without needing to personally walk in every single square foot of the ruin.”

“Oh yeah, that makes sense,” Yosuke said, “So that leaves… Four more people.”

“Mine and Syoko’s abilities would combine pretty well,” Homura said, “For the sake of a quick escape. So we should be in reserve, that way we can gather any items you guys might drop before we run away. Surviving a fatal hit and deflecting a clione attack can both buy us that kinda time.”

“That leaves me and Tsubasa,” Katsue said, “Which makes sense. If we can sustain ourselves a bit better when attacking, and get more items dropped from the things that we kill… I know that you don’t consider yourself great at combat, Tsubasa, but if you’re in the party with me then I’ll get the sapping effect too.”

“I’m fine with that,” Shin said, “Besides. Maybe sometime soon we’ll find some other sort of ranged weapon… That seems to be in my wheelhouse. I do hope that I was useful in the process of defeating the Creature of Wrath.”

“You were. We weren’t completely sure what to do when you were killed,” Syoko said, “Then Homura managed to break off one of the creature’s clione, so it worked out. I do hope that we can find something a bit more renewable that you’re capable of using… Not that I consider you to be dead weight by any means, of course! But for your own safety, understand?”

“It’s fine if you _did_ think I’m dead weight. I’m not that much weight to be dead for you, so it isn’t a big deal. I mean, if I went berserk or anything, you might just be able to pick me up and carry me out without even reducing me to an X-Key.” Shin rolled his eye. “And given the nature of extension… Even if we do manage to up our food supply to something abundant, I won’t really be able to _gain_ any more weight…”

“Plenty of people would love to be that thin, I don’t think you need to be so self-conscious about it…” Syoko said, clicking her tongue.

“I don’t understand those people. The only way to get this thin is to be miserable for years,” Shin said, “So anyone who’s jealous of me is frankly just _stupid_. If I can put on weight, then I’m able to move on from the visual indicator of my past. I’m not self-conscious about looking this way, I… Never put much thought into my appearance at all. But as far as my brain cares, anyone who sees me this way will immediately know that I have suffered, and I don’t need that.”

“Anyone who sees your Conquest Videos will know that too,” Yosuke said, “But I understand it, too. I can’t help but feel like I… Probably thought the same kind of thing, sometime in my life. Well, fingers crossed, right?”

“Crossed for… What?”

“That your ‘overcoming trauma’ shigabane makes you look exactly the way that you want to.” He shrugged. “For Yume, it didn’t change that much, but you never know. It’s supposed to be our own ‘upgraded’ versions, yeah? So you might gain weight, I might get taller, et cetera.”

“Maybe so…” Shin nodded along quietly, holding a hand to his chest.


	293. Stage Two, Day 7: Beach Gatherers

The group all filed off and made their way to bed after that conversation, rearranging based on the bunking effects that they’d agreed upon. Yume took up Nanjo’s room, as it had been cleaned since the murder which took place in it, so Yosuke took her spot in Saya’s. In turn, Homura took Yosuke’s spot. Shin and Katsue had each been sleeping in rooms alone, but instead utilized the one Homura had been in. Katsue had no desire to use a bed that Tooru Hanazaki had used before, nor to let anybody else use the bed that Yuji had.

Sensitivities all accounted for, everyone acquired their bunking effects and were ready in the morning. Syoko prepared breakfast, mostly using the meat that the cow had dropped after they killed it the previous day. Fingers crossed for a substantial amount of ravvit meat, the group equipped themselves the best that they could. Katsue took up Irarako’s sword, and Yosuke took Yume’s bat; After all, they wouldn’t be in any danger walking around Jabberwock Island, and those were some of their strongest weapons. The axe that Homura usually used was also handed over to Saya while he and Syoko were both in reserves.

Saya noted that she seemed to lack any particular proficiency in a weapon type- Similar to Shin, though she lacked even his ranged ability. Slash, pierce, and blunt were all the same to her, but it was still better to have a good weapon on the frontlines, and if she were killed then either Homura or Syoko would step forward to take back the weapon that they were both proficient in. Altogether, they actually felt a bit over-prepared for the early areas of the first ruin at this point. That was how it should be for a resource-gathering mission of course, and was reassuring to think about.

These weapons and this armor had been good enough to beat the boss of the ruin, so the earlier ravvits and creatures shouldn’t present too much of an issue to them, allowing them to move quickly and gather up meat, along with anything else that the enemies might drop. Yume and Irarako, with completely empty inventories, waved off the group of survivors who went across the bridge before turning back to each other.

“So,” Yume started, “It’s you and me and a long walk on the beach, huh? If I wasn’t already accounted for, then that would be such a fucking cliche.”

“Yea, you’re real lucky what to be counted for!’ Irarako laughed, rubbing the back of her neck as she already started with a few steps down the beach. “Gotta be nice, what to have a girlfriend an’ all.”

“I mean, it is nice. It’s different, too, though. Like it’s not… Just good. It’s real good and nice but it’s also got different challenges, than having a boyfriend, or just being friends. Or maybe that’s just Saya specifically.” Yume shrugged and fell into step with Irarako, keeping her eyes down to the sand. “With other folks, well, sorta like… With friends, they can take me or leave me real easily. It isn’t a commitment to try and stay my friend if I do something they don’t like. And then, I mean. I dunno if it’s this way with all boys, but when I was with Shouto, when things _were_ good between us? It felt like as long as I didn’t do something obviously wrong, like hurt him physically or cheat on him, there wasn’t anything I could fuck up minorly to make him dislike me. I was confident he liked me and wanted to be with me and that I couldn’t misstep and mess it all up.”

“Damn. Ain’t got me for no romantic advice, Yume. Ain’t never had a real-lationship, once in my natural born life.”

“A real relationship? What, so you had a fake one?”

“Somethin’ like that? Er. Well, more like. I’m all but real for dumb an’ I got the impression from somebody that we were an item, then turns out, ain’t and never were. Bettin’s that’ll be touched my conquest videos… Fact, pretty sure I already know who my boss’s gon’ be too.”

“You never know. I thought _my_ fucking boss monster was gonna be me. I was the monster in that story you guys saw, after all. I could have just let shit go and moved on and dealt with things privately, or just told my benefactors, or filed an official report? Instead, I called a man out to die. I specifically decided to murder him. What part of that story makes _him_ the monster of my sin?”

“Cause he were monstrous. Died still monster. Always a monster. You did a monstery thing, I guess, but ain’t like… Well it’s, get? He became monster all by his own dummy brain. Yours monster, was because of his. He made ya like that. Even if it was a bad thing to do, even though two wrongs ain’t never been makin’ a _right_? Cruelty to the maximum, he showin’. You just revenge. Bad revenge, but still is… Hol’ up.” Irarako took a deep breath and pressed her hands together, thinking through her words. “What I mean is. I think what he did was worse.”

“You do?”

“Yeh. An’, you ain’t like… Well even when you were berserk, you ain’t attack any of us. Don’t feel threatened by you at all. That creature was… When it were starin’ me right down, I felt. So afraid. More scare than I almost ever been. Was that scare just… One time before. Not even when the Killin’ Game started, I feel that much. Not when other creatures kill me. But it was like it… wanted nothin’ more that moment than to see me die. Me, personally, Irarako. It hated all of us an’ thought killin’ us was fun. It was like it… It woulda, if it coulda, done the same to me it did to ya before.”

“I’m sorry you had to feel that way because of me.”

“Ain’t cause of you. Cause of creature. Ain’t your fault, couldn’t know the guy you killed gon’ come back as freaky monster what can stare folks to death.” Irarako looked away. “Maybe it’s… Silly a’ me, to be so much more scared that than dyin’ this point. But, yknow.”

“The time you were most afraid before…”

“Ain’t that. Totally different. Well, uh. Not hundo-percent different from it, but mean. Hah, well, put this way. Think I might be the only person here what’s still virgin? So ain’t that.”

“Ah, yes. Good to know at least _one_ of us trainwrecks hasn’t been assaulted.” Yume rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure how you got to that only person thing…”

“Guess just guessin’ on some. Know sure on others. But ain’t like always bad neither, right?”

“Right…” Yume suddenly stopped and leaned down, picking something from the sand. “Hey, a fish hook. We can definitely use this for something… I guess new stuff _is_ washing up. We’re not just getting a day off after all.”


	294. Stage Two, Day 7: Confide to Untruth

“Nice! Makes for feel less bad, bailin’ out,” Irarako said.

“You felt bad about bailing? Well, we just weren’t going to be that useful, and we’ll be more useful back here now that we know there’s actually stuff to find,” Yume said, “You thought of it as bailing out, really?”

“Yeah. Said I ain’t wanna go, after all.”

“Why _didn’t_ you, actually? Saya told me that you said you like going in the ruins, and all. That it’s straightforward for you and makes you feel like we’re moving ahead, and all that kind of thing?”

“Cause… Uh, frighten? Got a different kinda scare what was in my ruins yesterday, and just wanna have a break. Recharge my battery whatbefore we gots to go back in there, get? Don’ much like that shit to be there ever much.”

“Yeah, that… The forest area, is that where you felt so scared that other time before?”

Irararako just nodded in response.

“You were saying something about that… I didn’t catch all the details since I was an X-Key at the time, and it seems like only the Conquest Videos come through with full detail during that, but I caught enough of it. In my ruin, we got closer and closer to the place that was involved in the worst parts of my videos… But yours, it’s the opposite, right? The worst part doesn’t actually take place anywhere around the boss room.”

“Yeh. Final conquest vid I bet’ll be the forest what starts the ruin. But the boss gotta… Gotta fight boss in the dojo! Only make sense. Course, could be totally wrong. None the videos started yet so ain’t sure what or where the begin’s gon’ to do all thing.”

“So in a way… You had to take a break today. Going to any ruin besides yours would just have you too much on edge, wishing you were back there to get past the beginning instead, yeah?”

“Mhm. Jus’ wanna get what to any conquest so I know what I’m expectin’.”

“I know how you feel. When I was berserk, that wasn’t… Completely the status condition talking, you feel me? I really did just want to keep going. I wanted to get through the videos, because even though people meant well… Only seeing part of it at a time, not having the full story, they wanted to say nice things but had no idea what they were actually talking about?”

“Think that may be case what for mine too, haha.” Irararako scratched her ear and stopped walking. “Ain’t gon’ be clear right away… What sin’s s’posed to be at all. Though, comin’ to when you were berserk, uh. Why _did_ you agree to kill Tsubasa after?”

“That wasn’t for myself. He said I could do it so we’d be even, assuming I was upset at getting killed. I guess I kinda was, but it wasn’t like that’d actually matter to make me feel better, just needed some time. It was for the others, and for his sake. If we didn’t ‘get even’, I dunno if they would’ve been able to trust him. Me, I can do anything and it checks out because I’m volatile and everyone knows it, but nobody was expecting Tsubasa to pull something like that. By ‘leveling the field’ I could make sure everyone else understood, same as me, that it was kinda a necessity?”

“Thought was somethin’ that way. Tsubasa’s odd duck, but I do trust.”

“I… Kinda do, too. I mean, as much as I can trust anybody, I trust you guys. After all, we’re the people who didn’t give in to the Killing Game at all.”

“Cept for Katsue.”

“That was a suicide pact, I don’t think it exactly counts. The two of them wanted to get us to this point we’ve ended up at… Which is fucked up, but I still prefer it, you know? It’s like you said, there’s an end goal that we can actually work toward. And instead of distrusting each other, we’ve got each other’s backs. We look over our shoulders for obvious enemies, not for the others to backstab us. It’s tough, but _way_ less stressful!”

“Only the stress of what havin’ our trauma pasts exposed an’ all.” Irarako shrugged. “Ain’t so crap, that. Some ways, well. People trust oughta eventually know. Close friends… Easier what to see Conk-vid than to try’n tell anyone upfront one-ta-one.”

“Do you think we’re all close enough, that we should know what you’ve been through?”

“Ain’t got much choice, eh? But ye. You’re friends, my friends. Good my friends. Some my friends lost, some dead died already, but still y’all are. An’ the ones my friends died will see too, right? Cept for Jun. An’ maybe people I don’t like are also gon’ find out it… All I worry is that I’m weak. See that I’m weaker than ya think an’ maybe not such good useful. Dunno how to feel or share any… That.”

“I don’t think anybody will think you’re weak.”

“Dunno. But, don’ be surprised, kay?”

“Surprised about what?”

“If I lie. If I say one thing then another conk-vid what says opposite or different that. It’s all tough, yea? So I’ll the lies. Gonna happen, prob. Just let me. You’ll learn truth soon enough.”

“Sure thing. I lied to Yosuke about Shouto well before any of this stuff even started… No real reason for me to lie as hard as I did, but anything even close to the truth is just too tough to throw out there.”

“Thanks. Figured could count on you.” Irarako crossed her arms and kicked at the sand a bit, only to get her foot tangled in some seaweed. “Need more seaweed what for plenty of things! Come let’s, gather up.”

“Gathering seaweed really that preferable to talking to me?”

“Like talkin’ to you. Grateful you’ll lemme lie. But wanna still be… Useful person. If y’all might soon be think I’m useless total. Gotta while I can!”

Rather than pry into what that meant, or attempt to assure Irarako again that her fears were unfounded, Yume just went quiet as well and helped out with gathering up more seaweed. It was needed for one of the facility upgrades, and definitely for a few other things they might be able to create in the workshop, so Irarako was right that it was important to gather. Even if she wasn’t right that anyone in the group would ever consider her useless.

And even if she was shortly going to become a huge liar.


	295. Stage Two, Day 7: Return to Kobe

The other group, meanwhile, had made their way back onto the Kobe Shopping District. The first section didn’t have any of its enemies, given that they’d only just respawned two days prior. However, that didn’t represent the great majority of the foes here in this ruin anyway. Most of them were in the secondary section, which appeared to be in a bit of a chaotic state.

“So…” Katsue noted, “When we left the doors open to solve that puzzle, any enemies in those rooms respawned… And wandered out to wreak havoc on the pressure plates, it appears.”

“Seems so!” Saya agreed, “I remember which doors they were, though, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to redo the puzzle once we get these guys out of the way.”

“Be careful, with this many milling about. Don’t let them get the drop on you,” Yosuke said, readying his weapon as the group moved ahead. Even with the fact that they were probably overpowered for this set of enemies at this point, dealing with too many at once could prove to be a problem. The group was careful not to step on any of the other pressure points, and did their best to take on the enemies one at a time for that matter. It wasn’t particularly difficult, as long as they were careful about it and didn’t rush ahead.

After the enemies were cleared away from the streets, lining the pockets of the group with a good amount of ravvit meat and a few miscellaneous odds and ends carried by creatures, Saya set about returning the puzzle to its proper state. The gate into the manor was reopened once the buildings had returned to the solution, but Yosuke’s attention was drawn elsewhere, to one of the puzzle-solution buildings to have open.

“That bar’s not hurling a bottle across the room anymore,” He pointed it out, “We ended up not exploring it very well before cause I got clocked in the head when I tried, but it doesn’t look that way anymore, and I can’t hear anything either.”

“By all means, we can explore it,” Syoko said, “But since you’re the one who wants to, and we know you can _survive_ that bottle to the face, you’ll go in first. Right?”

“Of course, I was planning on it anyway.” Yosuke flashed a thumbs-up in her direction, then made his way over to the door and into the building. He stepped inside and preemptively winced, half expecting there to be some pressure plate which would trigger the bottle to come flying at him, but nothing happened. He stepped further inside just to be sure, then turned back and motioned for the others to join him.

“So this is how a real dive bar looks,” Homura said, “I’ve never been inside a place like this. Just the kinds of restaurants that are family-friendly till ten pm when they become adults only. Though, I guess it’s kinda run down from the creature stuff, huh?”

“Probably wasn’t much better than this even before,” Yosuke said, “Dive bars are kinda known for being grungy places. I’ve been in one before, Dad took me a few weeks after my eighteenth birthday to a place that he said had a real good beer and food selection.”

“Did it?” Syoko wondered.

“I mean, yeah, my dad’s got good taste. Everything tasted good, but it was grody and kind of loud and just an unpleasant atmosphere, which I guess is what made it a dive.”

“Did you cry about it?”

“Yeah I cried about it.” Yosuke shrugged. “The bartender was really worried, so I had to make sure he knew this was my dad and not some guy giving me a hard time, and I’m just like this, I cry over literally anything and just overhearing people the next table over being… Oh.”

“Hm?”

“Fuck!” Yosuke kicked the bar counter. “That was _dysphoria_ oh my _god_. Nobody was actually being a dick! I started crying cause people at another table were muttering about how weird it was to see a ‘girl like that’ at this bar. And that’s cause I’m _not a girl_, there wasn’t anything wrong with _what_ they said!”

“You’ll have moments like that, yes,” Syoko said, “Now that you cracked your egg, and all. It’s a bit astonishing to start realizing just how many moments in your life were tied to your true identity all along.”

“Oh?” Katsue raised an eyebrow. “I can relate, but I wasn’t sure that you could, Syoko. I sort of thought you were like Homura, cracked so soon you never really had to deal with the same sort of things?”

“Homura didn’t _crack_, he was never an egg. As soon as he could rationalize _any_ sense of self, he knew that self was as a guy. Me, well. I’m still on the sooner side than you, or especially Yosuke, but I barely squeaked in under puberty. I was twelve when I became Syoko.”

“Oh, of course. _just_ in time to pass so effortlessly.” Katsue rolled her eyes with a chuckle. “I didn’t quite figure it out in time, well… You could never pull off what I did, going back in the closet. It would take a lot more effort on your part. Even if I like the way I look for the most part, not that much changed when I got the shigabane…”

“If I met you as yourself, _I_ sure wouldn’t be able to tell,” Shin said, “Even your voice, as soon as you told us you were a girl it changed so much. How did you even do that? That’s impressive.”

“My big sister helped me with voice training, she’s actually a professional singer. Not like, a high-profile artist or anything, but she gets hired out to do lots of different choral work. She taught me a lot of things about vocal control… It was very kind of her.” Katsue shrugged. “Though, on the other hand. Maybe it would have been better off if my family was just alright with my voicing sounding the way it did from the start.”

“Awe… Your family sounds like a real mess! You deserve a better one,” Syoko said, “Actually, to be honest, a lot of you deserve better families… Uh, me included, sort of? My parents were great, but they did kind of make the big mistake which led to me being raised in an authoritarian false utopia. Same for Yosuke.”

“Well, my parents were fine,” Homura said, “My moms are _great_ and they’ve always done everything that they can for me. I can forgive their mistakes because they’re absolutely wonderful, and I never once felt like they let me down or didn’t do enough to help me.”

“You’re a very lucky young man, then,” Shin said, “It’s rare to have a parent who doesn’t at least disappoint you. Though, you know how I feel about _my_ mother.”

“What about your father?” Saya asked.

“Huh?”

“You never mention him, I mean. And your mother seems to be just one person, not that you have two moms. Was he not involved in your life?”

“No… Not at all. I have no memories of him and never knew him. It’s always been me, my mother, and my sister. She’s only two years younger than me, and I think my father must have left not long after she was conceived, since I do remember when she was born and he has no presence in my memories whatsover.” Shin shook his head. “So in a way, whoever he is, he let me down by leaving me alone with her…”

“I apologize for bringing up something painful,” Saya said.

“No, no, it’s fine. I wouldn’t call _that_ painful. Moving on, there’s a partition in here.” Shin pointed toward the corner. “We missed it before, because of the trap. We already know we’ll need more than one to be upgrading our facilities, so we should definitely bring that back with us.”


	296. Stage Two, Day 7: End of the Resource Day

After exploring a bit longer and finding nothing else of particular note, just a few more loot drops from defeated monsters, the resource-gathering group returned triumphant to Jabberwock Island. Upon their arrival in the Dining Hall area, Yume and Irarako were already sitting there, their own haul spread out on the table. There was a good amount of stuff there, but not nearly enough between any of them to make any further upgrades. When Shin went to check, he found that the bedrooms had a new criteria in the list.

**Bedrooms Level Three:** _Knock down a wall to allow bunking effects to share between four people.._  
\- 0/3 Queen Crab Shell  
\- 0/1 Bear Claw  
\- 0/1 Golden Antidote

“...I don’t think we’ll be seeing any of these items during _this_ ruin,” He observed aloud, “But we may still stand a chance at some of the other upgrades, right? The bathhouse… Leather might be a rare drop from those cows, after all. The greenhouse and workshop also seem like they might be doable at the current ruin, we haven’t seen every enemy there yet, I’m sure. And a forest seems like a place to find an aromatic flower…”

“Shit could end up washing up on the beach as time goes on, too. Pretty clear that’s still happening,” Yume said, “Mostly seaweed, but we found a few cool things too. Not too shabby for the ‘first two ruins are about us’ team, eh?”

“It was definitely the right move, to split up and spend today resource-gathering,” Syoko said, then scooped up some of the meat. “I’m going to make us some food, then! Something light for tonight, I’ll make something more substantial in the morning. I might actually have enough here that our breakfast will leave us _full up_ on stamina, for the first time since we got here. So isn’t that exciting?”

“Very,” Shin agreed with a bit of a chuckle. “But don’t go too overboard, right? Only the animal enemies drop things that we can eat, so if we come up against a ruin or section of ruin that’s mostly just creatures, we might find ourselves lacking once more.”

“That’s true… Don’t worry, I’m still thinking with rations.” Syoko flashed a thumbs-up. “I’m being very careful to make use of everything. No meat’s been tossed away, I’ve been collecting the scraps to make a stew once we gather up enough. Even if the supply runs out for a little while, we’ll be able to make it through without starving to death until the ravvits in the first ruin respawn again.”

“Again, we’ll come back if we do starve…” Shin said, “But I wouldn’t recommend the experience at all.”

“When we get out of here we really oughta all hang out and put together a ‘cause of death tier list’ or something.” Homura put his hands behind his head. “Cause, you know. I don’t _actually_ think anything’s gonna top drowning for me, the stuff in here is not nearly as… Real-feeling? As real life dying, I dunno. But yeah, that toxic bite thing’s gotta be up there anyway.”

“Agree!” Irarako nodded. “That what was… Real painful. How’re we even gonna avoid it happen again to others? Everyone just gotta eventually have happen and grab shigabane? Don’t think we coulda avoided or predicted, came out the nowhere.”

“Well, here’s hoping we get somewhere a little more open soon, so there’s less underbrush for the enemies to crawl around in,” Yume said, “That’s what got me too, after all. I bet in an open area, those squirrels wouldn’t be too tough to spot, and we could get the drop on ‘em instead. Or even hit with some kinda ranged attack?”

“I would very much appreciate it if we found some other method of attacking from a distance, yes,” Shin said, “As I’ve clearly proven that is the only way I can effectively help in combat.”

“We should focus on upgrading the workshop,” Syoko said, “Because then we might be able to make more things, right? The only thing we don’t actually have lying around somewhere for that is the fireproof fur, but seeing as we’ve already come up against the issue of being disallowed from combining nails with Yume’s bat, I have to imagine that material would be somewhere in the ruin we’re currently tackling.”

“That would be _fair_, yes. And we’ve had a degree of fairness so far,” Shin agreed.

“Mm. A degree, that’s the way to put it,” Saya said, “Eva doesn’t value fairness at all, but Ris does. So we can say that we’re offered a ‘fair game’, but at times, they will do the bare minimum to preserve that. So, as an example. If we are to become strong enough to make it through this ruin, we need to upgrade the workshop. But if we are to get the material to upgrade the workshop, we must get deep enough into this ruin without that strength.”

“It’s fair because we can Extend,” Homura said.

“Hm?” Saya tilted her head.

“None of this would be fair at all, if we weren’t able to revive. If we were going to be expected to make it through without dying, it’d be impossibly difficult.” Homura shrugged. “As it is, as long as we’re careful to retreat when we need to, we can throw ourselves at the same problem over and over until we break through it.”

“Speaking of which,” Syoko said, “We should bunk for tomorrow, right? Some arrangement of our usual frontliners, then the rest of us, so… Yosuke and Ira, then Yume and Shinku? Does that work for you guys? I think that would benefit you best. Then for the rest of us…”

“I would like to room with Tsubasa again,” Katsue said, “We get along well enough. That leaves you with Saya. Does that work for everybody?”

There were nods of approval all around, so that was decided. Syoko got to work on cooking, the group ate, and then went off to their bunks as they’d determined just now. It was a matter of personal comfort as well as the statistic advantages, of course; Though they’d made up on some level, it was clear that Katsue and Syoko weren’t quite _friends_ again yet, and likely wouldn’t be until after their conquest videos revealed the depths of their hearts to everybody.

With the promise of ‘exposure’ coming later, it seemed strange, even unnecessary, to speak openly between people. While that might quicken the process of understanding each other, there was also the aspect that everybody had observed. The Conquest Videos told a more complete story than an individual could, covering the facts, and inner thoughts, and even some things that the individual in question hadn’t seen firsthand. Giving an incomplete account of one’s past seemed worthless, with a complete deconstruction promised on the horizon. So those who distrusted each other would remain that way; Until a time that their souls were opened up and laid out to dry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just wanted to make a note here too, I've been keeping the discord posted but just in case anyone's just reading on here and is wondering what's up; I recently moved into an apartment for the first time, as I'd previously just been renting a room from a family friend, as well as starting not one but two jobs (with an internship for my college program also in the works on what's currently my only day off) and that's why all the posting's been... Spotty at best. I'd love to say that now that the move is sorted out and my life's going to settle into a routine, I can get back to posting normally, but that's just unrealistic to expect of myself. Posting will remain every weekday until a time at which I feel I can keep up with 7 chapters a week again. That time will come! But I can't reasonably predict when that will be until I get there. Thank you for understanding!


	297. Stage Two, Day 8: Onward, to Face a New Enemy

Morning came, and everybody grouped up at the Dining Hall for breakfast. It was just as substantial as Syoko had promised; Though they still couldn’t get vegetables, it was plenty of meat to fill up their stamina, though still not the most enjoyable or nutritious meal possible. Every time they ate, it was a motivator to get the greenhouse repaired so that they could eat something nicer. This wasn’t a reflection on Syoko’s cooking at all; She did the best with the ingredients she had available to her, those ingredients were just inferior, being literally just meat that hadn’t even been properly butchered because nobody knew how to do that.

Fed and prepared, the group took up their usual positions. Yosuke, Homura, Yume, and Irarako on the front lines, with the other four trailing along. They made sure to pick up all of their excess equipment from the ground again, of course; They had to be prepared for anything that they might encounter when reentering the battlefield.

As before, Homura paired up with Yume to serve as her ears, though it hadn’t worked before. Just because a cow got the drop on them before didn’t mean that it wasn’t a good idea to put the hyper sensitive hearing and the insufficiently sensitive hearing in a group that might balance out, maybe, if the one who could hear well could actually react quickly enough. And in fact, despite all of this dithering about the worth of this team-up, it did result in avoidance of a _different_ cow this time.

It was certainly a different one, although the group hadn’t reached any new areas, because it charged from much further away through the underbrush. Yume absolutely didn’t hear its hooves in time, but Homura was able to pull her out of the way, and the group dispatched it without much fuss. The enemies which they’d felled on their first excursion to the ruin hadn’t respawned yet, but since the animals could traverse all of the tall grass between the areas of the path, there was a much wider range in which more unknown enemies could continue to exist without any respawning between encounters.

Still, the number of enemies that they’d felled the first time around allowed them to catch back up to themselves quite quickly, arriving back at the place they’d turned around yesterday. Yume narrowed her eyes and took a few steps forward. “Oi, this tree looks different from the other ones… This is where you got attacked by that pest?”

“Mhm.” Irarako nodded. “Map’s ain’t filled in more than here, so here’s where what they gave up after me an’ Shinku decayed got. What ‘bout the tree?”

“It’s possible… These are mostly oaks, but this is a maple. Usually, squirrels are associated with acorns, so oak trees. But these are incorrect squirrels, and there’s only this one maple right here… Probably a few others around, but maybe this is how we’re supposed to get the drop on the little shits? If we expect one’s gonna come dropping on us everytime we walk too close to a maple, we might be able to catch it without anybody being bit after all. We might _not_ all need to undergo that kinda apparent fucked up pain.”

“Good observation. We’d all greatly appreciate being able to avoid that relatively slow and painful death, among all of our deaths,” Shin said, “If you’re right… Though, I can’t imagine you’re wrong, with that kind of a correlation.”

“We’ll keep an eye out for maple trees from this point forward,” Katsue confirmed, “Even if it’s not actually correlated, the worst case scenario is we expend a bit more energy than we normally would when approaching those particular trees. Best case, we don’t get ambushed again.”

“We don’t get ambushed again by _that_ particular enemy!” Homura corrected, “In this ruin, there’s all kinds of ambushes lying in wait for us, I’m sure. Much like me, if you let yourself expect that we have the upper hand, that’s exactly when we’ll lose it!”

“Yeah… Well, let’s keep going, right?” Yosuke offered.

“Mm. Gotta let the conk-vids actually start up an’ all,” Irarako agreed, “Much’s I don’t wanna have my shit shown the clothesline, s’better sooner than later, I think.”

With that sorted, the group continued down along the path. There was yet another cow, this one that Homura was again able to warn Yume of before it could get the drop on them; But its target turned out to be some of the others. Yosuke had a shigabane for those already, though, so he jumped in the way to take the hit himself and spare Syoko. She would live to die another encounter.

Besides that cow, the path was hauntingly quiet for a good long while. It was uncomfortable, but there wasn’t really anything new to talk about to fill that silence either. And Homura had to remain hyper-alert for any sounds which might break through the quiet forest’s haze, so even if there was something else to discuss, it was wise not to.

It was thanks to this collective quiet that Homura _was_ able to pick up on a sound, one which wasn’t very loud at all. He held up a hand for the others to stop walking. “There’s… Really quiet steps, yeah. That aren’t ours. It isn’t a cow, it’s something with paws, I think? But it’s also bigger than a ravvit or a squirrel… It’s something big, being careful.”

“Huh. You can tell that much just by listening?” Yume asked.

“Well, sure I can. Once.” Homura shrugged. “Now that you’ve seen me do it, it doesn’t seem impossible, so I guess I can’t do it again.”

“Is that _really_ how your talent works?” Syoko asked.

“As far as anybody cares to understand, yeah,” Homura said, then stood up straight and adjusted his grip on his axe. “Be ready for whatever we might see, around the next corner…”

The other front-liners voiced their agreement and steadied their own weapons before stepping around the next bend in the path. It gave way to the first fork, though it looped around shortly on the other side of a patch of grass. Bursting from that patch to face them head-on was…

A _very_ frightening animal.


	298. Stage Two, Day 8: Mozilla Firefox

This frightening animal was a fox. Not just any fox, though to this ragtag group, a predator animal at all would be a step up in the fear factor given the deaths they’d already faced at the hands of prey.

The fox which stood before them was evidently the source of an item that they’d need, but was also intimidating beyond several other enemies of the past. While the squirrel had proven its danger when its attack led to such intense pain, there was no hidden nature to this animal’s threat. Rippling over its entire body were light, lapping flames, which culminated in its tail being a veritable torch.

“Fireproof fur…?” Syoko questioned, and the others nodded that they agreed. This was probably the enemy which would provide for them the item required to upgrade the workshop and improve their equipment. The questioning tone was half ‘do you agree’ and half ‘how are we going to manage this’. After all, the other enemies so far had been in two obvious categories.

There were creatures, which had strange abilities, and animals, which generally checked out with reality in spite of their incorrectness. A cow could trample, and a squirrel could bite with toxic bacteria, and a ‘ravvit’ could use its claws. Meanwhile a creature could freeze people in place, and control prehensile ‘clione’ tentacles. One seemed reasonable, the other unrealistic, but here was this fox before them, walking on fire.

Unlike when they fought the Creature of Wrath, at least, the group didn’t let their shock at the nature of this enemy leave them completely open to attack. When the fox reared back and sent a wave of flame out in their direction, everybody was able to dive out of the way, though in the process of dodging a few of them did they did lose the concentration they’d prepared; Homura and Yume were the ones who held onto it, while Yosuke and Irarako faltered, so when they found themselves right next to the fox, it took a bit less damage than it would have if they’d maintained focus.

Rather than turn to the group who’d just attacked it, the fox popped back into the underbrush, then out again a few feet away. Its wave attack had failed, but that wasn’t all it had up its metaphorical sleeve. From the back of its tail it lobbed two fireballs, which did find their marks in the chests of Syoko and Katsue both. They barely had time to blink before their X-Keys and inventories dropped to the ground- Saya dove to collect them before running the opposite direction to avoid being targeted herself.

“One hit from this thing’s all it takes, huh?” Homura observed, “Well, I guess that’s about how it has to be, the first time we encounter a new enemy…”

“Our armor and our shigabane just don’t start off being enough,” Yosuke agreed, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t beat this thing…”

“Its attacks what get tele-gram-graphed a lot!” Irarako observed, “We can tell what’s it tryna do, an’ dodge! Prob should just get lil attacks in where we can so we can focus on voidin’ it an’ all.”

The others nodded, and took Irarako’s advice. Rather than trying to ‘charge up’ any more attacks, they put all their energy into moving around to avoid the fox’s attacks. Saya and Shin also kept moving around, keeping out of their peers’ way by mostly just going in a circle. They were out of the way of any danger, keeping up this pattern of movement, but that wasn’t so true for the four who were actively engaging the fox. It did, of course, also have melee attacks that it attempted to land with claws and teeth.

These weren’t nearly as powerful as those based in the fire which rippled across its fur, so even when the occasional hit did connect, it didn’t fell its target. Not in one hit, anyway. A second one might do the job, but the fox wasn’t going to last quite that long. Just as it was beginning to look worse for wear, it hopped back into the central collection of grass.

“...Get back!” Homura burst out, taking a leap of his own away from the area. The others reacted just as soon as they heard him, as well, and all the better off for it; Just as soon as they’d moved, the center of the underbrush burst out with a wave of fire in all directions, stopping its range just before the paths leading out of the clearing which the survivors had ducked down.

When the embers subsided, there were a few things of note. The fox was dead, leaving behind just one piece of fireproof fur; The piece they would need in order to upgrade the workshop. The other was that the underbrush had been burnt completely away in the center of the clearing, thus allowing the group to _see_ that fur at all.

They also saw a CRT monitor sitting right there on the ground, a bit blackened but evidently functioning as the static switched over.

\--

“Hey kids! Welcome to today’s very special episode of Arson Extend TV! Where we’ll teach you how to do your very own arsons!” Eva saluted.

“We will not teach you how to do your very own arsons. At this point, you _will_ need to rely on your enemy in order to set fires like these,” Ris clarified, “But that is neither here nor there. Even if you somehow hadn’t discovered this monitor, we’d have shown up soon enough. After all, we’ve found it. The most important thing, to some of you.”

“That’s right, it’s the very first Conquest Video of the Kashiwagi Forest Ruin! What sort of depraved secrets lie in wait this time? How will you fare against the gruesome truth of our second rotten survivor?”

“Behind door number two, you’ll find yourself questioning once again if our challenge to you is worth the effort. The offer still remains on the table, after all. If you forfeit, you’ll be permitted to live here happily. Forsake the disgusting world outside, and carve out a happiness just for yourselves. We’d even show you all of the Conquest Videos right away if you did that… Or burn them so you never need to see them. Whichever you’d prefer, really. However many atrocities you need to view to change your mind…”

“All this and more, starting with the very first installment! **Sloth Part One: Do You Love Your Mother And Her Mysterious Illness?**”


	299. Sloth Part One: Do You Love Your Mother And Her Mysterious Illness?

Irarako was sitting in a pew. She wasn’t at church; It wasn’t a church, even building-wise, where this funeral was being held, but the funeral home had pews for its seating. It was built to accomodate a great number of people, but there were not very many here. Not many people cared about Diana Ebizakaya. It wasn’t that she was a bad person. It wasn’t even that she was unlikeable- There just weren’t many people left, with that kind of a connection to her that they’d go to her funeral.

  


She was friendly with everyone, but friends with no one. Any romantic interests she’d had were long out of her life, and she didn’t have much family. She had, at last count, two family members left. Irarako and Iyami Ebizakaya, the latter being her substantially younger brother. He was twenty-five at the moment, to Irarako’s sixteen. He had also already been living with the two of them, so it wouldn’t be a substantial shift for him to become Irarako’s legal guardian.

The Ebizakayas were an unfortunate bunch from the start. It was to be considered, in some ways, on the good side of things that Diana had even lived to thirty-six at all. There were so many illnesses which ‘ran in the family’, and after generations of immediate and extended family wasting away, there was very little faith to be had in medicine. If Diana had seen a doctor sooner, she might have gotten treatment which extended her life. As it was, her own reluctance paired with Iyami’s enabling of her trepidation that it would only represent a bill in their pocket and no real help…

Neither of the funeral’s attendees even knew what exactly Diana had. Some might think that Iyami’s contribution to this was insidious in some manner, but it really was just fear and an utter lack of belief that any good could be accomplished at a hospital. He’d basically been raised by his older sister, along with her own daughter, who was now in legal terms, his daughter. She was sixteen, and she taught kids at the dojo where she’d learned kendo herself. Plus, she was an Ultimate, though that never did much except qualify her for that whole teaching-children thing.

The bottom line was that she could take care of herself, on an individual level. Iyami’s only responsibility would be to make sure that she could meet her needs; Keep food in the house, keep the appliances and all of that working in the house, et cetera. And, well, hope that he’d live long enough himself for Irarako to make it to adulthood and get on her feet. It was no joke, that the Ebizakyas were an ailing clan. Prone to disease could well be their motto.

“...Sorry bout your mom, kid,” Iyami finally spoke an hour into the funeral service, which had begun with a shinto blessing then remained in silence until he finally broke it now. He had a similar accent to Irarako’s, but his sentences remained in a more usual structure. It wasn’t regional that words spilled from her mouth in all the wrong orders, that was just her. Probably some sort of mental illness as a contributing factor, but again, hell if she had a diagnosis.

“Ain’t like… Ain’t like it were big surprise,” Irarako muttered, staring at her feet. “Knew it were comin’. Cause, ain’t got grandpa or grandma or any other aunt’n’uncle but for you. Ebizakayas die cause doctors weren’t never care for backtown folk like us. Ain’t even worth the trouble…”

“It ain’t,” Iyami said, “But that don’t mean you can’t be sad about it. Just cause somethin’s our lot in life, don’t gotta be happy with that lot.”

“Not about to…” Irarako shook her head. “Oji-san. Yer not about to go away too, right? Feelin’ tip-top, good shape? Cause I… I dunno. I think I’d rather if you outlived me, than deal with this kinda shit all over again?”

“Language,” Iyami chided, then sighed. “Awe, I’m just givin’ you a tough time. Say shit if you want, ain’t like Diana ever cared and it ain’t like I do. But you better not talk like _that_. I know it’s tough losin’ folks, but don’t say you wanna die first to avoid that. You really gonna make _me_ go through this again by dyin’ first?”

“Ah. Didn’ think what that way…”

“I know. You ain’t never wish a thing like that on me,” Iyami said, “Even though I know it hurts, get? Gotta keep goin’... No matter who you lose or what order ya lose ‘em in along the way.”

“When didja get fuckin’ wise, Oji-san?” Irarako looked up at him.

“Lost a whole lot more folks than you have so far. Gets you a perspective on it, eventually… Still.” He shook his head. “Was closer to Diana than any of those others. So it’s real tough too. Doesn’ real… You think it’ll get easier, but it’s different each time. Just when it’s s’posed to be easier, it changes. Diana’s different from the rest.”

“If that’s so… If Mama’s so much better than the rest, why… What’s it that only you an’ me are here?”

“Most of the folks who liked your Mama aren’t gonna haul out here for a funeral, or just can’t. The kids you teach at Kashiwagi Dojo? Any one a’ those kids would be here to support ya if they could, an’ remember what a nice lady your Mama was. But their parents don’t know that, an’ it’s the parents who’d be able to get those kids out here.”

“Mama’s clients, too,” Irarako said, “They loved ‘er. But they can’t risk bein’ seen at her _funeral_. So it’s just… You an’ me here for Mama.”

“Just gonna be you an’ me in general. From here on out, it’s us two against the world… Last of the Ebizakayas. Maybe’s for the better, we’re finally down to jus’ the two. World doesn’ really need _more_ folks what are only gonna die young.”

“Now yer the one what shouldn’ talk that way. We deserve to exist.”

“When’d _you_ get so wise, too?” Iyami asked.

“Mama taught us both real good… Real gonna miss her. Real.”

“Me too, kiddo.”


	300. Chapter 300 Funney Jokes Special

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another one of those chapters written using predictive text, because it's been too long and chapter 300 is as good an excuse as any to toss another one of these into the mix.

That 's the power of tears coming to do it for love. Yosuke admitted to the fact that he was fine with your mother. Like a dream was just a bit of restraint. Obviously wasn't real and- " wha the floor " syoko groaned and put a hand on yosuke 's neck. 

Management management edit chapter chapter 181: daily life: day eight ( the workshop ) chapter text 6:00 am / 0600 hours " hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello 

… that 's what mono said. So you're a child and i have no one who 's sorry about having more than twice about him in a neo world too good at strategies. Relationships sure that you don't understand these types of friends … " ayano trailed off as she looked him in the eyes wide from being razed to the courtroom. 

It also showed a genuine happiness to hold for you guys " yume threw a person at the ceiling. 

Hey " she remembered that he was raised in a culture built on the idea of escaping without condemning everybody else seemingly after the meal assignment is a dipshit and you were both splashed in her place. yuji 's hometown boyfriend got killed too much to idly do you blame. 

It was just standing here … it 's not like it never happened between the two of you. Renji said that i'm cute when you're not alone. "so yer shakin '... You to be open about your dad got excited by killing jun shirogane " 

mister to be a motive … but wow … " syoko climbed out of the floor and wiped her hands on your brain. 

Oh " i'm sorry about the other two people in love with you … yes i don't know what i'd do you think it 's people connected to you who've been getting killed … " homura reached toward his own misfortune and he was going to hell with a faint list about something different … 

deep renji said fuck in front of a brat. What 's happening out there anyway? 

I needed to enlist at the rate technology 's progressed any other methods were just doing their best. That 's what it is him to his lab or anything. What the deal with those boys again … tooru was just a stupid person who was always meant to make it through this game … that 's a quarantine of the star wars. 

Saya 's not my religion " ayano said i'd watch it with me and everything 's gonna be just fine thusfar and he was more annoyed that homura tried to make him go back on being honest way to the dining hall like you didn't also get hurt. Ultimates didn't know how long we've been friends with a rabbit named after the ' accomplice '... 

That shift resumed at six hours rei kaguya had previously been occupying one of the healthiest of the participants. Evie is good at strategies and he would probably be rightfully received murdered before falling over. Hah like that 's going to spare my feelings. 

" what 's dirty … i don't know what happened to you and your bitch mother thinks i can't be good for you right now … " everett mumbled directly into the sun. 

She was worried about telling you that i'm cute. You know how precious daughter … " yuji growled to do it without telling me that you got caught. " i don't even remember that birthday. " 

yes to be a dear and put my boyfriend on the phone. He was going to make it back with my coffee. Katsue got to be proved wrong there 's still part of me that nanjo. You were going to die too much. He was going to stop this whole emotional barrier of the day. That 's what it is. 

No silicone that 's what the hell are we closer because of dead people? So i can't regret it nearly as much as you regret your boyfriend ' isn't the most accurate term: september 8th if i was really torn up by veronica 's words. But i don't want to be a person. There 's a difference between tactile arts and dramas that 's the power of my childhood.   
Sat 's a lot of it that was something else. 

Hey you. I don't think that 's terrible. I don't know what you're capable of or anything that represented a serious dent to the supplies. Instead horrors await us today. Because i believe in the first victim and he was first of all times he got an eyebrow of course. Yosuke admitted going on with hikari else 's volatile nature … you don't have the brainpower to make a tasty meal. 

What that it had to toss you to believe me and all of us want him from that he didn't need them to the recent world at large. But it 's something and i'd be aaaaall like that 's really comparable to be seen there- so there must have been … that 's everything in their brains … but wow … and you're definitely not a big kid. I am not a boy i am not a girl i am a beautiful responsibility. 

You needed to stop feeling like he'd listen back to irarako 's … fine for her child seeking refuge … it 's frankly a good thing that you were right here for this conversation. I mean … well … that 's everything that happened … i'm still having trouble believing that this isn't just one long dry food trash. She had lost jun 's problems and he was going to date this man who was involved in the same hallway. 

Koyuki art... I don't know why my parents don't have any evidence. So that syoko could be easily flustered … i don't really know a thing. Even if it 's not easy for me to be a good lay. But i don't like myself syoko saihara. I don't even know how to use a tylenol … 

there dressed a good girlfriend and all that tough butterfly for somebody who lived this much off the table for a whole time to time to time to time to figure the same thing … 

pm text 8:00 am i ' better than he had been earlier and lacked her other father 's cell number every time you know … " his lip curled him to trail instead of expecting the best. kenta nageko try to tell me that you got caught up in a rough moment till somebody you killed in front of my face. 

What that 's the only disqualification option here … it 's everybody 's fault that 's what we're supposed to think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, I currently have a poll open to determine the main cast of a project I'll be starting at some point after Game Over is finished; Some of your favorite characters are in the mix, if you can figure out how I'd translate those characters to the 'archetypes' listed in the poll that is :3
> 
> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXBB3SSrsFGTpUAOo4fds2iou_IoxkJU3siygbx3_2sDZnrQ/viewform?usp=sf_link


	301. Stage Two, Day 8: Diana Ebizakaya

“Hm. Well, that was a depressing start!” Eva crossed her arms and pouted. “At least with the last video set we got to see some cute chubby-cheeked middle schooler puppy love before everything went to shit!”

“I find this a much more accurate picture of the world at large, though. Beginning with such a bleak outlook, where two people find themselves absolutely hopeless in the face of a world which has only ever let them down… And which they have no power to change. Those happy moments which turn sour, even those can be off limits for certain people in this world.”

“Osiris, that’s depressing! Besides, it’s obviously not all that hopeless for the Ebizakayas! Have you seen how happy the chick is these days? She’s just mourning, not _emotionally abandoned_. Well, I guess we’ll see how this leads to her sin, huh? Her sin of sloth…”

“Sloth is an interesting sin. By nature, it’s a sin of failure, not a sin of action. A sin of inaction. We can see that right from the beginning… That the Ebizakayas slothfully refuse to even attempt to seek medical attention, preferring to lie down and die because they’ve been let down by doctors in the past. But her own sin as an individual… What wrong did she do, by doing nothing? Find out, and in the meantime…”

“Illuminate!”

“A brighter future.”

“For humanity!!”

\--  
“...Your mom died a lot more recently than I got the impression of, Ira,” Yosuke said, “I guess I kind of assumed your uncle had been raising you for longer? You never really… Talked about your mom, but it looked in that Conquest Video like you loved her a whole lot.”

“I… Sure did, yeah,” Irarako said, “Ain’t much reason to say about her, though? Been dead more’n year now. All happy times what we had together’s… The past now. Outta my life, done. Why’d I wanna be sayin’, oh yeah, me and Mama used to make ‘mystery casseroles’ ever Friday night, when we talkin’ bout cook? Sayin’ too much bout someone who’s dead… Someone what I can’t never see no more or do that stuff again? Jus’ depress.”

“I don’t know… I think most people would rather you remember the good times with them, right?” Saya asked, “It’s much more depressing not to do that, I think. I mean, I’m not really grateful to Mercury for raising me or anything, but if she died, I’d still make a point to remember her. I think that’s the respectful thing to do… Right?”

“I remember Mama jus’ fine, jus’ don’t talk about her. I think’s plenny respectful, keepin’ thoughts about her to myself. What mean, I. Well. Saw what Evie’s mom said about her, right? An’ she never even met nor heard a word about her as a person, jus’ assumed. Nobody respec’ my Mama but me, so I ‘member her alone and try not gettin’ too sad about it.”

“If you ever did want to talk about her…” Shin said, “The fact that she obviously raised you well is more than enough to earn _my_ respect. So if you want to share stories about your happy times with your mother, I’d be glad to hear them.”

“Are you just saying that because you hate your own mom and you want to vicariously experience what a good mom’s like through Ebizakaya?” Homura asked, putting his hands behind his head. “Nothing wrong with that, though. I could help you out too. I have two whole good moms! Oh, and I respect nobody in the world but, Ebizakaya, I don’t _disrespect_ your mom just for existing or anything. I hate it when people act like that. Everyone in the world deserves to exist, no matter what.”

“Heh… Well. Like you saw what in the vid. Kids I taught liked Mama jus’ fine too… Dunno if their parents gave care either way. So’s guess y’all just ain’t quite growed enough yet to disrespect her like all the other adults.”

“It’s a bit defeatist to assume that every adult’s just bound to dislike your mother?” Saya pressed a finger to her own cheek. “What’s there even to dislike about her?”

“Ain’t dislike, s’disrespect. Mama… Never had much of money. An’ you heard way we talk, see the area right now what we lived in. None to have respec’ for the poor out way here nowhere’s. Assume we’re all bad people what believe bad things jus’ cause we ain’t up bein’ our poor in a city…” She crossed her arms and sighed. “Plus, Mama did for the money we _could_ get hands… Sorta thing nobody respects at all.”

“So she had sex for money?” Shin asked.

“Tsubasa!” Saya chided, grabbing onto his shoulder. “Even I know you shouldn’t just ask those things!”

“Nah, he’s right,” Irarako said, “Mama always joke, really. Only time she didn’ get paid was when she ended up with me. She real liked my dad, I guess… But I never met ‘im.”

“Sorry to hear it,” Yume said, “About the dad thing, not the sex work. As long as she didn’t hate doing it… And I mean, she could joke about it, yeah? Like. If Shouto hadn’t fucked me up the way he did, it’s not like I _couldn’t_ see myself taking that up. I’ve heard the pay works out pretty high above minimum when you factor in the time against the dollar?”

“Wait.” Irarako blinked. “You… Are ya… _Admirin’_ Mama for this?”

“Well I sure as shit ain’t judging her for it. Using the power of your womanly body to provide for yourself and your kid? Literally, long as she didn’t feel like she had no choice about it, mad respect. Sex sells is a slogan for a reason, the best bet is if you’re selling it for money in your _own_ pocket.”

Irarako pulled her hands in close to herself and a smile returned to her face. “Gee, guys… I dunno if y’all mean any this stuff or if you’re jus’ tryna be good friends for me? But it don’t matter. Cause either way, it’s what real nice you to say. Whether it’s true or jus’ means you care ‘bout me enough to lie, I’m real glad… It’s you guys what have to see my ‘sin’, not nobody else.”


	302. Stage Two, Day 8: Aromatic Flower

“I know _I’m_ not just humoring you,” Yume said, “But I get the sentiment there, honestly. If a person cares enough to say something to you, whether they mean it or not, they still do care.”

“Good point,” Shin said, “Moving on, I had an unrelated idea while we were talking about all of this. We had those bottles full of sand, right? Do you think I could have them, whichever we’re still carrying around?”

“I’m still using one as a weapon.” Yosuke held up the item in question. “But we’ve got two others, you can hold onto those. What’re you thinking?”

“I’d rather wait and see if it works, honestly. If I’m wrong, then it’ll sound pretty stupid. I’d rather test my hypothesis before sharing it… If you don’t mind.”

“I do stuff like that all the time, but I usually don’t have to rely on other people’s help to test my stupid hypotheses,” Homura said, “Well, anyway. I don’t mind at all, test away. We should keep on going though, right? Sure, two people are dead, but we _just_ got here.”

“Mm.” Irarako nodded. “Jus’ one conk-vid… These’re takin’ a lil longer than I wanna them to, yanno? So we gotta least go a lil further, even if we can’t what see another one yet. Sorry for it, Katsue. Syoko.”

“They’ll understand,” Yosuke said, then took up the lead on continuing through the ruin. The arrangement of fighters hadn’t needed to change at all, given that the two who died were in the background anyhow. It was a bit inconvenient that they couldn’t guarantee the safety of their peers who weren’t actively involved in a fight, but then again. It wasn’t like they exclusively stuck to their frontliners when it came time to attack either, if the situation permitted. Like when they were fighting the creature of wrath.

So then, maybe it was fair after all, that the underequipped backup could still fall victim to enemy attacks if they weren’t careful. There were only two of those left now, though. Saya, who lacked any weapon proficiency, and Shin, whose weapon proficiency wasn’t nearly renewable enough to use outside of a boss room. The next bump in the road that the group encountered was just a bit down the path, where the next corner to turn came up against another maple tree.

They all stopped a few extra steps away from it to take a moment to look and be on guard. The corner itself was a bit wider than usual, and on that extra bit of path there was a flower. “The intention here… Hm,” Shin spoke up, “I’m not sure. Maybe something awful will happen if we step on or pick that flower. On the other hand, this might be giving us the option to avoid fighting a squirrel if we choose not to.”

“Why would it give us the option to avoid fighting something?” Yosuke asked, “Those two want us to face as many obstacles as possible… Don’t they…?”

“Generally, if we’re being permitted to avoid an encounter, there’s an equal detriment to it. We might not need to deal with an enemy, but we’ll also miss out on some benefit we’d gain by fighting it,” Shin said, “Or so… I’ve heard. About RPGs. Really, I don’t know why you turn to me to explain all the game-like aspects when I’ve only ever experienced them secondhand myself.”

“Well, I ain’t mind fightin’ nothin’,” Irarako said, “So may’s well give it a shot an’ see if we’re missin’ anything. We’ll be ready this time! Wanna revenge.”

“Me too. I mean, we did kill the last one too, but, yeah. Let’s get this one. The two of us should do it just in case, though. Since we’ve got resisting Shigabane.” Homura raised his axe. Irarako readied her sword in much the same way, and the two of them stepped in closer to the maple tree. As expected, a squirrel _did_ drop down towards them- and Irarako skewered it before it even landed, defeating it in one hit. Those things were kind of the definition of glass cannons, able to very easily inflict a painful death but lacking in any defense of their own.

“Aw, hey, look.” Homura pointed a finger at the tree. “Here in this divot, there’s like… A croquet mallet? That’s weird. That sport seems kinda fancy for out here in the woods.”

“Yeah, ‘s pretty strange!” Irarako agreed, “But, guess not all items what need to make sense, right?”

“Right.” Yosuke nodded, then stepped forward and reached into the trunk to pull the mallet out. It was an improved weapon over the one that he had on hand, actually, though not quite as good as Yume’s bat. “I’m gonna trade up. Tsubasa, you want this last sand bottle I was using?”

“Certainly, thank you.” Shin stepped forward to take the bottle, while Saya crouched down by the flower at the bend of the path.

“Is it alright if I pick this?” Saya asked, “I know it might trigger something to happen, but I also think that it might be an aromatic flower. Which we need to repair the greenhouse, remember?”

“Go ahead,” Homura said, readying his weapon again just in case. Saya grasped the flower in her hand, gentle but firm as she pulled it out, roots and all. The patch of dirt that the flower had been sitting in crumbled and vanished, but nothing else happened. “Huh, alright. So if we picked the flower first, we would have _lost_ the option to step there and avoid the squirrel. That makes sense.”

“A strange little corner of the ruin,” Shin said, “But we’ve got what we needed from it, so we’d best keep moving. We’ve had it confirmed that the maple trees are associated with that particular enemy, and acquired some items here.”

“I’d call that a productive use of our time!” Saya chuckled, tucking the flower into her bag. “But of course we _should_ continue. Useful as this may be to our survival, the objective is to move towards the boss, not to dilly-dally investigating every little oddity we come across.”

“That’s exactly the way some people play games, you know,” Homura said, “But I don’t think we’ve got any of those types of people here! At least, not right now. Both of those girls might be the type to laser-focus in on finding every single item and secret in an RPG, when they do play ‘em…”

“Well, I suppose if the game is the sort which encourages you to do that, then it’s admirable… But we have only been encouraged to continue with the ‘story’ so to speak,” Saya said, “So that’s what I’d prefer we did, and you all seem to agree, so what are we waiting for?”

The group moved on, stepping around the hole in the ground to continue on the path. There couldn’t be much left of the maze before they encountered a change in scenery.


	303. Stage Two, Day 8: Reckless Abandoning Of An Inventory

Just as expected, the maze let up very soon- There was one more cow to dispatch from the underbrush along the way there, but around one last curve, there was another wide clearing. Unlike the last one, this one didn’t have a patch of underbrush in its center, and it didn’t narrow back into a single-file path through the long grass again on the other side. The path was wider in general, still with a lining of forest and brush on either side and a few scattered within, but with the first of several houses visible not far off.

Of course, much like the previous clearing, this one also featured a fox prominently standing at its center, blazing hackles raised to attack the survivors the instant they stepped into its arena. Being on guard, they were able to avoid its initial wave attack just as they had last time, and got to similar avoidance tactics without hesitation. A moment of stand-still was, after all, all this fox needed to lob a well-aimed fireball towards any of them.

Despite the tactics having been worked out, that didn’t mean this encounter was pedestrian. It was still a formidable enemy against an underequipped group, even with Yosuke’s recent upgrade to his weapon. There were several near-misses, and unlike the last one, their own attacks were more along the lines of near-misses as well, failing to land them as well. It made sense that it would be harder for them to attack the fox when it had a larger area in which to maneuver. And of course, there was one other thing to consider-

Which was that Shin Tsubasa had, midway through the ‘fight’ that was more like a game of mutual dodging, stepped away from Saya and toward the center of the clearing. He grabbed the bottles of sand from his inventory and set them on the ground, and turned to get back to his consistent avoiding movements, but couldn’t quite do so in time. The fox’s wave of fire washed over him from behind, and he dissipated… But he had accomplished what he set out to do, all the same.

Where the bottles full of sand had previously been, there were now three smooth panes of glass. By mixing the existing glass with the sand inside, and the frankly absurd amount of heat that these foxes could generate, Shin had solved the puzzle of obtaining glass for greenhouse repair purposes, even if he had gotten killed in the process. Those who witnessed it understood that was the intention, and their movements gained another purpose. “We gotta pick up the glass… An’ Tsuba’s Eck-Key, then hoof it outta here! We’ll gonna regroup an’ fight the fox with well more own meds!”

In response to Irarako’s shout, Yosuke dove in to pick up the glass panes, narrowly dodging an attack- And then the fox stood there blankly, because Homura had taken the same moment to grab Shin’s X-Key and begin to leave. Picking up items was not allowed _during_ the act of fleeing, but immediately prior seemed to work. Since they’d made the decision to, and actively were leaving, they got to see for themselves exactly how their choice to return to base was permitted unhindered, with the fox enemy standing still and staring. It was still in a fight stance, ready to punish them if they changed their mind and stuck around, but wasn’t going to attack them on the retreat.

It was only a few minutes to get back to Jabberwock Island, and Homura took charge of extending everybody again.

Syoko Saihara _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Ebony Fox:** Reduced damage from Ebony Foxes  
**Death by Burning Tail:** Reduced damage from Fire

**Died To Personal Weakness:** Reduced damage from All Burning Damage. (Killed by Fire.)

Katsue Nageko _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Ebony Fox:** Reduced damage from Ebony Foxes  
**Death by Burning Tail:** Reduced damage from Fire

Shin Tsubasa _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Ebony Fox:** Reduced damage from Ebony Foxes  
**Death by Burning Tail:** Reduced damage from Fire  
**Died While Feeling Reminiscent:** Increased damage when using an elemental attack. (Died with no possessions in inventory.)

Once everybody was back, Homura pointed at the screen and leaned over toward Shin. “This thing’s got a really sick sense of humor, huh?”

“Reminiscent… Over having nothing to my name. Alright then.” Shin sighed and shook his head. “I guess that checks out, but it’s still in bad taste to phrase it that way? Anyway. You got those glass panels, yes?”

“Sure did,” Yosuke confirmed, “And Saya has the aromatic flower, so we can get the greenhouse going. And that first fox _did_ drop fur, so… I guess it’s time we make some upgrades.”

After inserting the ingredients, the Extend Machine updated with the next milestones for both of the facilities that they’d just put in for.

**Greenhouse Level Two:** _Generates a few more fruits and vegetables each day._  
\- 1/1 Partition  
\- 0/1 Fireproof Fur  
\- 0/1 Nitrous Soil

**Workshop Level Three:**_Allows for more crafting options._  
\- 1/1 Partition  
\- 0/2 Ravvit Fang  
\- 0/4 Budgie Feather

Katsue read those reports, and furrowed her brow. “Oh, jeeze…”

“What?” Shin asked.

“Well, it’s just.” She pressed her fingers together. “It looks like my ruin might be on the sooner side, is all. I can’t imagine that a budgie enemy would go with anyone but me, given, well. My name before this one. I hoped I’d have a bit longer before my number was up, hah.”

“You never know,” Syoko said, “The cows have appeared in both of the ruins so far, so even if a budgie has some symbolic relation to you, being able to retrieve its item doesn’t necessarily mean that it makes its first appearance in your ruin, or that it’s soon.”

“It’s alright.” Katsue shook her head. “Disappointing as it is to think that I might be soon, having anybody else reassure me that it may not be, feels silly. After all, _somebody_ has to be next. We can’t just all go around telling each other that it might not be them.”

“That’s true,” Saya said, “Though, sorry to say, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be last. Or close to last! Given, you know. I am the effective child of one of the game’s moderators. My ruin is going to be some real shit, everybody. It truly is. Some _real_ shit.”

“Aw, babe, I’m rubbing off on you,” Yume teased.

“Ain’t nothin’ to real shit ruins till we get out mine though,” Irarako said, “So we real oughta get some rest for to that tomorrow good.” She flexed an arm. “To beat up my traums!”

“We’ll beat up all of our traums!” Yume concurred with a similar flex of her own. “Violence _is_ the answer to our mental health!”


	304. Stage Two, Day 9: Back To The Fox

It was the start of a new day, and armed with the upgrades they’d been able to make to some of their weapons and armor through the improved workshop, the survivors set off with confidence to forge their way further into the ruin. They expected that it wouldn’t be too difficult at first; Nothing would have respawned just yet, not until tomorrow. Those upgrades included adding the nails to Yume’s bat, which upped its power even more. She was on the way to being a powerhouse at this rate, really.

The armor upgrades were nothing of particular note, just a few improvements to up their defenses by a couple points each. What _was_ of particular note was one of the ‘recipes’ that the workshop now had pinned to the wall. The combination of the bat with nails had been listed there, though the group already knew what to do with that. There was also a listing for a "shortbow", as created using several pieces of long grass as well as an oak branch. That seemed accessible enough; And the arrows to be used with it required only stone and either a wooden dowel or another branch to make ten of them.

Shin didn't say anything, but it was pretty evident that he found that compelling from the look on his face. It was exactly the sort of thing he'd repeatedly expressed a desire for, a more renewable ranged attack than the disposable pellets. There was an unspoken agreement among the group that it would be the next item they sought the ingredients for, their next ‘mini-goal’ within the overarching one of completing the ruins.

Speaking of those ruins, they had returned to the corner which gave them the aromatic flower and Yosuke’s mallet. Not quite to where they’d left off just yet, since they were well aware that continuing into the clearing would drop them directly into another encounter with an Ebony Fox. After a brief conversation, they did mix up their front lines just a little bit- Irarako and Homura remained, but Syoko and Katsue also stepped in. The workshop upgrade did enable some slightly more varied ‘throwaway weapons’ than the sand-filled bottles, so the girls did each have, while weak compared to the frontliner’s main weaponry, something fitted to their specialty. Slash for Syoko, and Pierce for Katsue.

The blunt weapons were powerful, but just too slow by nature to actually land a decent hit on an enemy as dextrous as the fox. With their solution, however, it didn’t prove a meaningful challenge. Being careful, and getting in attacks where they safely could, took a little while but proved the downfall of the Ebony Fox without any injuries sustained by the group of survivors. It was unclear if it had retained the damage it took from the occasional hit yesterday, before they’d retreated, or if being prepared really did make that much of a difference.

Either way, the enemy which had turned them back the last time was now dead, the brush of the clearing burnt away just as before. Unlike before, the burning didn’t reveal anything, but it also didn’t need to. After all, the actual bulk of Kashiwagi Village was just down the path, and under the archway which marked its entrance was a CRT monitor sitting on the ground. After collecting the additional bits of fireproof fur that this Ebony Fox had dropped for them, the group went right ahead to see what the next installment of Extend TV had to show them.

~~

“Hey kids!” Eva waved. “Welcome back to Extend TV! Wow, are you just gonna get another episode every time you kill one of those foxes, or what?”

“That would be unlikely and unfortunate,” Osiris said, “Given that the second fox they’ve just defeated was the last one they’ll be seeing here. If the Ebony Foxes could enter the village, then certain puzzles would be bound to become unsolvable.”

“Because all the houses would be arsonned?”

“Yes, the houses would most certainly be arsonned. They were not arsonned in reality, so that would lessen the impact of the experience substantially.” Osiris shook his head. “A walk down memory lane is made unpleasant by familiarity in disrepair, yes, but if that disrepair is something which could not have truly happened, and which _erases_ a level of familiarity, then it’s diminishing returns.”

“So the long and short of it, is that Irarararara gets to suffer more because we wouldn’t let the cute little fox burn down all the bad memories!”

“Yes. In any case, you could have easily snuck by that fox and found this monitor nonetheless. Killing it was not required to progress by any means, impressive as it is that you _did_ kill it. The point is that your advance through the ruin hinges on location, not on your capability to do anything in particular along the way to that location. For all we care, you could kill nothing but the bosses.”

“Zero Sum Game Pacifist Run! But that’s kinda impossible anyway. Because you gotta kill things to get a lot of the upgrade components. Somebody more skilled than you lot might be able to pull off that kinda challenge, but I really doubt it when it comes to _you_. Like, I’ve seen you so far. You’re doing better than I expected way at the beginning, but I sure wouldnt call you good!”

“Don’t mind her. You’re doing just fine, unfortunately. I do wish that you weren't, of course, but that is the way the cookie crumbles."

"I could do with some crumble right now…"

"Eva, please. We both know that you do _uppers_, don't mislead people. Hear that, kids? The final puzzle you'll need to solve will be pop trivia on which things about Evangeline are actually true, and I just gave you that one for free."

"That'd be a stoooopid puzzle. Saya would know all the answers! Isn't that right, babygirl?" Eva struck a pose with a peace sign over her eye. "Butcha know what you don't have all the answers for? These conquest videos! What's next in this thrilling tale?"

"That would be **Sloth Part Two: All I Do Is Win, Win, Win, Except for Once.**"


	305. Sloth Part Two: All I Do Is Win, Win, Win, Except For Once

Kashiwagi Dojo was being used for another tournament, as it so often was. This particular tournament wasn’t just a local one though, featuring the children who learned at that dojo most of the time. This one was regional- Every participant lived somewhere in Towa, but most of them were coming in from the city proper. This dojo was the largest, and most suited to events of this scale. Towa’s travel restrictions had been in many ways lifted, but the dojo was still at this point forbidden from hosting tournaments coming from outside of Towa’s limits.

Irarako had, when she was younger, liked this. It meant that if she made friends at tournaments, she’d be able to keep in touch with them. Towa was a large city, effectively a small prefecture, but with public transportation it was still possible to make it most of the way around, though several of the metro stops which used to exist in the Kashiwagi Forest area were, gradually, shut down due to ‘underuse’. It was about as gradual when those stops were shut down, that Irarako stopped being able to make friends so easily.

The times of her youth when Irarako Ebizakaya had the ability to hop on a train and go to visit a friend who she’d met at a kendo tournament were distant enough that she couldn’t even recall that trains had ever reached the forest where she lived. As those trains began to fail, so too did her social life. Kids often didn’t talk amongst themselves, or to adults, in ways that readily made sense. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for children’s stream-of-consciousness to bleed out into their speech in ways that left them with all too many or all too few words to be understood by the adults around them.

It was only when Irarako’s peers began to formulate their own speech in a way that ‘made sense’, that her manner of speaking started to stand out to them as something abnormal. That, and an understanding built on the manner of Kashiwagi Forest’s residents as the kids got older and had their minds poisoned by those around them. A child who’s been told that the people who live out here are trashy, coming across somebody their own age who didn’t seem to have acquired any of the decorum that they’d so begrudginly picked up themselves over the past few years… Was going to make assumptions.

It was these assumptions, on the other hand, which let Irarako continue participating in tournaments at all. She’d received the title of Ultimate Kendoka from the authorities in Towa City, who considered themselves capable of bestowing such an honor. Had she grown up in the city, or in most other parts of Japan, she would have been barred from competition with her peers on measure of her title alone. As it was, the isolationism of Towa, coupled with her ‘backwoods’ personality, let her fly under the radar. Even when there were rumors that an Ultimate was participating, Irarako was underestimated for her accent, manner of speaking, and locality. People assumed she couldn’t be anyone of consequence, until it was too late to kick her out. Until she’d already won every single match she’d been placed in.

That wasn’t exactly the case today. It was a Towa Regional competition, so of course the organizers knew that she was an Ultimate. That was part of the draw for this tournament, for which they sold tickets to people who wanted to watch. Though her name wasn’t published along with the claim, it was advertised as a tournament featuring the Ultimate Kendoka in the advanced-skill high school bracket. This drew in both spectators and participants, even some who had never involved themselves in regional tournaments in the past.

Of course, by the championship match, it had become well and truly clear just who the Ultimate Kendoka was. Her opponent was also skilled, to make it up this far, but Irarako had barely broken a sweat to dispatch each opponent who stood in front of her before. She was pleased with herself for showing up all of those city-slickers, and for catching the spectators off-guard with the skill of a ‘hick who couldn’t even talk right’. Beyond the excitement of vindicating herself, was also the prize. The organizers did say that if she won, she’d still get prize money, though in the name of fairness a similar prize would also go to the second-place competitor. That fact wasn’t shared ahead of time, though. It couldn’t be revealed that there were no real stakes in the _final_ match.

For Irarako, there were stakes. If somebody _did_ manage to defeat her, then that person would get both prizes. The organizers backed this up with claims of fairness and of acknowledging skill, but it made Irarako’s heart ache. Iyami’s job paid fine, but only when he took more hours on than was necessarily good for him. She didn’t want to lose him early, too, to the stress of employment which barely kept them afloat. If she could just keep winning tournaments… She could supplement their income enough that he could keep it to forty-hour weeks. It wasn’t like any of these kids _needed_ the money either.

She could see it from the parents who sneered at her when she defeated her opponents, those people came from money, or came from comfort at least. They’d never needed to suffer poverty the way she had her entire life, so why was it that she had to fight tooth and nail for the right to receive any money at all for the one thing that she was good at?

The opponent standing across from her was a late-third year in high school, to Irarako’s own late-first, eighteen to her sixteen. She was tall, with short blonde hair cropped around her shoulders. Irarako had heard the whispers, that this girl never came to Towa’s regional tournaments. Usually, she traveled around, entering into any large-scale tournaments that would let her in. Rifa Kiriyaga was somebody who sought a challenge, and that challenge was usually not to be found in Towa… Right up until they advertised the presence of the Ultimate Kendoka.

The two of them didn’t share any words, but did share a knowing smile. Both of them wanted this to be a good fight, after all. They were two people who loved an art, and wanted to fulfill the other’s wishes in it. Irarako might have wanted the money, as a general motivator to win, but that faded the minute she saw the look in Rifa’s eyes. This was a girl who wanted to succeed, who wanted to be challenged and come out on top for her own sake, not for some watching adult who would blame Irarako for their own child’s shortcomings. A nod between them, subtly, then a proper bow as the match was officially begun.

It would have been quick. It wouldn’t have taken long, at all. Irarako got her first point on Rifa in two swings, expertly recovering from Rifa’s block of the first one to weave and catch her out. It was unusual that Irarako would fail at that; A first point in just a few seconds, before her opponent could even get much of a grasp on her style. The second point didn’t come nearly as easily, though. In fact, Irarako’s second point never landed.

She jabbed forward, and Rifa dodged, but rather than get her footing to swing back around… She dropped to her knees. It was a remarkably loud sound as she hit the floor, her head spinning. She couldn’t… Huh?

She couldn’t feel her legs at all, and she certainly couldn’t move them. She stared at her hands against the floor, and Rifa’s sword came down on her. Point to Rifa. But, even she could tell in an instant…

“Hey are you… Okay?” She asked, taking a step back as she looked down at Irarako. “Ebizakaya?”

“Can’t… I.. I-I-I…” For once, she had trouble getting her words out. Usually the problem was that they just spilled forth faster than she could organize them in a way that communicated her thoughts in a way that others could readily parse, but now… “Can’t move… my… my, my legs…”

“What happened?” Rifa questioned, crouching down to set her sword on the floor and look Irarako in the eyes. “I didn’t see… I didn’t hit you, and your form was completely perfect until you just dropped. It isn’t like you did anything to injure yourself?”

“I dun… I dunno…?” Irarako pushed her hands to shift her position, getting herself into a sitting position. She supported herself just with her core and arms, the legs she couldn’t move serving just like a cushion for her torso. “Was. Fine? Then sudden, just. Was still standin’. While standin’, then my legs ain’t. Just go. Just went?”

The announcer for the matches stepped forward and declared that Irarako was disqualified for medical reasons, so Rifa was the victor by default. The word ‘default’ sent an immediate flinch against Rifa’s face, and she opened her mouth while glaring at the organizer as if to protest, then decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and put her attention back on her opponent. “I wanted to be the first person to beat you in a match, but this sure as hell doesn’t count.”

“Why dontcha…” Irarako glanced around to see that the audience was all already filing out and leaving, unwilling to be present for the uncomfortable matter of a sudden collapse by an athlete that they generally disliked in the first place. “Why dontcha be my pal, Kiriyaga? Whatfor, I mean. Still can be the first person what beats me! When I’m feelin’ better.”

“When you’re feeling better… You don’t even know what this _is_. How can you say that?”

“So you don’t wanna be my friend?”

“I never said _that_. Good grief, can’t you tell I’m worried about you?”

“Ain’t that jus’ cause you love kendo what and think it’d be a real shame for the art were I to gotta quit?”

Rifa tilted her head. “You can really tell that much about me just from meeting me? Sure, I do think that. But you’re also my peer and I don’t want you to be hurt, you know. Human compassion?”

“Can’t tell that much ‘bout you from meetin’ you. From fightin’ you. Can tell… Right way, you love it much as I do. An’ I think that’s real cool. Anyways, I’ll be fine!” Irarako waved a dismissive hand. “Was caught off guard by it happen middle of standin’ but this… Happen from time to time. If I’m gon’ come down with a cold or a flu, I get some numbstuff.”

“Are you sure that’s it?” Rifa asked, “I could get you to the hospital, you don’t have to pretend you’re fine for my sake. I’d rather make sure you can fight another day, seriously!”

“Ain’t never been to a hospital once in my natural-born life.” Irarako shook her head and sighed. “Docs doesn’t… Do good by my family, history speakin’. If I ain’t really fine, s’not like anythin’s boutta come of me goin’ there, sides spendin’ money we haven’t have.”

“It’s not _that_ expensive to get checked out at a hospital. It’s not like we’re in America,” Rifa said.

“Money down the drain’s still money down the drain, whether it’s a mil-yen or a hundred. Can’t afford that kinds a thing, when I know it’s be meanin’less. Not gonna help me. Wanta burn yen I’d just burn it, skip the humiliation what of doc treats bad.”

“If I really can’t convince you, then, alright, but… At least let me make sure you get home okay.”


	306. Stage Two, Day 9: Experienced Liar

“So there you have it!” Evangeline threw her arms wide. “The great Irarako Ebizakaya has lost exactly one kendo match in her entire life! It was against Rifa Kiriyaga, who would become her friend, and was the result of a mysterious collapse, not any lapse in her actual skill! Wow. How many people can you say are that perfect?”

“Most Ultimates don’t have failures in their talents on their records,” Osiris said, “None inherent, really. So I suppose we know at least twenty people who are that perfect.”

“You know what I mean! Heck, look at her sin. Sloth? What kind of a sin is sloth anyway? You fuck up by failing to do something. Any _other_ sin’s got some sort of active wrongdoing going on, but not this one. So really, why’s this goody-two-shoes who only ever failed because of forces beyond her control even here? She’s _so_ much better than all the others. It wouldn’t surprise me if she resented them for being legitimately bad. Or if they resent her, for not sinking to the same depths as them…”

“Maybe that’s exactly _why_ she’s here. This supportiveness between our plucky survivors about how they’re different people now and their sins don’t define them and couldn’t possibly be that bad anyway,” Osiris said, “Is actually a bit annoying. You can’t sincerely say you’re primed to forgive anything that you’re shown. People fail to forgive far lesser slights every single day.”

“People also forgive way bigger stuff every single day!!” Eva raised a hand up. “I know this from what we in the business of being terrible like to call, firsthand experience!! I get forgiven for all the worst stuff. Worse than any of our precious little sinners here… Well, except for one, maybe, who might be ~on par~ with my disgusting self.”

“I find that hard to believe, to be frank.”

“No need to believe it! That goes for everyone. Know what else goes for everyone? Illuminate a brighter future for humanity!”

“...Bye, I guess.” Ris shrugged, and the television powered off.

\--

“Hm…” Syoko crossed her arms and looked over at Irarako. “I mean, I understand not wanting to do something which seems useless to you, but I think, er. Even if that was actually all that happens, losing control of your limbs when you come down with a common cold is still something to talk to a medical professional about?”

“I know that now,” Irarako admitted, “Well, mean. Shit, cause. For so long Ebizakayas what got ignored when meds, that we stop tryin’ even tho shit might gotten better. Least been better to know, right? Cause, Mama might not’ve died, it’s true. An’ Oji-san… Never got over himself, an’ that’s why he ended up dead also.”

“You weren’t all that torn up to hear it,” Yume said, “When Mono told you, I mean. Doesn’t seem to line up much with the way you get along in the videos?”

“Thas’, well… Kinda not sure how to feel,” Irarako said, “That feelin’ good we’re fam an’ I don’t want you to die before me stuff, I guess I didn’ realize along the way it faded, someways? More like, uh. Oji-san stopped real treatin’ me so much like we was family. Wasn’ his lil sis no more, wasn’ his daughter neither. An’ I kinda selfishly wished bad things happen to him? But when it’s… Dude died of meningitis, outside, while I was right here watchin’ people I care for die bad ways in a Killing Game, it barely felt like anythin’ to hear.”

“That checks out,” Yume said, “I mean… Yeah. Putting it that way makes fucking sense, I’ll be honest.”

“Ain’t like don’t care just never cared as much and it ain’t… Processable. Can’t cry over uncle what dies somewhere else when close friend dies in front you.” She sighed and shook her head quickly as if to clear the thought away. “Real though. Told you I got over docs fear. An’ talk bout this, really was just that. Got a real bad flu jus’ a few days after that conk-vid happen! I’m fine. Promise.”

“If you’re sure,” Syoko said, “But I’m not sure I believe you, Ira.”

“...Huh?”

“I don’t completely believe you, when you say that. It sounds like you’re lying to me,” Syoko said, “Not in full. You’re telling some truth, but some part of what you just said, one way or another, is a lie. I’m an experienced liar, so I can tell these things.”

“You can tell if somebody’s lying?” Irarako furrowed her brow.

“You’re an experienced liar?” Shin questioned more seriously, “I know it’s kind of your thing to be the best at everything, but I’m not sure that’s something you should readily take pride in.”

“She is a _real_ good liar though,” Homura said, “Why wouldn’t you wanna claim your skills? Even if they’re weird skills to have. I am composed entirely of weird skills, myself.”

“My lies are on a strange scale I really _shouldn’t_ get into right now,” Syoko said, “It’s Ira’s time. Ira, who is lying to us about her health, which is a really unfortunate thing to lie about because it means that we can’t help her at all about it!”

“I ain’t… That’s.” Irarako put a hand on her neck. “Syoko, if I’m lyin’, then just let me, right?”

“Hm?”

“Like you said it ain’t your time to come clean yet, I don’t… If I _am_ lyin’, then the conk-vids will tell the truth so I don’t have to! An’ if I’m tellin’ the truth, then you’re jus’ bein’ kinda mean.”

“Me? Mean?” Syoko frowned.

“For all of your skills,” Katsue said, “You completely lack the ability to think through how your words might impact other people, so, yes. You’re coming across as a bit cruel right now, even if it’s actually just a way to show off your ability to read people.”

“Oh.” Syoko blinked, then looked to Irarako again. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried, you know…? I don’t want you to be hiding things from us because you think we won’t understand, or you don’t want us to worry more. I’m going to be more concerned not knowing, than being aware and not knowing what to do about it. But if that’s what you need, then I can be more concerned until the truth shows up.”

“It is what I need,” Irarako said, “Thanks.”

“We’ll sit in our worry, then,” Yosuke said. He’d kept quiet because he agreed with Syoko; He’d rather know for real, what his friend was dealing with. But he also couldn’t tell what was a lie and what was the truth, in what Irarako said, so _he_ sure wasn’t going to press the issue. “Until we can find it out from the videos, and support you whatever way you need.”

“Y’all are good frien’s. Wish I had you when I was younger, hah. Not that Rifa ain’t good friend, real… But you saw it. Ain’t had many friends before. Nice to have you now and know you’ll be here for me when I need it.”


	307. Stage Two, Day 9: Keep Kids Alive

Having finished their discussion on the matter of the conquest video, and Irarako’s obviously untruthfulness but unwillingness all the same to own up to any of the actual truth, the survivors continued on their way into the waiting village beyond the archway. There were still sounds of enemies shuffling about, but none of them sounded out in the open air. Implying that like before, they were inside buildings, though these ones were much more scattered than the last ruin.

This was, after all, a small residential village as opposed to a shopping district. There were homes all around, and the dojo was visible straight ahead, but was blocked off with a fence. “We should probably explore these homes before we try to continue to the dojo,” Shin said, “Given the challenge those Ebony Foxes present, I think it’s important that we seek out everything that could possibly give us an advantage.”

“I’d agree with that,” Katsue said, “As much as it’s compelling to just move closer to the boss as soon as possible, well… I don’t trust that we could beat it when we get there, the way we are right now.”

“I ain’t expectin’ that neither,” Irarako agreed, “Less we prepare an’ know just what we’re up against, get? If we went forward right way, who knows. Might gonna miss a conk-vid! An' no matter whether wanna see or not, well. Gotta admit. Moment's talkin' the Shout mob ain't so preparation from vid but retrospective, vids doin' sense make for his attacks. Seein' my vids an' knowing it might connect that way, could also be own form preparation for the boss."

Nobody mentioned it, but also unlike last time was the matter of the boss. Yume was convinced it would be herself, but it was Shouto. Not to say that there had been no suspicions among the survivors that it _would_ be Shouto then, but it was an unspoken agreement among them who it would have to be this time even after just two conquest videos. In any case, they’d also spokenly agreed to keep moving, so they did exactly that.

The first house that they came across had shuffling back behind the door, so it was likely that there would be an enemy in it. The group could _technically_ just go around and open any empty homes first, but then again, those could have traps. So better to deal with any enemies they might find while they still had more party members with which to deal. As they prepared to open the door, though, there was another sound besides the shuffling movements.

“Watch, sensei!” A child’s voice, with the same distortion that the male creatures of Yume’s ruin had. Words dripping out of a creature like mimickry, as if they were just parrots inundating each sound they heard with decay as they recited it back. Even still, that gave Irarako pause, and she withdrew her hand from the knob she’d been about to turn.

“That’s… Right.” She bit her lip. “Creatures what say an’ do’s based… On people you real did know. But to be the kids-”

“They’re not the kids you knew, they’re just imitating them,” Yume said, “And you can’t afford to let the dumb bastards get to you. A moment of weakness because they’re just _so_ similar to the kids back then… And you’ll be dead. Come on.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Yume shouldered past Irarako and opened the door, taking her momentum against its surface to swing her bat near-immediately, connecting with one of the creatures in the room. It didn’t die in one hit, and there was one other there as well, giving everyone a good look at them. They were child-sized as well, three feet tall at most, but they didn’t actually look much like kids.

There was a coiling clione extending from their backs, a tail which reared back like a scorpion preparing to strike. They were bipedal, but rather than having a very human appearance, they looked a good bit more like… Aliens. Traditional Roswell aliens, for that matter, with small bodies and large heads with sunken eyes. Still, one of them looked up and made eye contact with Irarako before letting words fall from its mouth. “Why don’t you play with us anymore?”

And she was… Frozen in place. No, it wasn’t like with the Creature of Wrath, and it wasn’t like in her conquest video either. She could move- If she could will herself to move, she’d be perfectly capable of it, what she lacked was that, an ability to will herself into that movement when she’d been directly addressed by one of these creatures. They didn’t look anything like the children she knew, but they sounded like them, even through the distortion. And stupid as it was to say, she was fond of aliens too. It wasn’t like them looking like something _else_ she liked, besides humans, made her any more willing to attack them.

The others could tell she wasn’t about to join the fight, and pushed past her. She didn’t even process that the creatures were defeated, not really. She just stood there, shock-still, as her friends attacked and fought and attacked and killed creatures, they were just creatures and yet, still. They spoke to her the way that only the children she mentored ever could and though she knew, _knew_ in all rational thought that these were enemies who only wanted to attack and kill her and her friends themselves, her heart cried out against it anyway. _No._

_I’m just standing here and letting them die???_

She pushed her hands into her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t watch this. She couldn’t, and then it was over, and Yosuke’s hands were on her shoulders. “Ira, are you okay?”

“S’too much. Too much like… Their voice, the words still. Makes me wanna protect ‘em even though they’re enemy. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I can’t- I ain’t able-” She trembled as she tried to explain, then looked over inside the house. There was a black umbrella on the ground which Katsue had just picked up, only to note that it was a pierce-type weapon with a slightly higher attack stat than Irarako’s current sword. She pointed that way. “Katsue?”

“Mm? Oh, did you want this?” Katsue asked, twirling the parasol in her hands.

“Nah. Nah, you use. An’... Take my place up in frontlinin’?” She took a deep breath, then a step back. “Ifn’ these things are gonna be around, I. Ain’t about to be real useful. I can’t hurt ‘em. I can’t hurt those kids even in this kinda form when I know it ain’t even them. They’re too important to me. Way too much.”

“I understand.” Katsue gave a firm nod, then shifted her grip on the umbrella in preparation to use it as a weapon herself, rather than pass it along. That was the only thing in this home, so it was time to keep going, and she’d be ready to show her skill for the sake of letting Irarako rest.


	308. Stage Two, Day 9: Cold as Ice

Katsue took Irarako’s place in the front lines, while she fell back to walk besides Syoko when they continued throughout the village. The next house was one which didn’t have the same shuffling noise in it, but wasn’t silent either. There was a hissing sound intermittently, and nothing being said by creatures even when they listened right up against the door. These houses, generally, were small. Not shack-like, but quaint, with only one or two rooms each. They looked like they belonged in the forest, for sure, and it was hard to tell what damage was already there and what was added with the advent of the apocalypse.

One thing which was certainly added for this game was the fact that all the windows were blacked out until the door was opened- They cleared up, but the group wasn’t allowed to peek inside and see what they might be up against before actually going up against it. A reasonable handicap to give them.

Prepared again for something strange to be inside that next home, the door was opened, but nothing seemed immediately amiss, or inside the building. Well, nothing was a bit of an understatement, because there _was_ a partition. Saya bounced forward a bit, pointing in at it. “We need those for our facility upgrades! They do not seem especially common, so I’m glad we could find one. But lifting it may result in a problem, right?”

“I guess so,” Yosuke said, “Those pedestals do seem to have some tie to traps, maybe not always but. Well, that’s how me and Homura got trampled by a cow out of nowhere.”

“But it’s also how I got this sick bat!” Yume exclaimed, holding up her weapon. “So, really… Worth it?”

“Mm, alright. In that case.” Saya turned and emptied her pockets, handing over everything she was holding to the others before she stepped forward into the home. Nothing happened at first, so she approached the pedestal and grabbed for the partition. She lifted it, then that hissing noise that they’d heard from outside came, and with it, a visible blast of freezing cold air. “Ah! Cold!” Saya shrieked and released the partition back onto the pedestal, but by the time the gas had stopped she was already dead. Her X-Key slid across the ground, coming to rest at the feet of the others, who grimaced.

“That’s unpleasant,” Shin said, and scooped up the X-Key. “Kind of her to take that risk so that none of us had to, of course, but… Well, I’m quite unhappy that happened, right?”

“Agreed.” Yume crossed her arms and took a step away from that house. “How are we even supposed to trade out the partition for something else to weigh the pedestal down, when it killed Saya the instant she lifted it?”

“Put something else down first, then take the partition, maybe,” Homura said, “Though, you might just knock over the other thing when lifting the partition… So maybe we should leave it to Saya again.”,

“What?” Syoko asked.

“I mean, you know. Once she’s back, she’s gonna have a shigabane, which might buy her some time to swap things out without dying,” Homura explained, “Unlike the rest of us, who’d just get killed as fast as she did if we tried to go in there right now. So, let’s just look around at the other stuff and sometime or another, we’ll see if Saya can’t pull that off for us.”

“She’ll be happy to try,” Yume said, “Though, I’m not totally sure I like that, you’re right that she’d be the one with the best shot.”

“The shigabanes do seem to be useful,” Shin said, “The specificity allows us to tackle obstacles more readily, that halted us in the past. Receiving a reward for being killed in a certain way, I do think that’s a useful tool we’re offered.”

“I agree,” Yosuke said, “And those other ones are pretty neat, too. Like, the dysphoria and overcoming trauma stuff… And the bonus ones some of you have gotten ahold of, right?”

“Yeah, died while feeling ignored is definitely a good thing for the game to acknowledge,” Homura said.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“No, no, I’m sincere! What are you, the tone police? I’m glad that the shigabane pointed that out, cause it means you’re all gonna feel bad about it and maybe sometimes actually _not_ ignore me when I’m trying to warn you that something’s an obvious trap.”

“...I’m sorry, Homu-” Syoko started.

“It’s Shinku. You, Syoko Saihara, are not my friend,” Homura said, “None of you are, not really. It doesn’t matter that you aren’t, but again. You can’t call me by my name.”

“Why did you let Jun, then?” Yosuke wondered. His tone wasn’t confrontational by any means- curious in its nature more than anything else. Homura did allow Jun to call him his first name, though he was very clear about disallowing the others from doing the same.

“Oh, that? Well, you know. I wanted to call him by his first name. Barasu was soooo obviously fake, and I knew that wasn’t the person he really was! It’d be hypocritical of me to say I can’t stand saying Barasu while insisting that he says Shinku. It was a show of good faith so I could exercise my bad faith in him!”

“...I see,” Yosuke said, “And anybody else whose first name you use without letting them use yours?”

“For the Mirais, it’s to differentiate which one. For Katsue, it’s because I don’t associate her with her family name anyway.” He shrugged. “Anything else, is me slipping up. You wouldn’t expect that from me, right?”

“So you make mistakes when nobody thinks you will, too?”

“Wildcard doesn’t always mean good things, buddy-” Homura stopped short as he spotted another monitor set into the path ahead. Literally in it, like an offset cobblestone. “These enemies of ours keep wilding too, huh? That’s a pretty hidden monitor. I wonder what we’ll learn about Ebizakaya this time.”

Upon walking up to it, it did protrude further from the ground and light up with the ever-enthusiastic and ever-apathetic pair of hosts.

\--

“Hey kids, welcome back to Extend TV,” Ris said with a lazy flip of the wrist. “Congratulations on finding our super secret television, or whatever…”

“You can find all sorts of awesome things on the ground! Like a 2,000 yen note! Or some drugs!” Eva pumped her fists in front of herself.

“Drugs on the ground?” Ris asked.

“Yes! You’d be surprised how many addicts don’t know how to get the last few drops before they throw their needles in the alley!”

“That’s a good way to catch diseases.”

“No, it’s a bad way to catch diseases. The only _good_ way to catch diseases is vaccines, cause those are micro-diseases. They prevent diseases. So you could say by stealing used needles with micro-doses of heroin, I am vaccinating myself against heroin addiction?”

“That doesn’t track even a little bit. For one, since when do you do heroin?”

“Oh true! That was _jo_**ke**, I don’t steal used needles. I’m all about that white stuff!”

“Crack cocaine?” Ris rolled his eyes.

“No.” Eva’s face turned blank. “Snow. Winter Wonderland, bitches.”

“I… You literally do cocaine, though.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s just get on with it. Coming up next is **Sloth Part Three: I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship.**”


	309. Sloth Part Three: I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship

Irarako and Rifa became friends. Just like they’d agreed that day in the dojo, and it was nice. After having found herself near-isolated and relying only on her young adult uncle and the kids she mentored for socialization, she felt energized by having somebody her age in her life for the first time in years. Maybe a bit too energized, though. It wasn’t something that came on suddenly, but it certainly did come on, over time, that Irarako found herself with a crush on her one and only friend.

At first, she was utterly distraught. It was potentially the worst thing that could happen, in her friendship, to have fallen for the one person who had a choice not to give her the time of day and gave it to her anyhow. Because that meant that it hurt, now. That being around Rifa hurt, where it used to just be wonderful. It was still wonderful, and that was the problem, and that was what hurt. It hurt to find so many things wonderful. It hurt to notice the dimples when she smiled, or the way her bangs fell ever so slightly out of place when they would spar and that the first thing she’d do, before even setting down her sword, was to push them back and fix them.

The curve of a bicep, the tip of her nose, noticing these things and finding them beautiful was incredibly painful. Irarako didn’t want to notice the little things, she wanted to know the broad strokes of Rifa Kiriyaga and find them amazing in a wholly platonic way. It was devastating to realize that she’d fallen in love, so of course she confided in her uncle. She trusted him, he was her guardian, she was willing to go to him with her problems. Iyami advised her that it would be better to say something, that getting rejected would kick her brain out of it, and getting accepted would lead to a good relationship. The worst course of action was to just stew in her pining, and she knew that, she understood exactly what Iyami meant.

That didn’t mean that she didn’t spend a whole two months in that pining, holding onto her feelings for Rifa out of fear. Iyami cited the worst case scenario as being turned down, simple as that, but the worst case scenario was that Rifa took offense to Irarako’s feelings. How dare somebody like her have a crush on someone from the city? After all, Rifa did have more money than Irarako. She hadn’t even blinked at handing over her prize money from the tournament when she found out what the organizers were pulling on somebody who could barely afford daily necessities.

Rifa’s home life was straightforwardly mediocre. She had access to money, more than a girl her age really needed, but was also under the thumb of an overbearing grandfather. Having been a skilled kendoka in his day, he’d latched onto Rifa’s interest in the art and become something of a ‘stage mom’, so to speak. He brought her around the country to participate in tournaments, and her spending money when at home was provided based on her success. He would give her an allowance of four times as much money as she won at her last tournament, to do whatever she wanted with. As long as she kept practicing.

He’d been overcome with pride to hear his granddaughter had actually beaten the Ultimate Kendoka, even though Rifa didn’t consider it a win at all given the circumstances. It was thanks to that pride, however, that Rifa was able to spend so much time with Irarako; As long as every day, she did a video call with her grandfather whoile practicing. She couldn’t let her social life get in the way of her kendo success, after all.

Today was one of those days when they’d already had their sparring match, and were just hanging out. Just hanging out with Rifa was nice, it was. Being in the presence of somebody who didn’t look down on her was plenty for Irarako to be satisfied, and yet, it wasn’t. That begotten crush made sure of it. When love got its roots in somebody’s heart, it wouldn’t allow for those basic satisfactions. It wanted, more than anything, to have its own context to those. The very same things would be much more wonderful if they could be contextualized differently-

So she decided, this time, maybe it was about time that she said something. Sitting there with Rifa, the conversation lulled. So Irarako took a deep breath. “Hey, Rifa? There was somethin’ I were, uh… Wantin’ tell ya bout.”

“Oh yeah? Well, shoot,” Rifa said.

“It, uh. Aw jeeze. Just right out tellin’ me go ahead, it’s. I dunno why I thought you’d have more sayin’ before I oughta come out with it-”

“Come out?” Rifa interrupted, then chuckled. “I mean, Ebizakaya, I already pretty well figured out that you like girls, so that’s unnecessary.”

“Ain’t mean- Well, ya, but. Wanna say how I…” Irarako looked away. “Like girl. Specific one. An’ pretty obvi that…”

“I am the only girl your age that you know, huh?” Rifa brought her hand up to scratch at her cheek. “That’s cute, actually… You _are_ cute. And I’m cute! We’d make a cute couple, except, I’m not really sure.”

“Mm?” Irarako tilted her head. This wasn’t exactly one of her case scenarios.

“I don’t know if I do like girls, I can’t quite tell. I’ve never really thought about it, because Grandpa keeps me so busy that I’m not sure I’d have time to make somebody happy if I dated them. I’d need to think about it, if I like girls. But we could give it a shot?”

“...Nah.”

“What do you mean, nah? You’re the one who just confessed to having a crush on me.”

“Ain’t wanna just be givin’ shots. Wanna be with someone what def likes me, ain’t somebody what thinks, I’ll try an’ I’ll see if I like gals. Tell me. Do you know if you like boys?”

“I do like boys.”

“So, shouldn’ need to think bout that. Takin’ time to think if you like girls, datin’ just to find out, that’s not… Wouldn’ be good, yanno? For either us. We’re better friends less you end up crushin’ on me too forreal.” Irarako crossed her arms and sighed. “Real think I’m that fragile you gots to preten’ you’d wanna date me when it comes up? Just be the truth.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, it’s more that… You’re a precious friend to me. And like I said, we’d be a cute couple. Even if I’m not attracted to you, I care about you a lot. I’d rather call us girlfriends and keep seeing you a lot, and maybe I feel that way too eventually, than to tell you there’s no chance at me liking you and hurting your feelings. You’re the only person I ever met who cared enough about kendo for Grandpa to even let me spend time at your house.”

“Don’t date me just cause you think I’m what your only option for romancin’ be. Or cause you think I oughta not be friend what you rejected me. Just… Let’s pretend this convo never happened, eh?”

“...Yeah. I’m okay with that. But, you know. I’ll do some soul searching anyway. It’s not like you have to worry about me finding anybody _else_ to date in the meantime!”


	310. Stage Two, Day 9: Yet, It's Slothful

“I gotta say, I love those salacious descriptions of the way that Irarako saw her friend Rifa!” Eva grasped at her stomach as she cackled. “Really now, how can you have those kinds of thoughts and still think of yourself like you’re _such_ a good person? Give in or stop thinking that way!”

“What? Eva, that’s just how people with crushes think. Personally, it seems to me as if Ebizakaya handled it very maturely. A relationship hinged on that kind of ‘humoring’ was bound to end only in unhappiness for both parties.”

“Well how was I supposed to know that? When _I_ think that way about a girl I stop at nothing to make her mine, and then everyone tells me that I’m horrible! So if somebody else thinks that way, obviously they’re horrible too, right?”

“The horrible part isn’t thinking that girls are beautiful,” Ris said, “It’s stopping at nothing to make her yours. Good grief, how did I ever agree to work with you…”

“I said hey-o, DIYEAR peers and pals, anybody interested in doing some anarchies with me? And nobody thought I was serious, but you did and you agreed and here we are ending the world with nobody the wiser that we were gonna actually go through with it. The smartest minds in the whole darn world gathered there to work on Luciora and other top-notch projects! And yet, I thwarted them all, flying under the radar with my nefarious plans by power of being _so_ very annoying.”

“None of them would give you the time of day enough to realize that you were straight-up asking them to plot the apocalypse… Except for me. Goodie. The one who wouldn’t stop you and would, in fact, cooperate.”

“Yeah! You paying attention to me really was fate. Fortuitous for me. Mostly bad for you. But _really_ bad for the fate of the universe, and _that’s_ good for you! But bad for these kids, oh boy. Illuminate!”

“A brighter future.”

“For those idiots who couldn’t see my darker one!”

\--

Yume blinked. “Yeah, well, see. If Saya wasn’t an X-Key right now, she’d have some shit to say about the shit that Evangeline just said.”

“Doctor Kirisame worked for DIYEAR,” Syoko said, “But… Well, I can completely see her ignoring Evangeline on the basis of her being very annoying. She doesn’t have the kind of time in her life to suffer fools. Except uh… Homura apparently?”

“Wow, burn, you think I’m a fool?”

“You’re literally the Ultimate Wildcard,” Shin said, “Those are usually associated with ‘the fool’, right?”

“Yessss, but Saihara here says she _doesn’t_ play RPGs, so I’m not sure the Persona reference defense is all that valid.” Homura clicked his tongue.

“Fool might not be the best word, but you have to admit, you’re the kind of person to be suffered no matter the title,” Syoko said.

“And you are proving, once again, that you are the kind of person who doesn’t consider the impact of your words,” Katsue chided.

“If you think I’m to be suffered, you should meet my siblings. I’m like, the second-most well-adjusted one.” Homura put his hands behind his head. “Anyway, Doc Kirisame? She finds my talent endearing. Plus, I’m kind of a walking ‘I told you so’ for her to use from time to time, so that’s fun too! But, uh, yeah. Even if you’re a _little_ correct, don’t say that to people, Saihara. Why are you like this?”

“I! Um!” Syoko turned around. “That’s a kind of loaded question, huh? A my-ruins related question? That we’re better off if I don’t answer as long as I already start trying to be better about that whole, saying whatever I want as if it’s all inherently good, thing?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Syoko…” Yosuke put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s gonna be alright.”

“Hah! Is it?” She shook her head, then looked to Irarako. “That was… I agree with Osiris. It was very mature of you to turn down Rifa’s offer to humor you.”

“Mm. Retspectively, more,” Irarako said, “Would’ve hurt lots more if I didn’... Cause, she were lyin’ to me in that conk-vid. You’ll see soon… Yos already knows how it’ll shake out, actually. Most of it. Jus’ not actually the sin part.”

“Everything but the kitchen sin, huh?” Homura said.

“Nah, wasn’ in a kitch- oh!” Irarako gave a half-hearted chuckle. “It’s joke, gotcha, gotcha.”

“It makes sense, that I don’t know your sin,” Yosuke said, “I mean, it’s sloth, right? From everything we’ve been shown by now, if they weren’t telling us your sin was sloth, I think we’d be assuming that it was envy… Or fuck, maybe even greed, because of that bit with the prize money? Not to say I thought that was greedy, but, you know. These people miiiight just be stretching the definition of ‘sin’ a little bit?”

“Nah, nah. Mayb was pine or jealous what Rifa stuff, but ain’t like… Well, nothin’ doing. Sin envy’s like, lot more intense than jus’ losin’ a girl you like. An’ as for greed, sure, wouldn’ put it past Gal-Carroll-Vancent over there what think poor folk hoping for windfall is greedy. But is sloth. Thing I did what’s actually sinful, what actually hurt someone… Didn’ do nothin’ at all. When I should’ve. All this shit’s just… Context? An’, well, to make me look real damn pathetic.”

“Pathetic?” Syoko asked.

“Yeah, what else you call that? First girl what doesn’t think I’m shit for bein’ poor or unapproachable for bein’ ultimate, and I fall head over for her? Ain’t like there were any actual chemistry there. She _don’t_ like girls romantically at all. We were good as friends an’ I had all to do what, love? Just cause she gave me time of day? Stupid.”

“That’s not stupid,” Syoko said, “I think it’s normal for teenagers, really. I fell in love with my best friend when I was twelve, just because we were close and hormones were starting up, you know? The important thing is that you thought clearly enough to turn her down instead of just accepting her offer to have a loveless relationship.”

“Thought s’much! But… Know. Ain’t the end the story. But either way… Prob woulda gone the same way, ‘cept maybe then my sin _would_ be envy instead. I’unno. I think I protected myself… Just ain’t enough of it.”

“I think that’s probably true for each and every one of us,” Katsue concurred, “We must have done things which kept our lives from turning out even worse, altering our fates… But standing against them in full, none of us could manage. No shame in that.”


	311. Stage Two, Day 9: Best Friend's Stressful Weapon

And with that conquest video thoroughly discussed, the survivors forged onward to another home. This one had noises inside, but these were again, dissimilar from the other two. The first had the noises of the Small Creatures shuffling around. The second one had the hissing noise of frozen gas being pumped out, which had stopped when the door was opened and resumed when Saya set off the trap. This third one had a different sound than those, but it wasn’t an unfamiliar sound at all. It sounded like cows, plain and simple.

Two cows, definitely, not just the one. The trampling noises inside were overlapping with each other every so often, as they both decided to move around within the otherwise abandoned home. There wasn’t much else to do besides prepare an attack before opening the door, which they did. The first cow was subject to this attack and went down pretty easily, but before they could prepare another for the second enemy, it did manage to get a shot in- Headbutting Yume down the stairs of the porch, then continuing to get in a second trampling attack before she could stand back up. Even her recently acquired shigabane regarding the cows couldn’t actually keep that from knocking her out of the picture. Her X-Key and items dropped.

Just as the cow didn’t allow Yume any time to get her bearings, it received none of its own, though. The others felled it without issue, and it was the first cow of all those yet defeated to drop a leather scrap along with its meat, though there was no whet-hoof among the items this time. The item drop rate bunking effect may have had something to do with the acquisition of the evidently less-common cow loot.

After a (very brief) deliberation on the matter of turning back, the survivors decided that they could keep going. Their inventories weren’t too full yet to hold everything they needed among the six who at this moment remained alive. Yosuke stashed his mallet and picked up Yume’s bat, since it was a stronger blunt weapon to use until it could be returned to her in active duty. With that sorted out, they gave a look into the house to make sure there were no other enemies before stepping inside to take a look.

Of all the homes, this one reflected its contents most accurately so far. By which, its furniture and several small items had been broken apart by the cows. Obviously by the cows. Though these were cows and not bulls, the saying still rang true of bovines in a china shop, their destruction wrought merely by existing here for as long as they had. And they would again, eventually, when they respawned. One thing stood out as being intact, though.

In a corner, there was a sword. A shortsword, a basic one. The kind that a historically accurate knight might wield alongside a shield, very boring and not elaborate but unmarred and shining, with the sides evidently sharp. Yosuke spotted it first, and caught himself flinching away.

“Yosuke?” Shin turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “I know that it’s sort of your thing to cry very easily, but what exactly would the cause of that be here in this room?”

“I-” Yosuke didn’t notice he started crying at first. He was used to it so much that he often failed to notice until later when he caught his stained face in the mirror. “I don’t know, I think… Something about that sword? It’s nothing. It just makes me uneasy, for some reason. The same thing with the ones in Ira’s lab…”

“What? Swords what unease ya?” Irarako asked, “Real good what your skills ain’t a slash weaponry then. That one’s slash. Ain’t boutta be for piercin’, that one. Tip’s ain’t so pointy on the shortyswords.”

“Should any of us use it, then?” Syoko asked, “If it makes Yosuke uncomfortable, then the improvement of the weapon might not be worth the impact it will have on him…”

“It’ll be… I’ll be fine. It’s more important to have good weaponry, and I’m sure this isn’t even the only sword we’re gonna see, y’know? Don’t worry about me.”

“If you’re sure?” Syoko frowned, and looked to Homura after she lifted it. “It’s better than your axe…”

“Eh, I’d rather use a kind of weaker axe than a stronger sword.” Homura waved it off. “I’m pretty good at this thing, so, you know. I think I make up the difference in confidence! You’re good with the slash weapons too, right? You should use it. It kinda suits you.”

“It suits me?”

“I think so. Medieval weaponry vibes with your jam.” Homura nodded, and the others found themselves doing the same in unbidden agreement with him.

“I’m… Not sure how something vibes with a jam,” Syoko said, “But thank you. If you think that I should use it, then I’ll definitely take you up on that. Especially considering that I ought to step into the front lines, in place of Yume… To spare Ebizakaya further.”

“Thank! Real glad none other those kid creaches been appear, but I still ain’t wanna be unprepare an’ get us into bad spot cause can’t fight ‘em good.”

“And until we can get the materials together for that bow,” Shin said, “I’m utterly useless, myself. Though I have to wonder… Shinku, is it possible that your axe is the method through which we would gather oak branches for that purpose?”

“Anything is possible if you put your mind to it, Tsubasa!” Homura chimed, then reduced his tone. “Oh but, seriously, sure. I can give it a shot, anyway. Not that I think you’re useless right now, but I bet it would make you feel better to have a weapon all your own!”

“Yeah, no matter how many times you tell me I’m not useless, I still, you know. Want to _feel_ useful. And also safe, frankly! Right now, I keep dying all the time because my only effective weapon is more expendable than my life is, and that’s quite unpleasant.”

“Mm, yeah, you _are_ getting killed kind of a bunch, huh? Well, that’s kinda on us too, for not doing a great job defending our inactive party members.” Homura took a few steps back out of the house. “Well, onward, right?”

“Yeah.” Irarako nodded. “Next conk-vid’s gotta be… Yeah. We’re gettin’ close to the truth, an’ then you’ll understan’... Why I ain’t so good a person, really.”

“You’re just like us,” Syoko said, “Or, more like… Don’t worry. I’m certain that some of us are worse, than any sin of sloth could possibly be.”


	312. Stage Two, Day 9: (I Do Not) Understand

This cluster of homes was finished- There was a path that went a little ways through another patch of forest to get to a few others that could be seen through the trees. There was a brief deliberation on the matter of checking the gate to the dojo, against exploring this corner, but the group landed on examining the corner first. They put their guard back up to walk through the forest path, just in case there were enemies in the underbrush again, but there weren’t any sounds, however faint, to be heard there.

And there were no enemies to be found either. Nothing jumped out at them in the small forested stretch within the village area, a relief really. It was nice to be able to count on a section of the ruin to lack surprises, in some ways. The fact that enemies weren’t wandering around, at least, was something which let them assume that if they did need to stop and rest for a bit, they wouldn’t have to worry about the possibility of ambush. On the other hand, well, there was a different sort of ambush that could be found in this particular ruin, and of course, they did find it.

While approaching the next home, it being their primary objective, the group collectively failed to observe that a few steps from that home was another maple tree. Yume, the one who was observant enough about those trees to realize their connection, had after all been untimely felled by a bovine battery. Though the remaining party members included several who touted their observant natures as a matter of fact, it somehow slipped past every single one of them that there was one here.

And in the process of walking towards that home, Shin was the one who wandered a bit too close to it. Just as he came within range of its trunk, one of the ‘rabid pests’ came hurtling down from above. Dropped right onto him, but he didn’t react all too strongly, not even when it bit him. He just sighed and turned to face the others.

Katsue reacted immediately, stabbing the point of her umbrella forward and through the squirrel on his face, killing it, but it was too late. He rolled his eye. “Wasn’t I _just_ talking about how often I seem to be dying?”

“Do you want me to-” Katsue started.

“No, you can’t,” Homura interrupted, “After that thing with Yume, Tsubasa’s already got the friendly fire shigabane! So, uh… Guess you just gotta suffer, huh?”

“I suppose,” Shin said, unmoved. “This _is_ quite painful, but it’s just in the one spot, so it isn’t as if I’m in real agony. Well, I’ll see you whenever you go back and extend us?”

He waved a hand, then his X-Key and items dropped to the ground. Katsue took a few ginger steps forward and gathered them up, her brow furrowed. “Shinku, Irarako… You are the ones who experienced this affliction in the past, yes? Neither of you struck me as the sort to overreact.”

“Nah, ain’t! Tsuba’s real underreacting!” Irarako exclaimed.

“Quite troublesome.” Katsue stood up straight and crossed her arms. “To underreact to this apparent extent… Even I, who has suffered pains beyond that of mortal comprehension, cannot imagine that I’d be so nonchalant in the face of living decay.”

“Yeah it _looks_ like it’d hurt really badly,” Yosuke said.

“Maybe we shouldn’t speak about Tsubasa as if he’s not here?” Syoko asked, “The people in X-Keys know what happens during that time, they just can’t defend themselves. If he wants to explain to us what sort of pain dwarfs that, he can. Otherwise, it’s none of our business. Personally, I’d agree. Nothing that’s killed _me_ so far is actually worse than certain pain that I’ve survived through.”

“Hm. Well, I’d say that we were being shown mercy with the way these deaths feel compared to the way I died when I ended up extended over in the real world, but nah, the toxic bite thing wasn’t merciful at all.” Homura put his hands behind his head. “Still not as bad as my individual experience, but at this point I’m pretty convinced that if I died the exact same way, it would feel the same as it did then.”

“How pleasant,” Syoko said, “Forgive me for hating that idea.”

“The truth is always easy to hate,” Yosuke admitted, “I think. After all, all the worst things in the world are true?”

“That’s nonsense,” Syoko said.

“Yeah… I know.”

“But it _is_ true, and unfortunately so,” Katsue said, pointing the tip of her umbrella somewhat in Syoko’s direction. “It would do you well to understand that… What happens here and what we experience, even if it will be undone, that’s real. It’s all too incredibly real. Through hedged ancient languages and trumped-up connections with each other, we might be able to behave as if we’re fine with it, right? You think that’s what I do, in any case. Yet, no matter how I hedge it, I acknowledge the reality. I won’t say I disbelieve something merely because it’s unpleasant.”

“Hey! Hey.” Irarako stepped forward, her arms up on either side of herself. “Ain’t some to fight over! Why it? Thought y’all made up.”

“We came to an understanding,” Syoko admitted, “But…”

“We’ve yet to be friends again,” Katsue finished the statement, as it was given over to her to define what that understanding actually entailed. “I doubt that any sort of meaningful connection can be found between the two of us until we see behind the masks we’ve both worn.”

“...Yeah, that makes sense,” Yosuke said, then grabbed Syoko’s shoulder and gently pulled her a few steps back. “There’s just too many things about each other that you’re both unwilling to understand, right?”

“Saihara won’t comprehend the love I feel for Yuji.” Katsue lowered the umbrella to point at the ground, shifting it behind herself. “And won’t entertain the truth, of which, I am the sinner. It is by grace alone that Yuji ever continued to love me, and not the reverse which she seems convinced of. Likewise, Syoko… I cannot understand her core, her being, who she _is_ at all. It’s not like you, Yosuke, whose curse I can clearly see. For Syoko, it’s as if… No curse or blessing or substance, there’s nothing there.”

“I just don’t see how… Yeah.” Syoko looked away. “I don’t think I could ever understand until I see it for myself, the reason you say that. From where I stand, I just think you deserve somebody better than him? Really, if anything, I’m curious where your viewpoint could possibly come from.”

“Likewise, I’m curious of what curse you hold so stifled that I can see nothing of consequence behind your eyes.”

“Hey, girls?” Homura interrupted, “I know you’re like, all intensely into this weird frenemy thing you’ve got going on with your incompatible trauma responses, but I really think you should take a look inside this house I foolhardily opened the door to because I got bored by your argument!”

“Is that so?” Katsue asked, and the tension fell away from the air as the group joined Homura at the doorway-

Replaced in an instant by a tension of an entirely different nature, with what they saw there.

Lying on the floor there was-

Not an animal, not a creature…

But an unfamiliar human being.


	313. Stage Two, Day 9: It's A Person

Everyone was stunned into silence by the person they saw there. It clearly wasn’t a creature- This was a human, or at least, somebody who looked exactly like a human. There was no gray pallor, and no clione attached to the body lying there. It seemed to be alive- And the home around it seemed to have been lived in. They weren’t just lying on the floor, but on a makeshift bed made up of blankets salvaged from the closets of homes. There was a bedframe in this house, but it was cracked apart and not worthy of being slept on. This mystery person was, again, sleeping. Not dead. And had been not dead, living, here. For at least a few days now, though more likely than not, the same length of time that the survivors had been in the Zero Sum Game.

Or… Longer. After all, Jabberwock Island hit its current state after a storm. There was nothing to say that the separate ruins didn’t already exist before the Zero Sum Game started, and that this person had also been there for the duration of the Killing Game beforehand. Of course, what was immediately strange about the figure on the floor was its appearance. Their hair color was exactly the same as Homura’s, that shock red. It wore glasses, and seemed to be short and small, though its gender was indeterminable from looking. A mild resemblance was there, though.

If somebody was to hazard a guess, they probably woudn’t guess at those two as being siblings, but might assume cousins. It was that degree of similarity. And it was the similar person himself, Homura, who stepped forward and reached out to shake this person awake by the shoulder. Its eyes opened, and were a dull gray, nearly black irises that from a distance looked as if their pupils were just massive. A smile spread on Homura’s face. “Oh, of course, it’s my old friend Ushina!”

“...What?” Yosuke questioned, voicing with no hesitation the question which was on everybody’s mind. “You had better explain _right_ fucking now.”

“Cool your roll, my man.” Homura stood back up and put his hands on his hips. “It actually makes perfect sense. This is Ushina Nokage, that’s Nokage to you, _you’re_ not friends. It uses it/they pronouns interchangeably, so you’re all aware and can be respectful.”

“It appears that the wildcard has become the wildcarded.” The person apparently called Ushina laughed, getting to its own feet in the process. “You never would have expected… That I would turn up in a place like this, would you?”

“I’ll admit it, I didn’t think any other people would show up!” Homura said, “But if somebody else did need to show up, I’m not actually shocked that it would be you. After all, it’s thematically consistent.”

“How so…?” Ushina tilted its head.

“We’re in the Ruin of Sloth right now,” Homura said, “And you’re somebody whose sin would be considered sloth too, if you were gonna get labeled that way. So it makes sense that it’s _you_ right now. And it’s not like you haven’t been involved this whole time… I guess you _being_ here explains why you didn’t make it onto the VIP list, right?”

“Something like that.” Ushina wrapped its hands around their X-key, looking away. “Homura...I think you’ll do a better job explaining to your friends exactly what you mean?”

“Oh, they’re not my friends, that’s why I’m so glad you’re here.” He pivoted around and pointed at the other survivors with both hands clasped in a pointing motion. “You all wanna know why I know Ushina! Nokage to you. You’re not friends, again. But we are! Me and Ushina. We go way back! Online and all. We used to meet up in NWP rooms sometimes,though, so that’s how I could recognize them. We haven’t talked since I died but I don’t blame it, cause when I first came back I was a _real_ summer bummer.. And it’s not like they could have really done anything to help me at that point.”

“And what sort of… Involvement from the start?” Syoko furrowed her brow.

“That’s easy!” Homura laughed. “How do you think _Mercury Mars_ ever found Dome City anyway? Ushina’s a program written by Evangeline, it’s able to enter any Neo World that’s connected to a network. That’s how we met!”

“Er… Affirmative.” Ushina nodded its head. “I am a program. One that really shouldn’t have existed, either. I was sort of tied in to the Zero Sum code because that also needed to be kept a secret from Mercury. So when that was activated here… I arrived as well… Um. I do know how I fit in to things, though I don’t know why I existed _here_ and not later?”

“I told you already,” Homura said, “It’s cause you’re a sinner of sloth too. Even if there’s a location in a later ruin that you’re ‘supposed’ to be, this kinda tech that draws on emotions and memories has gotta be full up with bugs that could end up putting you here.”

“Hm. I guess so.” Ushina looked around. “So it’s you guys… Huh. Well, I guess I knew that already, but it’s different seeing it for myself. This isn’t the ideal group, is it, Homura?”

“It’s not. There’s some people who are just kinda caught up in it all.” He chuckled and shook his head. “But, oh well. Just because I’m the wildcard doesn’t mean that life can’t catch _me_ off guard all the time too! It’s just that nobody expects me to keep going through it all, so here I am.”

“Wow, _that’s_ morbid,” It said, “Going through life with people expecting you to kill yourself? Ah, no wonder we’re friends though, huh?”

“Yeah, yeah. You said that _all_ the time. Gee, Homura, if only I could just die-”

“That’s why.” Ushina cut him off. “Okay? The reason I stopped talking to you after you got Extended. I felt… Really stupid. I wished it was possible for me to die for so long, then you actually experienced it and it made everything so much worse for you, so I. I’m sorry for being so insensitive.”

“Oh, I never cared about any of that,” Homura said, “Well, anyway. What’s this role Eva wants you to play, anyhow?”

“Right, right. Of course… Sorry. As you said before, I’m Ushina Nokage, and my role is as Survivor Number Zero.”


	314. Stage Two, Day 9: Survivor Number Zero

“Survivor Number Zero?” Syoko asked, tilting her head to one side. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“It means that… Well, honestly, it’s probably easiest if I showed you, right? I can do that on the Extend Machine. Um, if you don’t mind bringing me back to Jabberwock Island with you…”

“I don’t think you’re really trustworthy,” Yosuke admitted, “I don’t trust Shinku, and you’re his friend, or at least, you’re claiming to be. Maybe you two are just pulling some joke and you’ve never met before. And if you’re telling the truth, that might be worse. After all, if you can enter any Neo World… Then you could have been spying on any of us, right?”

“I’ll cop to that,” Ushina said, rubbing their arms. “I have. I mean, look at who made me… And for what purpose. Workshops, recreational worlds, even Neo Chatrooms established. As long as there’s some connection back to Earth, I can, and I have. I’ve seen all of you, a lot, before… I know a lot of things. But you don’t need to trust me, you just have to decide that I probably couldn’t destroy your X-Keys.”

Yosuke looked it over. “Yeah, okay, you do look pretty weak. And those two did say that we’ll _know_ it when there’s an enemy who can destroy the X-Keys, but on the other hand. You could definitely just kill us all and not extend us, letting the person who made you claim victory?”

“I don’t like the person who made me. I don’t **hate** her as much as I hate **Mercury Mars**,” Their voice peaked on certain words, as if it was a soundboard with the gain up too high, crackling and breaking in a way that hurt to hear. “But I’m not fond of her, either. I don’t like either of them at all, and I never trusted them. And, besides… I said already that I’m Survivor Zero. To actually represent a total loss, I would also have to kill _myself_.”

With that statement, everyone decided that Ushina was right- It would have to show on the Extend Machine what that meant, exactly, before anybody could actually understand. Confusion won out enough to commit to ‘fleeing’ the ruin, returning to Jabberwock Island with the newfound survivor holding onto Homura’s upper arm with the kind of vice grip only somebody who was very afraid could have.

It was difficult for the others to remain distrustful of them. After all, it seemed more afraid of the other survivors than any of their actual enemies ever had. Further, despite Homura’s insistence that Ushina was his _only_ friend here, his faith in them still served as an indicator for the rest to give it a shot. He had yet to actually steer the group wrong even through his clear refusal to be considered a friend.

Before Ushina would show what it meant by ‘Survivor Zero’, Homura gathered up the X-Keys of the fallen party members to extend them first. Yume was first because he thought she was unlikely to unlock any new shigabane, and he was correct. She’d already been killed by a cow before, it was just the double-whammy that put her out of the picture this time. Upon extension she also enlightened him to the fact she’d already taken a hit from the fox’s claws, and some annoyance that hit apparently counted for nothing shigabane-wise since it hadn’t been the killing blow.

Shin Tsubasa _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Rabid Pest:** Reduced damage from Rabid Pests  
**Death by Toxic Bite:** 60% chance to avoid being afflicted with the Toxic status condition

Saya Yoshiro _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Trap:** Lower chance to trigger traps with a random chance aspect.  
**Death by Freezing Attack:** 60% chance to avoid being afflicted with the Frozen status condition  
**Death by Nitrous Gas:** Reduced damage from Cold Elemental Attacks.

“Hello, Nokage,” Saya said as soon as she was extended, reaching out a finger towards but not quite poking Ushina. “I’ve heard of you. Eva was very proud of her abilities regarding you.”

“Hey Saya. Yeah, we can bond about hating Eva later, I gotta, um. Explain?” It shrugged, then approached the Extend Machine. Homura stepped to the side, and everyone else gathered around to watch over Ushina’s shoulder. They seemed uncomfortable at the crowding, but still carried on. It pointed at the ‘life count’ in the top right corner of the screen, which read out ‘08’ at the moment. “See that? There are eight lives _remaining_. But this is an arcade machine.”

Silence. Crickets would have chirped were there any.

“Yeah, sorry Ushina,” Homura said, “I know what you’re getting at, but none of the rest of these dipshits are gamers, so you’re gonna have to elaborate.”

“Can’t you do it for me…?” Ushina whined.

“Oh, if I must.” Homura gave a good natured chuckle and patted Ushina on the head before pushing them out of the crowd with a soft push to its shoulder, saving them from the spotlight. “On old-fashioned arcade games, the life count isn’t actually the full number of lives, period. It’s the number of lives left after you use up the current one, yknow? In pac-man, if it says you have two lives, that really means you can die two _more_ times. It will read zero lives after you die when it says one life, because you have no more lives left to use. You’re _on_ your last life.”

“Ushina’s saying that the Extend Machine has the same function, and they’re survivor number zero. Or, the ninth life, if it makes more sense that way. If we all die except for it, then there are no more lives, but not game over yet. Ushina is the last life left, and it’d be the one we’re on if that happened,” Homura continued, then gestured to his friend. “So there you have it.”

Before anybody else could say anything, Extend TV blared to life on the screen just behind Homura.

\--

“H-Hey, kids!” Evangeline waved both hands around frantically. “That’s right, that’s all correct! Ushina’s here! And that’s what I meant! But! Yeah! It wasn’t supposed to show up in the sloth ruin! Come on! There’s way more pertinent places! Like Saya-babeeeee’s! Or Homu-kun’s!! How come you went and did that, Ushi-Ushi-Ushi? What sort of… Jeeze! And right when I thought… Oh, well. At least the fact that you’re here now… And you’re _you_, that’s gotta get Merry right frazzed up.”

“Eva, are you… okay?” Osiris asked.

“Dandy! Dandy peachy merry happy real and right and good!” She put her hands on her hips with a grin twitching against her cheeks. “Ushina’s back in action, why wouldn’t that be good? Gosh, I just wish Merry was _here_ right now caaaaause then she might pay attention to me! Sure it would be bad attention but that’s not so terrible, right? You know all about that, Ris, you were in an abusive marriage for yeaaaaaaaaaaaars.”

“You need to calm down.”

“Haha! What? I’m fine, I’m perfectly calm, I am, I am. Just, you know. Two programs I created are interacting in ways I did not plan for! At all! Ohhh jeeze. This is all Merry’s fault. If she were here then I’d- Well I’d-”

“**Bye-bye.**” Osiris interrupted and placed a hand over the camera, and the arcade machine shut off… Completely, for a moment, before coming back up with the usual Extend Machine options.


	315. Stage Two, Day 10: A Shaky Return

With the strange way that the Extend TV broadcast had ended, the group decided that was enough thinking for the day! And went to sleep. Upon waking up and meeting back in the dining hall for breakfast, the television was on again. Osiris was standing there alone, fidgeting with the golden band on his hand. It looked like a wedding ring, but he wore it on the middle finger of his right hand. Once everybody had gathered, he lowered his hand and turned directly to the camera.

“Hello, everybody. I’ve murdered Eva again, because frankly, she was being ridiculous and nobody needed to hear that. Not you, and certainly not me. Especially with what she was saying after I cut off the feed, I’m sure you can imagine what sort of things those were. She’s disgusting.” He shook his head and sighed. “In any case, I’ve determined on my own how Nokage’s presence will be handled in terms of your gameplay. It can provide a bunking effect for you in which, upon dying, you’ll land one charged attack on your attacker as you dissipate. It can carry X-Keys, but cannot carry items wiith it, in the ruins. Thus it also cannot attack, but it can _be_ attacked.”

“The game was designed to be played by eight survivors. So, Nokage will _only_ count within the ruins as your so-called extra life. I’ll even recommend their best use for you. Keep it secret, keep it safe, you might say. If Nokage is the last one standing, _all_ they are capable of doing is to bring your X-Keys back to Jabberwock Island.”

“What about _on_ Jabberwock?” Homura asked, “Can Ushina carry items around or attack enemies when we’re all here?”

“There are no enemies on Jabberwock, but I don’t see a reason to restrict that. On Jabberwock Island itself, as it is not a ruin, there are no restrictions on participants in excess of eight.” Ris waved a hand. “That’s about all I needed to tell you, so I’ll be going. Eva will be extended by the time of the next Conquest Video.”

“Huh…” Ushina muttered, “So, I’m just going to be dead weight, am I?”

“Not at all,” Syoko said, “If anything, you’re more like the ace up our sleeve. We can be a bit more reckless ourselves if you’re hanging back ready to take our X-Keys back home, and that bunking effect seems useful too.”

“It’s a parting blow, I suppose. Though it’s weaker than the other bunking effects… Because I don’t count, it only applies to one other person instead of two. My being here isn’t, er. Especially useful for you guys. I can go back to… I had no trouble living in that abandoned hut. I was keeping myself fed acceptably enough? And I just. Mm. If I stay locked away and safe in there, then I can come find your X-Keys if something bad does happen, so the only thing that I’m good for would still-”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Homura clapped a hand on its shoulder. It didn’t react- Seemed as though they didn’t like to be touched or crowded, but flipped that over when it came to people that they trusted. Homura was the only one of those people present. “I know you’re worried about a lot of this stuff, but you don’t _really_ want to go back to the way things were before. You wanna see how this all shakes out, right? You wanna watch what happens for yourself.”

“H-Hey um! It’s… No, saying it like that makes me sound really bad… And I’m not bad… I promise I’m not! I don’t want to see people suffer, I don’t. I think um. The sort of things you’ve all experienced in your past… It’s kind of morbidly fascinating, so the conquest videos, I did wanna see those, but it’s not like I want to see you sad. I just. I’m curious… About who you really are.”

“We’re curious about who you really are too, Ushina,” Saya said, “But you don’t even know that, do you?”

“Not… No, not completely,” It admitted, “Uhhm. Ah. It’s just that I… Hm. How do I put this? The Neo World Program, and Luciora, Eva had a lot more to work with for that. I’m full of a lot of glitches is the bottom line, we don’t need to go into the whole deal or anything! But there are… Um, well, let’s see. I know everything that happened in the Killing Game, like I was watching it, but I wasn’t anywhere during that. I have no memories of myself existing or doing anything during that time, I just have the knowledge of what happened there. Like I _was_ there, but I also. Wasn’t, physically, myself. Does that make any sense?”

“Not really,” Katsue said, “But it doesn’t need to make sense, that’s just what your experience was. You’re a computer program, so it’s only natural that you would have different experiences than a human from time to time.”

“Sounds much like…” Irarako chimed in, “Not not-like dissociation-orders. Evie’s what was full amnesias wit min-communicate. Not have memories of what others did but may happen you do the similar but computerwise not brainwise. Glitchin’.”

“Yes, that sounds likely,” Ushina said, bowing its head before turning to look at the Kashiwagi Forest Ruin again. “If it really is alright… Then should we go back to the forest?”

“Yes, but we should keep our guard up. Whichever enemies we killed on our first excursion will have respawned by now… A cow and a few of the rodents, correct?” Shin asked.

“Sounds right to me,” Yume said, then turned toward Shin and clicked her tongue. “You like… Get _tortured_ by that shitty mom of yours or something? How the hell were you so chill? Really, I’m asking. I know we’ve got this don’t ask don’t tell trauma thing going on now that Conquest Videos are a thing, but mine’s already been told so here I am asking. Just some idea of what the fuck let your face literally rot away and have you not panicking?”

“I’ve had a larger infected wound than that before. For that matter, it was on my face as well, so it wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. I’ve also, as I’ve said _many_ times, spent long stretches of time malnourished and near to starvation. After that sort of full-body agony, it isn’t as if one bite is going to be very comparable… Not that it didn’t hurt, but I didn’t see the point in reacting dramatically.” He lifted a hand to the spot where he’d been bitten, and his fingers shook just a bit as he looked away from his peers. “I wasn’t _surprised_ by how it felt, I mean. So of course I should maintain my composure, right? And it was my own fault. Expressing that pain would have only made those watching me feel guilt, or worse, pity.”

“I’m not sure why exactly… You think it so bad to be pitied,” Ushina said, “Tsubasa. Don’t you understand? Pity is the root of compassion, and compassion the root of love. How can you be loved if you won’t first allow yourself to be pitied, to be seen as pathetic and worthless by somebody whose only wish is to think the world of you…?”

“As if anybody here wants to think the world of me.” Shin turned back to face Ushina and narrowed his eye. “What do you even think you know about me to say something like that?”

“I can tell just by looking that you’ve never been loved, because you won’t let yourself be. You won’t submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known… For all you say you share, you’re caged as you can be. Revealing information that doesn’t hurt you so that the things which do can stay buried without seeming as if you keep secrets…” Ushina shook its head and took a step back, shakily holding their hands in close to itself. “But what do I know? We just met, and I… I am someone who’s always been pitied without moving on to being loved. So let’s observe the sin of somebody who equates being pitiful to being weak, and see who’s next.”

Though its body language and tone remained terrified and nervous even as it started to walk towards the ruin, everyone but Homura found themselves wondering who… and what, exactly, Ushina Nokage was-

To say a thing like _that_.


	316. Stage Two, Day 10: The Village Puzzle

A silence hung in the air as the group returned to the ruins of Kashiwagi Forest. Irarako found herself feeling very… Lost. Very confused, really. In the ruin that was meant to be all about exposing her past, so far, very little of it had actually been _exposed_, per say. She knew there was more to it, and she knew her sin had yet to appear, but she couldn’t help feeling like she was getting off easy compared to what Yume went through.

It was a _relief_ to her, though entirely too confusing, that Ushina had appeared. The strange individual who was apparently a computer program which… Made itself look similar to Homura because Homura was its only friend? And as for those pronouns, Irarako had enough trouble with language in the first place without trying to understand what reason a human being, even an artificially created one, might have to refer to themself with the pronoun of an inanimate object _on top_ of a more human neutral one.

Were Ushina less timid, then they might have been willing to sit with Irarako and describe that their nature- The fact that it was created first as a program only to develop a personality later on in life left it feeling less than human, but with a desire to claim a neutral humanity for themself as well. As it was, Ushina Nokage was somebody and something which was racked with anxiety and frightened at all times of those around it, and would not be left alone with anyone long enough to explain why it used the pronouns that they did and the relation to their personal identity.

It seemed the only time that it would speak openly, Irarako had of course noticed, was when it decided it really had something to say. Confusing things, not dissimilar to the way Katsue talked but without the conceit of being fantasy. On others, that kind of speech might be considered fake-deep, but the sentence tossed Irarako’s way felt particularly piercing instead. Her sin, the sin of somebody who thought it was weak to be pitied, right? She sat with that the entire walk back, even as the group dispatched the first day’s enemies over again. Katsue was still taking her place, graciously, so she could stay in her thoughts as long as she was sure to be a bit careful of her surroundings.

Was it _not_ weak of her, to have been pitiful back then? Evangeline and Osiris clearly thought that it was, because she was sure that was the sin they were leading up to. She could be pitied at her mother’s funeral, and when she lost that kendo match, and when Rifa turned her down. But then, the people claiming these pitiable moments were the leadup to her sin, the sin which was her own contribution to the way the world deserved to die… Those were her enemies. Maybe, she thought, she was wrong to agree with the way that they perceived her. Maybe being pitied was just a part of being known, and she did want to be known. Her friends deserved to know her.

And just like that, she was in front of-

\-------------*

After defeating the enemies which had respawned, the survivors arrived back at the village area, then back at the house where Ushina had been found, and finally, the last one that was accessible. There were others, but upon approach it became clear that they were, for lack of a better term, jpeg assets. Static images that couldn’t actually be interacted with, but which represented space that definitely _did_ exist- It just wasn’t relevant to the task at hand.

This last home wasn’t populated by enemies, no items to pick up, no traps, and really nothing of interest at all inside of it. So, still without a word passed between any of the group at all, a return was made to the gate which blocked the competition dojo. The first words spoken were Yosuke’s, as he read the inscription aloud. “Remedy each home and shut the door… Huh. What’s that mean?”

“Ah,” Irarako stepped forward. “Yume puzzle like this one, called her remember store hours, ya? So probly… Need me remember who live where an’ what sorta thing is wrong about the place from when there.”

“But how are we supposed to ‘remedy’ that?” Katsue wondered.

“Well…” Yosuke crouched down and picked up an item that sat below the inscription, a plush dog. They’d ignored it up till now because it didn’t seem to have a use- And when he tried to put it in his bag, it refused to go, but he could hold it just fine. “Maybe it’s stuff like this?”

“Quest items… Charming,” Shin said, “Yes, we wouldn’t be allowed to put those in our inventories, to be certain that we don’t take them home and leave them behind, or throw them away, locking ourselves out of our necessary progression.”

“Mm. There’s prob more scattered round… Or disposable items what needed for some them? Anyway. That dog’s gotta go… The house where the small creatures were bein’ in. Kid I knew carried exact same plush with him all the everywhere, an’ I guess… Yea, that prob was the house he lived in.” Irarako crossed her arms over her stomach and sighed. “Rememberin’ what time shops was open’s a lil less personal than this, eh?”

“Well, the puzzle itself, no,” Yume said, “Though it was kinda meant to be reflective of what would’ve been open when the worst shit in my life happened to me, it wasn’t like the stores themselves were painful to remember… Sorry you gotta deal with this. But, hey. It’s not like those kids are really dead, right? Not all of them anyway. Eva and Ris said that while our personal loved ones are guaranteed to live until we fail, that a _lot_ of regular people can be saved too?”

“...Yea, that’s right. Can still save ‘em.” Irarako took the dog from Yosuke’s hand and strode over to the house in question, setting it gently inside and closing the door behind herself. As soon as the door was shut, the windows started to glow a soft and warm yellow- An indicator that she’d assumed correctly about the item that needed to go there. “Cool. So is… That.”

“I actually have an idea of what might need to go in the home which had the partition,” Saya said, and began to walk over in that direction. “Do we still have any of the fireproof fur on hand?”

“Yeah, I forgot to drop it off back on Jabberwock Island,” Yosuke said, “The whole… Finding Nokage thing sort of threw me off of doing the sorta stuff I usually would when we arrive back at base and all.”

“We need to warm the place up!” Saya noted, then took the fur from Yosuke on her way back towards that building. She stepped up to the door and walked in, then lifted the partition. The gas did fire at her, and she couldn’t help but yelp at the feeling, but set the fur down in the partition’s place, and the gas didn’t fire again. Partition in two hands now, she bounced back out of the house. Yume stepped up to close the door behind her, and its windows lit up as well.

“Two down already!” Irarako put her hands on her hips. “Jus’ the three to go… Yeah. Not so tough… Not’s too.”


	317. Stage Two, Day 10: Kashiwagi Forest Home

Continuing on, the group found themselves at the home where Syoko had acquired her current weapon, the shortsword. “Well…” Syoko sighed. “Maybe it wants me to put this weapon back where I got it from, right?”

“Unfortunately, that just might be the case,” Shin said. Syoko shook her head and stepped inside, placing the sword down where she got it before turning back and shutting the door. The windows didn’t light up. “Or perhaps not. Retrieve your weapon, then.”

Syoko very quickly got her sword back, then regrouped with the others. “So if it’s not this…”

“Might somethin’ like that,” Irarako said, “Found a sword there what _definitely_ didn’ real exist in this area. Shoul’ take a look around to see if there’s some kinda sword somewhere what goes better in it.”

“What, like this one?” Yosuke picked up a broken bamboo sword off of the ground from around the side of the house. He did the bag test again, and it wouldn’t go in. “It’s another key item, it’s a sword, it’s right fucking next to the house because this is still the second ruin and the moderators don’t have faith in us to have brains until later in the game, you know.”

“Yes, difficulty curves. They’re giving us easy answers to some of these puzzles,” Shin said, “But I’m sure it will become more difficult as we advance. As well, that last puzzle with the gas… We just got lucky that we investigated it on a different day than we wanted to open the gate, given that we clearly needed a shigabane in order to make it through that one. Had nobody died in there before, we would have needed to go back to base in between, and lost a day of progress more or less.”

Yosuke, meanwhile, took the broken bamboo sword and sealed it inside the home. As soon as the door was shut, there was that window glow, so one more out of the way. Two left. The next one…

“This next home is where I was hiding out,” Ushina said, “And… I have a theory, maybe, a little bit. It says to remedy each home, right? Not necessarily to add something to every one of them. The puzzle may have been different if I didn’t exist, but that one may be… If we remove anything that I was using, like. The blankets and stuff… Make it like I wasn’t there, that could be the remedy?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Homura agreed, then took off in that direction, dragging Ushina along by its wrist. The others walked over at a more leisurely pace, and by the time that they arrived, the redheads were already well into the process of tossing things out of the door. There wasn’t really space for extra hands to be useful, so they just held back for the time being. Some blankets, a few pieces of dishware, then Homura and Ushina reemerged and shut the door. Again, the windows lit up.

“Nice!” Ushina pumped a fist, then cringed at itself for being so brazen. “Ah. Sorry. Well, anyway, whatever that puzzle was _meant_ to be before I got there, maybe I was able to make it a bit more straightforward for you guys…”

“Now, that last one…” Syoko went on, “Seems strange to me, honestly. Nothing seemed out of place or notable about it at all, compared to the others. It just seemed like… A run-down home. Nothing particularly missing or needs to be removed, right?”

“Er, bout that…” Irarako pressed her fingers together, staring down at the ground. “That one’s… That’s where I lived. Was my home. So’s thinkin’, well. The remedy is… The nex thing yer gon’ see on the conk-vids, probly. I was s’posed to be at home. If I never left house wouldn’ ever have been bad times. Bad things wouldn’ have happened if I jus’... Stayed there. So the remedy for that house is if I didn’ leave. I’m sure of it.”

“Ah!” Syoko waved her hands. “Ira, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that your house isn’t notable-”

“S’fine. Know what you meant.” Irarako flashed a thumbs-up. “But good lookin’ out for sayin’ that kind stuff! Well. Guess I jus’... Go inside an’ close the door an’ see what happens, huh?”

“Yeah… Are you okay?” Yosuke said, “I mean. As far as I know you never stopped living there, but I mean. Shutting yourself inside, on your own, in a ruin. Are you prepared for whatever happens? Also, does this mean we have to go through the gate without you?”

“Sure they’ll let me out once puzzle’s solved,” Irarako said, “Does it… Matter if I’m okay? Af’ all. Gots to do it. Gots to keep goin’ no matter what does to me. So. Gotta try it. Mayb’ I’m wrong ‘bout the puzzle solve. But won’t know less I do it.”

Before anybody else could give their input, Irarako approached the house- _Her_ house. She stepped inside and turned around, closing the door gently and carefully. The minute it latched, the moment her hand was off the knob, two things happened.

Inside the home, the television which belonged to the Ebizakayas, the monitor standing in their living room, powered on.

Likewise, the intro to Extend TV appeared on each of the windows outside.

\--

“Hey kids!” Eva exclaimed, “I’d like to apologize for my outburst yesterday! I’m back at it again, extended one more juicy, juicy time and ready to give you the deets on the latest conquest video!”

“And by give the deets of course we mean, show it to you.”

“This one’s suuuuper weird, I think! Cause, I mean, what’s with that title! Oh right, we haven’t told you what the title is yet. Still! It’s the second to last video so it has to get salacious on us now, right? Everything so far has been pretty tame, and tame means boring in the world of Evangelion Carrol!”

“Oh, Eva. If our armageddon is to be compared to fiction, it’s much more like a computer virus crossed with zombies. It certainly isn’t the third impact. Do you seriously think I would ever agree to an apocalypse plan which leads to my consciousness being merged with yours, or worse, that of my ex-husband?”

“Awwe, Ris. We already know your ex is totally dead as a doornail, so that wouldn’t happen! As for our brains, we could merge them riiiiight now. I’ve helped somebody do that before, remember? That lovely married couple who wanted to be together as a single alter ego even in death! I love those two, they’re so nice. And always want kids to do the best they can do! I bet it’s thanks to them that Saya isn’t totally useless.”

“My brain will remain mine only. Besides, I’m attracted to men, you wouldn’t want to merge with that anyway.”

“Oh, damn, you _right_. I’m alllll about that girlflesh.”

“Yes, we are aware. Come on, it’s time for us to watch **Sloth Part Four: The Incredible Betrayal Of A Woman Who Lied About Many Things, And The Man Who Broke Bro Code.**”


	318. Sloth Part Four: The Incredible Betrayal Of A Woman Who Lied About Many Things, And The Man Who Broke Bro Code.

Cliche as it might have sounded, it was a dark and stormy night. The kind where the streetlights turned on at one in the afternoon, to no real avail as the only true sight came from flashes of lightning. The kind where the rain beat down on Irarako’s house so hard that she worried the roof might just cave in over her, though she had been involved in its recent reinforcement and had faith in her own work that it was plenty sturdy to withstand even the heaviest rainfall. The kind where despite any reinforcement, the house still trembled down to its foundation each time thunder rolled around its walls.

And Irarako was home alone during this storm, she was sitting around by herself. The power wasn’t knocked out, because this far out, nobody had power lines from the city anyhow. Solar panels stood up on tall stilts to go above the tree canopy and fed into personal batteries; Thus, she was able to crank the television up loud enough to hear and sit on the couch watching whatever inane things she could find. What she watched was unimportant, she didn’t remember what it even was at this point. It was just an attempt at a distraction from her worries.

Worries born of the fact that she was, after all, alone. Iyami wasn’t around, and neither was Rifa, who had moved in just a few weeks ago. She paid substantial rent and was actually supporting the Ebizakayas quite well- She’d inherited a lot of money when her grandfather passed away unexpectedly. She wasn’t too torn up about it, since he had always been more like an employer to her than family anyhow. She grieved, but not too substantially to decide that she would rather go and live with her best friend now that she could. The amount she paid in rent was most of the money she had available to her, because her grandfather’s will did stipulate that she receive his estate in installments rather than all at once, increasing in amount each year until she’d have received it all by the time she was thirty.

It was, at the current installment rate, plenty to support a family of three in Kashiwagi Forest, but not enough to afford to live within Towa City proper. And so, Irarako was worried about this little family of three, the other two members. They’d gone out to run some errands just half an hour before the storm rolled in, and it had now been going for a full hour with no signs of letting up. Irarako could only hope that they’d found somewhere to hunker down safe from the rain… But she could only spend that one hour drowning out the outside world in a screen before her anxiety overtook her.

Maybe they did find somewhere to hunker down, but maybe they were trapped in a ditch somewhere. Rushing mud and water trapping them, cell service in the area too spotty to call for help- Her mind kept playing over these scenarios, bouncing between all the different ways that the only two people who were truly _in_ Irarako’s life could be abruptly removed from it. That was how she found herself out in the storm. That was how she found herself walking through the rain, holding an umbrella tight to her body to attempt to shield even slightly from the battering waters.

It was only her kendo stance which let that umbrella be of any use, rather than preventing her progress forward. Maybe it was that thought which drove her in the direction she went, though she was unaware of it. She could hardly tell where she was going at all, just willing herself to keep moving as she called out their names, anxiety mounting each time her feet sunk into the ground beneath her, although each time she failed to find them out in the storm should have been assurance that they’d found somewhere safe to wait out the rain.

A frightened mind couldn’t think that way, though. It wasn’t her intention to end up at the dojo, but at soon as she saw the light through the torrent, she was invigorated to sprint the remaining distance. The door here was never locked. She shut her umbrella once she was under the awning and held it to the side as she opened the door. She stepped inside, and looked around. The lights were out in the main portion, but… Not in the management area. She stepped over that way carefully, cautious of the potential that it would be someone taking advantage of the storm to steal from a place that was usually more populated than this. It was practically a youth center for the denizens of Kashiwagi, so there was always somebody here, but not now.

Well, mostly.

When Irarako arrived at the management office, she leaned over to the door and peered through its window. What she saw there- Well- It was simultaneously-

First things first, it was a relief. She accomplished what she wanted to when she left the house, she found Iyami and Rifa and they were safe from the storm and alive. She did feel relieved about that. So of the flood of emotions that hit her next, anxiety was removed from any of them. That didn’t mean that the train arriving in her station wasn’t running her over full-force anyway.

Rifa had said that she didn’t want to be romantically involved with anybody right now, right? Rifa had said she had no idea if she liked anybody at all and didn’t think she’d end up with a crush on anybody anyway. But even after Irarako had asked her- Had specifically requested of her that she be honest, and not just humor her, and say what she really meant and how she really felt and-

This would have been fine, right? This would have been okay if Rifa wasn’t a liar. This would have been okay if Rifa was willing to actually tell the truth. To say that she was straight and that she had somebody she liked, and not be sneaking around like this, to admit it, to have not just _yesterday_ made another passing comment as if she might be starting to like Irarako, to string her along with manufactured tidbits as if an outright rejection, a serious statement that they would never date, would make Irarako stop being her friend while-

There she was, kissing Iyami before Irarako’s eyes. Her very own uncle. The age gap there was strange, but not illegal, and frankly, Irarako doubted wholeheartedly that it wasn’t Rifa’s decision to come onto him first. Iyami would never intentionally flirt with a girl that he knew his niece had feelings for. He wouldn’t have done that. But, there was no honor in him strong enough to turn down a cute girl who wanted to be with him. Who wanted to hide away with him in the midst of a storm to find romance away from- Irarako.

From her.

She didn’t know what hurt the most, if it was the lies, or if it was that they hid from her, that she was positioned as their obstacle. That they didn’t trust her enough- or thought her too fragile, maybe. Whatever the reason, she was serving as a burden to both of them, a chain around their ankles from being open about the way they wanted to be. Her friends, the closest people in her life. The uncle who cared for her and the girl who saw past her status, viewing her as somebody who one way or another… Whether it was to protect her to avoid her chewing them out, was the root cause of their inability to be openly in love.

Her fault, right? It always was. Her mother and uncle lived more comfortably before she was born. Her uncle and her best friend fell in love and hid it from her. Her best friend acted like it was necessary to pretend she might like girls just to keep her friendship- So what? What, did the management at the dojo humor her too? Would the kids prefer a teacher who could talk more clearly, was it just pity? Was she being pitied on all sides and that was the only reason she had anything worth holding onto at all?

Why did she have to be born?

Why did she have to be born _on this Earth_?

And before she could be seen.

She ran.


	319. Stage Two, Day 10: A Head's Up

“Wowee, that is salacious! A little bit. Still kinda laaaame, though. What, the big climax of the story between Rifa and Irarako is that Rifa… Turns out to be a straight girl? Ugh, that’s only an obstacle if you’re a _coward_.”

“Eva, that’s not nice. How would you feel if a man said that you being a lesbian is only an obstacle for cowards?”

“Uhm, well, he’s right. But nobody’s bravery would actually save them from me just straight-up murdering them anyway so that doesn’t matter! Really. It’s okay to have terrible worldviews if you’re able to protect yourself from having those worldviews applied to yourself!”

“If only we were all so utterly capable.”

“In any case, there’s gonna still be one mooore conquest video for you guys to check out, so don’t think that’s the end of things! I mean, really. What sort of ending would that be? Somebody who’s _obviously_ still alive breaking down and wishing that she’d never been born. Like, if Irarako wasn’t standing right here, then you could say, oh boy, cliffhanger! I wonder if she suicided or not! But you know she didn’t. Cause she’s here. So we gotta have one more video.”

“Well, besides. It isn’t as if Irarako has committed any sin yet, so the reveal that she’s slothful is still waiting. Very well, until then. Illuminate.”

“A brighter future!!”

“For humanity.”

\--

The door of the Ebizakaya home opened, and Irarako stumbled out of it, looking kind of dazed. She stopped short at the bottom of the porch steps, then wrapped her arms around herself and took a deep breath. “That’s… Yeah. See. I was real… Real stupid.”

“I wouldn’t call that stupid,” Ushina said, “But for somebody who comes across as so headstrong, you lack personal agency… A lot. Um, not to say that I’m accusing you that- That still sounds bad but I just mean. It’s not your fault? I’m sorry. I don’t really know how to talk to people.”

“...Okay.” Irarako shrugged.

“Ira…” Syoko spoke up, “After seeing that, I. Well, I want to be completely upfront with you, you know? I don’t want to give you any… Wrong impressions? I don’t want to be anything like Kiriyaga, is what I’m saying.”

“Yea?” Irarako looked up at her.

“Complete honesty here is that I do like you. I have, and have for a while had, feelings for you, Ira. I want you to be aware of this, even if you don’t feel the same way. All the same, I don’t want us to start a relationship if you _do_ feel the same way. Which has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with me…” Syoko looked away. “I don’t… Deserve somebody like you, but after seeing that, you do deserve to know that I actually like you, that I really do. And if… I mean. I’ll ask you out after my ruin, so that you can know what you’re getting into. Who you’d actually be dating if. You wanted to at all.”

“Who I’d be datin’?” Irarako asked, then furrowed her brow and frowned. “Sounds weird. Why can’t just say yeah Syoko, I like ya, an’ then we do? It ain’t like what’s in your conk-vids gonna change what I know ‘bout you. Person I got to know’s still you, still gon’ be Syoko Saihara no matter what the past says?”

“Oh no, I think that she’s being smart here…” Ushina agreed, “Because for all you know… You fell in love with Syoko Saihara, and yet, that’s not the person who’ll be standing in front of you once her past is exposed to you.”

“That’s what I mean, yeah. Thanks… Nokage.” Syoko hugged her arms close around herself. “I wasn’t going to say anything until after… Whenever my ruin is. But after seeing how Kiriyaga treated you, I thought you needed to know. Even if you realize that I’m a disgusting person who isn’t worth your time at all, hah. At least now you know that, well. There’s someone who likes you for real, not just humoring you, and definitely doesn’t think you’re a burden at all.”

“Well sure,” Irarako said, “Real appreciate it, even if I don’t whole understan’ what’s the deal here, I get it? Issok. But kinda concern, Syoko. Never heard you say such bad stuff ‘bout yourself before. Kinda thought you knew real well how yer amazin’?”

“It’s…” Syoko trailed off.

“It’s complicated,” Yosuke stepped in for her, “Even I don’t completely understand it, it’s really the kind of thing… If anybody really needs the conquest videos to explain what’s happened, it’s probably Syoko because of those complications. And well, me, because I have traumas I don’t remember and therefore _can’t_ talk about firsthand but, you know.”

“I don’t know! But I’ll take yer words fort.” Irarako looked back in the direction of the gate. “Should be open now, right? There’s gotta be one… One vid left’s, they said. An’ that’s it, the real deal. My sin.”

“I bet it picks right up where that vid left off!” Homura said, “So, yeah, consider me hooked to know what happened!”

“I am too,” Ushina said, their voice shaking as usual but somehow excited at the same time. “Those Conquest Videos… They really show what you were thinking in that moment and everything! As much as… As much as I’m sorry you went through that, Ebizakaya, I think that it’s really interesting. Usually, you never get to understand somebody’s real thought process, not really. Intentions and meanings and everything get lost between mind and articulation, but this way… We get to really see how you actually felt in those moments.”

“It’s kind of insensitive of you to be so excited over this when you won’t even have to go through Conquest Videos yourself,” Shin said.

“Oh, I wish I could. Do you think that Evangeline and Osiris might create some for me now that I’m here?” Ushina asked, pressing its hands to its cheeks. “I’ve got a _lot_ of trouble articulating myself, like I said, I don’t know how to talk to people. If you guys could actually see what my past looks like… Who I am and what I’ve been through and how I ended up the program I am today, I’d be really happy if that could happen. Because I have no idea… How to talk about those things myself.”

“I understand how you feel, honestly,” Syoko said, “Whenever my videos are shown… Maybe I’ll be judged, but it will be a weight off my shoulders all the same.”

“I imagine it will be… Saihara.” Ushina nodded, giving her a long look before it joined Irarako and Homura in walking towards the gate. The rest were along shortly.


	320. Stage Two, Day 10: The Path Forward

The gate, upon approach, was open. Solving the puzzle had cleared the way forward, into the final part of the ruin. Several members of the party found themselves wondering what could possibly await in the fifth conquest video, after that last one. Discovering her uncle and her best friend in the dojo, and yet, it was back in that first forest area where Irarako claimed her lowest moment, the roughest part of her past would be taking place.

In reality, the dojo didn’t have a gate like this, and the houses weren’t so close together, but as soon as the gate opened a long path stretched out, defying the general sense of space that the participants had prior to that. The actual distance to walk from the gate to the dojo, though they looked very near to each other before, was most certainly the same distance that Irarako had stumbled through the rain in that past conquest video. And, just as Irarako had predicted when they first set foot in the ruin, that rain was emulated as well, pouring down that corridor from the clouds which had hung over the entire forest.

Katsue unblinkingly unfolded her umbrella, as the winds of the storm were not being represented the same as its rain was. She had a weapon equipped which could protect her from that rainfall, so she may as well take advantage of it. Saya was still a bit chilled from her time being blasted by frozen gas, so she was invited under that umbrella as well.

Though everybody else was left without protection from the rain, they pressed on, starting down that path in spite of the weather. They all stayed alert, but there didn’t seem to be any enemies in this stretch. Homura had his ears peeled most of all, and all he could hear was the rain itself. With his sensitive hearing, he definitely _would_ have noticed if there were any movements from enemies over the din of the downpour.

It was only upon eventual closer approach to the dojo itself that there were any noises to be found, and those… Well, they were the noises of those small creatures, shuffling around, their tails dragging across the tatami mats. Those, and their phrases, muffled through the door and barely audible for the distortion atop that factor. Irarako, however, could tell what they were saying. After all, they were familiar words to her. They were things that children she knew had said to her.

“_Watch, sensei!_”

“_What happened to you?_”

“_...Why don’t you play with us anymore??_”

Irarako pressed her soaked hands to her ears, letting strands of her hair hang over the backs of her knuckles. She didn’t want to hear this right now… She couldn’t hear this right now. Here in the rain, in this place, the voices of those kids. Those kids that she’d failed because of her selfish personal problems. Those kids who still thought the world of her, who never even realized just how badly she’d failed them. And oh, she had. She certainly had. Yet they still trusted her. She didn’t deserve that.

But she didn’t deserve this, either, this onslaught of memory thrown at her only to hurt. What she did was bad, but she’d already paid in sweat and tears plenty. More of it was unnecessary, but then, the opponents wouldn’t see it that way. Evangeline and Osiris desired only to see them suffer, see them falter, and someday see them fail. Or to succeed, really. Even Irarako could tell, despite everything, that they would gracefully accept a loss if the survivors legitimately held out through the entire process. If for Eva’s part, they didn’t all die, and for Osiris’s part, they weren’t swayed into giving up and adopting his belief about the world.

Irarako didn’t, in a cosmic sense, deserve what was happening right now. Probably none of them did, and yet, it was still happening. These were sins for which they’d already atoned in some way or another, right? And yet, they were being subjected to the sharing of those sins, and the consequences. Those consequences which weighed so… So heavy.

Well, wait. Was that it? Was that… No, not at all, really. Irarako could very clearly tell the difference between afflictions of a mental nature, such as when she first saw the small creatures. Metaphysical, as with the creature of wrath… And actually physical, and that was it now. She wasn’t frozen in place by the pain of the creatures’ voices, not this time. It was something else that made her start to move more sluggishly, less easily.

And just like that, the distance had been covered. It wasn’t that far- Even ‘further than implied by the gate’ wasn’t excessive, it hadn’t even taken her more than fifteen minutes stumbling in the rain. Yet, she felt tired as if it had been twice as much distance, if not more. She felt wrong, somehow. Something wasn’t right, here.

Yume rushed in, as she was wont to do, and tugged at the sliding door. It opened without resistance, and immediately the noises of the small creatures inside grew louder. They weren’t visible yet, and didn’t sound like they were rushing the door. If anything at all, it sounded like they were roughhousing with each other, like they were playing around. A [ploy to make the survivors feel bad, for sure. After all, the creatures were fabricated enemies, designed to be similar to people that their targets had known… As far as Irarako could tell, anyway. Yume saw creatures act like people who were already dead, plus, Eva and Ris claimed that a victory would mean saving people, more than would be implied if those people were these creatures they were fighting.

In the face of all of this logic, she still couldn’t help but feel a pang of concern- Though it was overtaken in moments by concern for herself as her legs-

Stopped.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling, this particular _lack_ of feeling which she had been mildly warned of by the heaviness, but hadn’t expected at all. She wrote the warning sign off, because this didn’t make sense to her. Not right now, not like this- It should have been fine, after all, she was extended just a bit ago, so her body should have been-

But ‘should’ didn’t change the fact that her legs had given out on her and dropped her to the floor unceremoniously, numb to the point of wondering if she’d ever even had them at all.


	321. Stage Two, Day 10: Life Keeps Passing You By

“Hey kids!” Both of the hosts of Extend TV suddenly appeared on a monitor on the wall.

“This isn’t really Extend TV time yet, but we just couldn’t _wait_ to tell you about this,” Eva continued, “Because you’ve just discovered the lovely slothful status condition that Irararara can receive from watching her Conquest Videos!! Awe, here’s a fun lil fact, Ushina could be afflicted too… But, that hasn’t happened! And it sure wouldn’t have as drastic an effect on them.”

“What is this drastic effect, you may ask? Well, it’s referred to as the ‘passing time’ condition. It doesn’t do much… But what it does do, well, here you have it. No, it doesn’t cause your legs to give out under you. Rather, as the name implies, it causes you to experience the passage of time at a quicker rate. While afflicted with the status condition, your body rapidly behaves as if many more days have passed since the last time you were extended. There is no method through which to recover from this, as there would be no point. You either die of some other cause, or progress long enough under the influence of the condition that you wither away.”

“Oh wow! Sounds real unpleasant!” Evangeline cackled. “Withering away of old age, to dust, to dust! Not like that’s gonna happen to our lil sloth here though. She’s gonna wither away for a completely _different_ reason!”

“No she’s not,” Osiris chided, “After all, she fell over before they defeated any of the enemies in this new area.”

“Hm. You’re right!” Evangeline blinked a few times, then the monitor shut off. No sooner had the distinctive noise of a television powering down faded than the small creatures made their appearance beyond the audio and into the visual. Last time the survivors had the drop on them, but this time, it was the creatures with the upper hand, especially against the downed Irarako. She was the first to be killed as a small creature crashed into her, using the momentum as it knocked her over for another to pierce her from behind with its clione tail.

It seemed like those tails were the only actual method the creatures had to deal damage, but that was plenty nonetheless. In the rush of things, they were also able to take out Yume, and for good measure, Homura too, all in an instant. Rather than try to fight off the creatures, the others just did their best to grab the items, while Ushina took upon itself the task of gathering the X-Keys before taking off for the exit. Everybody agreed with that and went to flee, the creatures turning around to wander away the moment that they all committed to running from the ruin.

The moment they’d all crossed the bridge, Ushina fell over. It didn’t go the way Irarako had, not a fall caused evidently by a physical affliction, but rather, it just went limp like a ragdoll. Dropped like a stone to the sand and clutched the X-Keys that it had picked up close to itself as they lay on their side, taking deep breaths.

“Nokage…?” Yosuke asked, crouching down in front of it. “Are you, uh. Okay?”

“No… Not really…” It muttered, squeezing their eyes shut. “I mean I- I don’t- It’s. I haven’t been able to watch you since the Zero Sum Game started. The Killing Game was… different. Observing there was, it was. That’s the sort of thing I’m supposed to do, right? But now I’m. Here. And it’s not what I’m supposed to do. I’m a survivor just like you guys so I’m supposed to not want you to get killed so much but here I am here now and just as soon as I’m here I. I mean I never had to _see_ Homura die before…”

“You probably will have,” Saya said, “Soon enough.”

“H-Huh? I just… Did?”

“I mean, when he did die before. The time you didn’t see it, back in the real world. Not in a Neo World. You couldn’t have seen that happen, right? But you will, when we watch Homura’s Conquest Videos. You called them fascinating before, but… You’ll have to see his, and mine as well. Did you understand that before?” Saya stepped forward, staring down at the AI.

“I-I-I…” It stuttered, but at least sat back up to look and meet Saya’s blank gaze. “I guess I didn’t… Think about that part of it. I want to see the, I want… I like watching those kinds of things but I think it’s different when it’s real like this, when it’s people I know? Hearing about… Bad things that happen to people is interesting. But watching someone die is just sad, and. Seeing everything that happened to you, up close like that, you’re right. It seems. I don’t… Wanna after all.”

“I thought you might not.” Saya tilted her head. “You’re an odd one, aren’t you? It’s almost like… You don’t even know how to process your own emotions at all. Which is funny coming from me, I know, because I certainly don’t do that in a _productive_ manner. But at least I do it.”

“It’s like…” Ushina’s lip started to wobble. “The way I think I’m supposed to feel… And the way I know people expect me to feel… And the way I actually do feel are all completely different and I don’t. Get it. Why does this bother me so bad? The Killing Game didn’t. And hearing about serial killers and stuff doesn’t. Me and Homura talked about True Crime all the time and it was fine, I liked it, it’s super interesting… And like, I should, just think this is all so cool but it’s _not_. It is a little bit but it mostly just hurts.”

“Yeah,” Saya said, “I know. But, come on. We need to bring them back, and then things will be fine again, right? At least, um. Homura will be back to comfort you better than I can.”

“Mhm, yeah… He will be. But, um, is it… Is this really okay?” Ushina looked away. “You let him… Get killed again. I mean, I did too, but I wasn’t allowed to do anything anyway? He’s… Hasn’t he already died enough? At least all of you know every time you’re gonna come back. Before, when he got extended outside of any NWP, he didn’t know. Not the first time.”

“Excuse me?” Katsue questioned, “We didn’t _let_ that happen at all, and you know, I can’t say I appreciate the accusation. All of these accusations, for that matter. We’ve shown you the kindness of allowing you, a stranger, to accompany us through what will likely be the most difficult task in all of our lives. The least you could do is stop saying weird things about us and accusing us of negligent adventuring.”

“...Right. Sorry. I’m sorry.” Ushina got back to its feet, finally, and started walking towards the dining hall so it could extend Homura.

“I’m not so sure about that apology,” Syoko said, then turned to Yosuke and narrowed her eyes. “Is it just me, or does it seem like that last bit was meant more for you and me, than for the others? About letting him get killed again?”

“I didn’t notice anything like that,” Yosuke said, “I think you’re reading too much into it. Considering your own past, and all.”


	322. Stage Two, Day 10: One More Sleep Till Conquest

Homura Shinku _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Small Creature:** Reduced damage from Small Creatures.  
**Death by Clione Tail:** Reduced damage from Tail Attacks.

Irarako Ebizakaya _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Small Creature:** Reduced damage from Small Creatures.  
**Death by Clione Tail:** Reduced damage from Tail Attacks.  
**Died When Passing Time:** Reduced chance to be afflicted with the Passing Time condition.

Yume Mirai _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Small Creature:** Reduced damage from Small Creatures.  
**Death by Clione Tail:** Reduced damage from Tail Attacks.

“Homuraaaaa-” Ushina wailed, wrapping their arms tight around him. “I’m sorry! I wanted to protect you but the big mean moderators don’t let me use weapons! I’m so so sorry! You died again and I couldn’t do anything about it _just like before_ and I’m a terrible friend and you should probably just kill me yourself so I can maybe start to atone even a little bit for everything I’ve done to you and-”

“Ushina.” Homura chuckled and lifted a hand to the top of its head, fiddling with one of the round hair buns that they wore. “It’s fine? This is just how the Zero Sum Game works. We die a lot! And since we can come back, there’s not that much reason to try too hard to save somebody… This stuff is literally designed to kill us easily.”

“But I… I had to watch you die,” Ushina said, “And I. I didn’t before. I just heard about it. I heard you died and then I didn’t wanna talk to you anymore cause I felt bad. And now I feel even more bad, but I’d feel worse if I didn’t talk to you again and, I just. I want to make it up to you somehow… I never have before. At all. I couldn’t, and I didn’t, and I’m the worst.”

“Trust me, you’re far from the worst.” Shin rolled his eye, a very flippant reassurance.

“Well I mean, some people are worse here, for sure,” Ushina deadpanned, then went right back to whining, “But I should be better than that to my friend Homura! I failed before and I failed now and I hate myself!”

“Hating yourself is progress over not understanding yourself,” Saya said, “Remarkably fast character development, Nokage! I’m proud of you!”

“You are actually the only one here who cares about that at all,” Homura said, “I mean… Even that other stuff, I never held it against _you_. I don’t blame you at all. For any part of it! And that applies now too. I died because we were distracted. Next time, we’ll just kill those things, no problem!”

“Enough of this,” Syoko said, stepping closer to Irarako instead. “Do you care to explain, Ira, why it is that the ‘passing time’ condition caused that sort of reaction for you? Or, is that something we’ll be learning from your next Conquest Video?”

“I’m pretty sure it’ll be in there,” Irarako said, “If’n it don’t, somehow. I’ll tell before the boss. Cause I dunno if it might be able happen again from it, yknow? So. I ain’t gonna be ir-sponsible and fail tellin’ important info. But if I ain’t gotta say it myself, then won’t. Leave it to veeder.”

“Understandable.” Syoko gave a nod, then turned back around and narrowed her eyes in Ushina’s direction. “I swear to fuck, if you pull this every single time that we need to extend Shinku, then I can and will reduce you to an X-Key and keep you there for twenty-four hours.”

“Bad and naughty Ushinas get put in the X-Key Wriggler~” Homura teased, “By which I mean, I agree with her! Not because this is annoying, like _she_ thinks, but because I don’t want you to be mean to yourself this way.”

“Mhm. We agree on the sentiment if not the intent!” Syoko raised a finger. “Breakdowns are valid, of course. But we also did not sign up for this.”

“I know… I’m sorry for existing,” Ushina said, then took a step away and brushed off its sweater. “Homura, can I, um. Bunk with you tonight? I want you to have my bunking effect so that you don’t look helpless if you get killed in front of me again!”

“Yeah, okay,” Homura said, “If it’ll keep you from reacting this viscerally again, that’s really easy.”

“Mhm! It will.” Ushina nodded.

“Well, anyway.” Irarako took a step forward. “Tomorrow’s… Yeah, we’ll def be gonna get to that there hatch. Final conk-vid, an’ the boss, waitin’ for us. See the truth bout me, an’ all that shit, well, also. We oughta check if any better’s equipment can make afore we fightin’ boss?”

“I believe we may have the necessary materials at this point to create that bow,” Shin said, “Not in any selfish way, of course, but I do think it would be nice if we could be assured that I have a renewable weapon source before I use… Potentially the rest of these pellets against this boss. I can’t imagine they’ll be very effective against the third boss or beyond, what with difficulty curves and all, but. I do enjoy being able to go into a boss battle with _some_ method of attack.”

“Understandably so!” Saya said, “I still don’t have a weapon that I can use very well, but it’s still nice to have _something_ indeed! I prefer to be useful.”

“Maybe let’s _not_, you know,” Katsue said, “Set off the kid with a complex about these things again? Good grief. It’s as if Osiris devised these rules specifically to get under its skin.”

“Actually, if anything, Osiris helped us out,” Homura said, “By giving us that Jabberwock Island clause. There had to be some restriction, but you see…”

“Oh.” Yosuke realized, then went on to finish Homura’s thought. “If there’s ever an enemy which is able to _leave_ the ruins, we’ll be able to have Nokage as a secret advantage. Well, I mean. Assuming it can fight.”

“I can,” Ushina assured them, “I’m, uh, pretty good at it… Actually… If I decided to kill something, I’d really be able to do it! But I just, can’t, in the ruins, because of the rules. So if there ever was something that bad going on, something that can follow us back, then I can be your ace! If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s pulling the rug out from underneath baddies! Then killing them.”

“You talk like you’ve got experience with that! I mean fuck, I sure do, but you… How old even are you?” Yume asked, losing one train of thought just to move right on to a wholly different one.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ushina said, “How old I am, I mean. Uh, my experience too, while we’re at it! None of that matters. You know everything you need to know about this.”

“That’s not suspicious at all,” Yosuke said, “Come on, you’ve gotta give us something.”

“I mean, if it helps, my initial creation was about _nineteen_ or so, years ago? Something like that? But, well. I haven’t really experienced nineteen years, for the reasons I said before.”

“I agree, ack-chooly.” Irarako crossed her arms. “Doesn’ matter, not real. We should get some rest… We’ll craft up some stuffs in the mornin’, then get right into it, yea?”

The group agreed, and separated off into their bunk plans to send the clock ahead to another new day of ruins exploration. The eight of them, and the weird AI they’d picked up along the way.


	323. Stage Two, Day 11: Dawn Of The Final (Slothful) Day

The next morning, the first stop was breakfast, of course. Then, the workshop. The bow was made for Shin, as well as as many arrows as they could. A few miscellaneous pieces of armor were also able to be improved. None of the other weapons had any way to be boosted at current, whether lacking materials or lacking the workshop’s capability at this level of upgrade, so this was about as prepared as the group could be for the upcoming boss battle. Saya, too, had recovered the health she’d lost to the frozen gas, of course. It seemed that sleeping through the night cured most ills here.

With that preparation as good as it was going to get, the survivors returned to Kashiwagi Forest. Getting back to where they’d been wasn’t very difficult- Though several more enemies had respawned, the group was expecting them, and was able to dispatch them without sustaining any damage this time around. Likewise with the small creatures that waited inside the dojo. They weren’t particularly difficult enemies to defeat, when they didn’t have the advantage of surprise. The fact that they could only deal damage with their tails made their movements and attacks awkward for their size.

With the hallway which had stopped them short before cleared, Irarako paused for a moment to listen. No other sounds, so she turned to the others. “Prob… Gotta see that Conk-vid, and fight the boss, real soon. Don’t wanna ask y’all to get in danger for my sake like this. I betcha it’s gon’ be a real tough fight. So if ya don’t wanna… You can turn back.”

“I certainly won’t,” Syoko said, “I want to be here for you. I think that we all do. However, I do believe it may be prudent if Nokage waits by the door during the fight. The Creature of Wrath didn’t hesitate to target any of us who were in the room, and I doubt the Creature of Sloth will behave any differently. Since they can’t fight, it’s better to keep them alive to retreat if we need it.”

“I think that makes sense,” Ushina said, “I’ll hang back… And be ready to run with your X-Keys. But I do think you should be able to defeat this monster? I mean it is still. Just the second ruin.”

“Confidence like that is bound to get us killed,” Shin said, “I’d rather believe that we’ll absolutely need you to bring us back to life, than pull such a foolhardy move. Of course, we won’t lose this game. We are _going_ to defeat Evangeline and Osiris. But that doesn’t mean we won’t experience setbacks along the way, now does it?”

“Of course.” Katsue lifted her umbrella and put her free hand on her hip. “Nokage, you really are… The ace card in our deck. The one who can save us if we fail. But if we rely on you too much, thinking we won’t possibly find ourselves in a situation where you can’t help either… Right. We have to be wise about this and proceed with caution. Even still, I want to proceed. It isn’t just for your sake, Ebizakaya. I have to keep fighting through these ruins. There’s too many people I love on the line.”

“You’re really enthusiastic about saving them,” Yosuke said, “That’s admirable. I mean, obviously, I want to save my parents and the other people I know on the list. And other people too! I don’t want to lose anybody else, I want to hold onto everybody that I can. But I still can’t quite… Be as sure of myself as you two. So…”

“Don’t get it confused,” Shin said, “I’m doing this because I want to win, not because of anybody out there. After all, no one made it onto the VIP list for me. Even knowing Mika is still alive out there, that wouldn’t be enough, because in some ways allowing her to die would be a mercy. All I want out of this is to succeed.”

“You can say that.” Yume laughed. “I’m not one to talk, cause, well. Nanjo’s gonna live if I make it, and the shit I was mad at him about all along, might not’ve even been such a big deal, so I have to make sure I can get back to him and say I’m sorry! But it doesn’t seem like it’s that simple for you at all, Tsubasa. Just winning. That’s worth dying over and over for?”

“Then let’s put it this way, instead. I have no stake, but I want so badly to reach victory with all of you, that I’ll still put my suffering on the line for your sins.” He turned to look at Irarako and gave a firm nod. “I’ll stand against any monster that tries to hold any of you accountable for actions you’ve already paid for.”

It was as if Shin read her mind, to say it that way. After all, that was Irarako’s own opinion on the matter. She flexed an arm and smiled. “Thanks, y’all! I think I’m ready, yknow? For you to hear ‘bout my sin. And to fight that boss, too. Gotta stand up against… All bad those thoughts. Boss’s made of worst of times. I’m ready to put those times behind.”

With that confirmation, the group rounded the last corner and found, as expected, the Zanki Hatch with one last CRT monitor set to the side of it. Yosuke walked up and tapped the side with his mallet when it didn’t power on at approach, and it flared to life.

\--

“Owiiiie!” Evangeline complained, rubbing at the side of her head which lined up to where Yosuke had tapped the television. “Why would you do that! Just cause we were a lil slow on the uptake this time? It was soooo boring listening to you guys get all sappy about how your friends are your true power, I fell asleep!”

“If you were asleep, then it only makes sense that somebody wake you.” Osiris didn’t even look up from a book he was reading. “There are better things to do with your boredom, anyhow. Napping when you aren’t even tired is just throwing away what little time you have left alive.”

“Is that a threat??”

“Just a statement of fact. After all, if we win, everything ends. If they win, it isn’t as if we’ll be left alive by whoever we reckon with at the end of it all.” He turned the page, then frowned and tossed the book over his shoulder. “Though in any case, this final Conquest Video is bound to be more interesting than the trials and tribulations of a gorgeous vampire.”

“What?? That sounds like a Conquest Video that got thrown in out of sequence!”

“I wouldn’t call our local vampire’s problems by _those_ T Words. A bit trivial to do that, don’t you think? There’s trials and tribulations but then there’s trauma to talk about, and I don’t mean to tell anybody that their lives are one or the other, but I believe we can all agree that Edward Cullen’s troubles are trials and not traumas, true?”

“You said _gorgeous_.”

“Does my taste in men surprise you? Though, Carlisle is more my type, to be frank. Enough about me, though. Here’s **Sloth Part Five: Dead Walking.**”


	324. Sloth Part Five: Dead Walking.

Irarako’s heart was shattered mere moments ago.

And without her presence being known, without making herself heard or being acknowledged in any way, she turned and ran. She ran and ran, back out into the storm, forgetting the umbrella on the floor of the dojo and rushing herself out through the wind, rain, and mud beneath her feet. She might have twisted an ankle, but she didn’t notice. She didn’t notice anything right now. Her brain was short-circuiting with every little piece of self-loathing and despair that she had ever conjured in the depths of her soul that had been brought to the surface by this revelation.

It wasn’t like what she saw was so absurdly terrible. It wasn’t as if it was innately traumatizing or that she could blame Rifa and Iyami at all. It had everything to do with herself, and emotions she’d never bothered to address before. The pain of rejection from Rifa that she’d ignored on the basis of being a good friend. The awkwardness of now being raised by somebody who wasn’t much older than her. The deep grief and wishes that her mother had never died.

And of course, the even deeper desire she’d never voiced before. The one born of the stories her mother had told her a long time ago. Her father had come from space, then returned to his planet because of his duties there. As a child, she’d filled in the blanks as if that father were an alien. When she grew older, she still entertained the idea, found it fun to pretend, maybe, but she knew that it was more likely he was just a denizen of Dome City.

So by that measure, she also knew why he had never come to save her from this life, why he’d never come for her. He couldn’t. Interplanetary travel was only briefly possible, before the SS Akamatsu was banned from Earth’s orbit by a government coalition that considered it a threat to their way of life. It was probably a mercy to many that they couldn’t be spirited away to that place no matter how much they wanted to- But Irarako had no way, at the time, of knowing that. Nobody did.

So instead, she begged. She silently, silently begged time and time again. When I wake up, could I be with my father? In the night, couldn’t he just take me away? She didn’t consider her life terrible or even hopeless. She was an optimistic person. But she did feel trapped- While her life in Kashiwagi Forest was acceptable to her, the idea of never getting out of it, she didn’t like that. She was an Ebizakaya, but was she to lead the same life as all the others? Struggling to get by in a rural area, overlooked and underserved by even the bright light of Towa City mere miles away. Dying young of a preventable disease left ignored by medical professionals.

Anywhere would be better, she thought, even though she wouldn’t be miserable living this way. She was in a cycle, and she wanted out, for the principle of the thing. She might not be happier somewhere else. She might even feel worse. That didn’t matter to her, she just wanted out. She wanted somebody to take her away from here. Somebody to get her away from this predictable life she was leading.

Funny, that it was one of the only times she’d been surprised in that life, which led everything to bubble over. Which sent her running out into the waiting downpour. She wasn’t even sure where she was, when the rain cleared. It did clear above her, it cleared and left her standing in daylight, in mud. She took a few deep breaths and glanced around. Alone. Unsure. If ever she was to be rescued… Wouldn’t now be the time?

She pressed her palms to her eyes and started to cry. She just wanted something to change. She just wanted to connect with other people. She just wanted to escape from the yoke around her neck of being an Ebizakaya here in Kashiwagi Forest. And, as if on cue, the other aspect of her heritage decided to make itself known again. Under her, her legs buckled. The pain of her twisted ankle vanished, all feeling in her legs did, nearly in an instant. There was something about it which crept up, if she were to be in a position to pay attention and notice. But the first time, she was in a kendo match. This time, she was crying and lost in her laments. She was caught completely off guard by the way she toppled to the ground.

And so, she wailed. She couldn’t run any further. There in the plain light of day, she lay in the mud and cried at the top of her lungs, bawling them out over and over, pausing only to take hiccuping, gasping breaths. Pausing only for that, but stopping for something else.

“What happened to you, sensei?” A child’s voice. She looked up, and locked eyes with a young boy. A Kashiwagi local who’d never missed one of her kendo lessons, clutched in his arms, a plush dog that he carried with him everywhere. He was nine now, and would probably soon decide that was too childish, but Irarako thought it was sweet.

“I… I fell down,” Irarako said, then frowned. “What’re you doing all the ways out hereabouts?”

“Lookin’ for you.” He dug his toe into the mud as he admitted the reason. “Miss Rifa an’ Mister Iyami said that you disappeared during the storm. So I told them, I’ll find sensei! I’ll bring her back! And look, I did find you!”

“How long…” Irarako furrowed her brow. “How long I been missin’, huh?”

“Few hours. They seemed really worried, though. Cause you woulda told them if you were going somewhere on purpose. Can you stop being falled down?”

“I dunno if I can,” Irarako admitted.

“Oh! Okay! I’ll go an’ find help then!” He bounced in place as if it was the most exciting thing in the world, to be able to help his mentor with something. But, just as he turned to take off, Irarako realized something.

“Hey, wait!” She called out, “Do ya even know how to get back to the village from outs here?”

“Nope! I’ll figure it out, though. Don’t worry! I’ll save you, sensei!” He called back to her as he was already running away. Irarako didn’t know the way back to the village herself, admittedly, but she was pretty sure that back the way he came would be a better bet than the direction he did run.

“Hey! Hey, no, wait! Come back! Come back!” She shouted, her voice cracking with the volume, especially given her recent cry. But he was already out of earshot, because he was an athletic child with singleminded determination. There was no way he would have still been able to hear her well enough to be inclined, in any sense, to listen.

So she was alone again.

\--

The next thing that Irarako knew, she was at a hospital for the first time in her life. Lying in a bed, hooked up to machines. Rifa was sitting next to her. Just Rifa.

“...Oji-san ain’t about to set foot in here even for me, huh?” Irarako questioned groggily.

“He insisted we didn’t need to take you, but I made sure to bring you here anyway. Some of the others from the village helped me, since he wouldn’t even carry you if the place I was bringing you was the hospital.”

“He’s jus’ scare the costs. For useless docs.” Irarako shut her eyes. “Dunno though. Ain’t useless right now, feel. Was prob pretty bad me. Don’t let it change your opinion him, though… He’s real good dude. If you like him, still like him. Issokay he doesn’ wanna be here.”

“I-”

“I saw you two in the dojo. Got upset, wish you didn’ feel like had to hide from me. Ain’t that fragile. Hurt worse you thought you had to lie,” Irarako said, “But, got bigger things to worry about now…”

“Yeah. Um, about that. The doctor told me… I don’t know if he should have, legally! But he told me that you’ve got a degenerative nerve condition? That’s hereditary on the maternal side. So that probably explains some of your family history. It’s… Treatable when it’s caught early, but yours has been flaring up since you were a kid, and this last one?”

“Ain’t gonna walk, huh.” She bit her lip. “So, ain’t gonna kendo no more neither, I…”

“That’s just it!” Rifa exclaimed, “I told them all about what happened, why you didn’t seek help sooner, and what the deal is with your family? And about how you’re actually an Ultimate. Which, they verified, and… They wanna approve you for an experimental treatment.”

“Eh?”

“That’s the kind of thing they don’t usually offer to people who can’t pay for it, you know? Unless it’s _really_ untested, I guess. But apparently this one’s passed preliminary function tests with flying colors, and they wanna give you the option!” Rifa pressed her hands together. “It’s called Luciora. It’s a _nanomachine_ which can regenerate your cells! That’s any kind of cell! I guess it can even be used to bring people back from the dead, if you stored their DNA in it ahead of time? Isn’t that cool? You’d get back full use of your legs for about, two weeks after each treatment, they said.”

“...Ain’t like I got anything to lose by tryin’, huh?” Irarako folded her own hands under her chin, then remembered something. “Uh. Hey. Rifa?”

“Yes?”

“There was kid that… This kid I knew, came lookin’ for me. Ran off sayin’ he’d find help an’, is he, okay?”

“Oh. That’s… What he was doing out there.” Rifa looked down, her face falling a hundred percent from the enthusiasm she’d shown over Luciora. “After I got you here, I got a call. The folks I told where I found you went to take a look, they were curious, and just a bit away. They found him in a ditch. He slipped on the mud and cracked his head on a rock.”

Rifa left out the fact that they’d seen his plush dog first, knowing the result before they even stumbled further to his corpse. Nonetheless, Irarako could imagine it herself. And that was it, wasn’t it?

No huge mistake. Just an unfortunate accident.

And Irarako’s sin.

The end result of her slothful refusal to take her health, or her escape from Kashiwagi, into her own hands. By leaving things to fate, or begging to a father she never knew, eventually…

Doing nothing would breed a tragedy like this.


	325. Stage Two, Day 11: To Battle

“...That’s it?” Eva asked, “That’s the big sin? That’s what Irarararararara did _so wrong_ that she gets to be our lil sinner of sloth? I know that it’s a copout garbage sin by nature, but fuck! Gee, Ris? Who was the _first_ choice for sloth?”

“What? I don’t… It isn’t as if Speak lets me into their records any more than you.”

“Come _on_, you must have _some_ idea.”

“...Had Yuji Sato survived to this point, then he surely would have been a candidate for sloth, of course. But if Ebizakaya were also still here, she would still be the slothful one. As you said, it’s a copout sort of sin… Even still, I don’t find ‘that’s it’ to be a very appropriate response here.”

“But it was nothing!”

“A child died as a result of her lifelong inaction. I wouldn’t call that _nothing_,” Osiris said, “Though she is, comparatively, a good person. Then again, that’s the terror of it, right? That such an awful thing could land on the shoulders of a good person, as a result of failing to act, because this world is naturally inclined to disaster. It takes action to avoid suffering.”

“Yeah! I take loads of actions and I barely suffer at all!”

“Though, I imagine the takeaway these children will have from this video is nothing on the cruel and predictably unpredictable nature of the world around them, but instead, that one of their own who _isn’t_ Shinku was aware of Luciora this whole time.”

“Well, uh, duh. One person’s worth of Luciora would save one person’s life! Itadai woulda stayed super fuckin’ dead if there was only that one X-Key user involved.”

“Didn’t that Luciora wake up our own?”

“Yeah, sure, but the Zero Sum code wasn’t active yet, so our own Luciora couldn’t act on them yet! Actually, I dunno how they ended up with enough to revive everyone who got killed, but hey, they’re all awake back there…” Eva shrugged. “It is a mystery!”

“That you should solve.”

“For humanity!”

\---

All eyes were on Irarako.

“...Yeah,” She said, “When I… Mm. Yeah. Knew whole time ‘bout X-Keys. Never died with mine though or nothin’! Jus’, I had it. Didn’ think much bout it. Carried it around wit me, an’ ‘extended’ ever few weeks. Usin’ it while alive jus, yknow, fixed up my nerves again. Didn’ change the disease, still did the same stuff, which is why I fell over when time sped up here… An’, haha, since we gotta be dead for to extend in this place. Guess I gotta time limit.”

“That’s not… I mean, yeah, it’s kind of weird that you didn’t tell us that you were already familiar with Luciora!” Syoko waved a hand. “But that’s not what I’m worried about, at all! Why did you lie and say the thing with your legs was nothing? And, and. I can’t believe that happened to you! What right do these people have to say that’s a sin? That was just a tragedy! You didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Didn’ do anythin’, that’s the problem,” Irarako said, “You heard it, right? Whole life, did nothin’. All along, I coulda fixed things. Coulda talked to a doc. Coulda left Towa. But, didn’t. Jus’ sat and hoped that somebody else would come an’ fix things for me. I paid a price that… Coulda been worse. Shoulda been, anyone’s not an Ult to get Luciora like I did, that kinda price. An’ that kid who… Had nothin’ to do wit me or none of my shit.”

“That’s not your _fault_,” Syoko insisted, “It isn’t like… I’m sure you did everything you could to make it better after, right?”

“Course I did! That even a question?”

“So it’s not your sin, not really. Something awful happened, but that was… A terrible coincidence, really. It’s what you do after which matters. If you tried to tell some lie, make it like none of that ever happened or that you weren’t involved, then maybe you would have been a sinner. As it is, well. I think they were just trying to come up with something bad to say about you.”

“It’s… Nah I mean, more like. I were feelin’ guilt. So to me, I sinned, even if I know it ain’t nothin’ that. Well, sayin’ what if don’t help nobody, right? I always hated what happened. Hated mysel’ for not doin’ nothin’ to help or fix it, yknow? But it ain’t… somethin’ I can change now. I helped out at the village more, anyway. Never real got the chance to reconcile with Oji-san before he died, but I dunno. I don’t feel like that’s somethin’ I… I coulda died without doin’ that, and it’d be sad, but not regretful, get?”

“I understand completely,” Yume said, “Seeing those conquest videos back, it’s like… It brings stuff up that you didn’t want to think about again, but the way it’s another perspective? I decided I could move on from Shouto, after we killed that boss. I could get rid of everything I still had tied up in him. Guilt, and leftover love despite what he did, and jealousy? I could throw it away. And I got a shigabane which supports that idea! So I think you can do it too.”

“I’ll throttle it,” Irarako said, smacking a fist into her own palm. “That. That version of Rifa that I know we’re gon’ fight. The version of her what defeated me over an’ over. Defeated me in kendo, an’ in love. The bad feelin’s I got for my first best friend, that one… The Rifa I saw in the dojo, in that storm. Before she rescued me an’ I got to seein’ the real her again. That image, is what I’ll need beat.”

“You sound really sure of that,” Yosuke said, “Yume was wrong about who her boss was going to be, though. If you’re ready for it to be Rifa, but it ends up being your uncle, or that kid…”

“Ain’t think that’s likely. Even if it were, I’m ready for whatever I gotta do to get past the past.” She took a deep breath. “It ain’t like those small creatures. I know this one’ll the creature sloth. Whoever it is… Either’s already dead, or I got guaranteed is alive. Brain can’t play no nonsense with that kinda certainty.”

So Irarako’s friends all stepped forward and placed their hands against the Zanki Hatch. It didn’t respond to Ushina’s hand when it tried tapping before the others, just out of curiosity. It just needed the eight survivors who were authorized to operate as usual within the ruins. And with those eight survivors, it lit up and opened to reveal...

Unlike Yume, Irarako was right.


	326. Stage Two, Day 11: Creature of Sloth

The creature which stood there did imitate Rifa, in some ways. It had a vague appearance of being her, in any case, though it was especially monstrous. While the creature of wrath could, if it tried, have the silhouette of a human, the creature of sloth couldn’t get away with that. Its upper body looked much like Rifa, but for the way that one of its arms was fused with a sword. The lower body, meanwhile… In shadows, it may appear like the skirt of a ballgown, perhaps, but that was not the case. Rather, the creature had a multitude of legs which circled around, human legs which scuttled on the floor.

Slung over its shoulder was a bag that also appeared to be a clione in some way, and its upper body pivoted freely around the waist such that it was remiss to show its back to the survivors for more than an instant. Unlike last time, they’d been ready, and immediately spread around the arena, but the instant any of them moved as if to sneak up behind the creature, she was looking right at them again.

And that’s when her gaze landed on Irarako, and she smiled. “NOW I’ve got a shot at beating you _for_ **real**!”

She reached into the bag on her side and ripped out something which looked like a cluster of leaves, in a way. It was green, with teardrop-shaped fronds, but it moved around and writhed in her hand. She took aim, and-

An arrow landed in her elbow just as she was tossing it, veering her throw off course. Rather than plummeting towards Irarako, the bundle crashed into Yosuke. As soon as it hit him, it wrapped around his feet and dug into the tatami mats underneath as if they were just as easy to tunnel through as mud or sand, tying him by the ankles to the place where he stood.

“Sorry!” The creature laughed. “I just don’t feel that way about you!”

And she swung her sword, cleaving Yosuke apart where he stood anchored in an instant. But in that same instant, Katsue lunged forward- While Yosuke was killed, the creature left herself open to attack when the sword was being swung. Syoko noticed it as well, and there were their first three hits. Shin’s arrow, and their attacks when she left herself wide open. Another arrow sailed into her shoulder on the backswing before she could pull back around to hit Katsue, who dodged away with the opportunity provided to her.

“You’re awfully good at that!” Syoko complimented Shin’s marksmanship as she also sought to move out of the way of the creature. “I don’t think those arrows are going to break any of her clione parts, but it’s definitely slowing her down…”

“Of course. The days of my uselessness-” Shin loosed another arrow which found itself between the creature’s eyes. “-Are over.”

“Not that you were ever actually useless but hey, thanks!” Homura exclaimed, diving down to take his axe to one of the creature’s many legs. He did manage to incapacitate one, but the others swiped right around to him, knocking him away and into the wall with enough force to kill him on impact with the heavy, wide kick. Of course, it wasn’t quite that simple-

Along the way, Homura also crashed into Saya, who was caught up in the momentum as well. It was _two_ X-Keys which dropped to the floor from that single attack. Yume grit her teeth. “This thing didn’t even get the _drop_ on us and it’s getting us as bad as the wrath one did!”

“Less talking, more fightin’!” Irarako called out as she managed to incapacitate another one of the legs, and with her weapon being of a piercing sort, she dodged the retaliatory kick that was aimed at her this time. The creature of sloth shrieked out, a vague noise which didn’t match any of its phrases, and reached for another one of the leaf-like items in her bag.

Shin acted just as before, but quicker, hitting her hand on the way out of the bag instead of mid-throw. She dropped it to the floor, where it reached up and attached to another one of her own legs… But she just pulled her body away and left the leg where it was anchored, seemingly without a second’s hesitation, then snatched another one of the items which she aimed for Shin, the thorn in her side thusfar that she clearly meant to remove. In midair, the bundle was stabbed through the center by Katsue’s umbrella.

It withered and died on the end of her weapon, which she whipped around with a fierce gaze to pierce through the strap of the creature’s bag on one side, her midsection, the strap on the other side. The bag fell to the ground, but unlike when a single bundle fell, it didn’t react- just withered the same as the individual one that Katsue had caught on the end of her weapon, and the price for her clever thinking was to be completely vulnerable when the creature cut her down with that sword.

Katsue had certainly disabled its ability to anchor its opponents in place- Just how Shin had been able to temporarily disable that similar ability in the creature of wrath previously. It was evidently a different sort of immobility that they inflicted, of course. Sloth’s intention was to imitate Irarako’s physical condition, while Wrath’s was to imitate the fact that Yume was unable to wake up during the atrocities being committed against her. That much seemed pretty obvious.

“Hey!” The creature still sounded unusually perky within her distortion. “Couldja tell me, is your uncle seeing anybody?”

“Jus’ curious, my ass…” Irarako muttered bitterly, then upped her voice as she stabbed her sword through another one of the knees. “S’ jus’ stupid to still sayin’ that shit to me, creach! Rifa’s got all chewn’ out for lead me on an’ shit!”

“Ebizakaya-kun…” The creature growled, then reached down with the arm that wasn’t a sword and pulled that incapacitated lower leg apart from the knee. It wasn’t a gruesome sight, exactly, but still startling, before she reared back and tossed the leg towards Syoko. On impact, it had the same effect as a kick from an attached leg had, and then there were three.

Four, if they counted Ushina.

But not for long. Yume had been getting in some good hits during the creature’s focus on other participants, but there wasn’t nearly as much of an opening a she thought during the defeat of Syoko. Without nearly as much of a cooldown period, really as soon as the leg was tossed from her hand, the sword arm swung around in a circular arc to catch Yume before she could get away after a heavy blow to the back. Irarako furrowed her brow. “S’two… Should we, retreat?”

“I don’t think so.” Shin had been landing arrows this entire time, even aside from the strategically targeted ones, and had avoided being killed despite the creature’s clear efforts to remove him from the battlefield. “Her attack patterns are changing, after all.”

“Huh?”

“That means…” Another landed in her ribs. It was as if Shin could fire arrows just as quickly as he could nock them, which was quicker than the others could usually get a second attack in. But the limitations did seem to be in amount of damage, since there was no way to ‘charge’ a heavier attack, and in breakage. Even an arrow directly to the creature’s knee didn’t seem to inhibit her in any comparable way to a melee weapon. “We hit another boss phase. She’s bound to go down soon.”

“If’n… You say so!” Irarako exclaimed, and lunged forward to spear through the creature’s stomach. She was looked down upon, so she looked right back up as she drew back to try and get another blow in a quickly as she could. An arrow sailed over her head, throwing the sword off course so she could follow through on that. “Rifa… I know you ain’t the monster like this. But I used to think’n you were, once. A lil while. An’ someone else got hurt because I did… So I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything! An’ I’m ready to be done with this _fucked up_ version of ya!”

Around Irarako’s sword, the creature of wrath dissolved away, turning to ash which scattered into the arena. With just two participants left in the room, the boss was defeated. The door to the manager’s office on the far side of the room popped open, and the sound of an Extend Machine could be heard drifting through it. The Creature of Sloth, the Rifa Kiriyaga who betrayed Irarako Ebizakaya, was gone from this world.

But Irarako didn’t linger to mourn that distortion at all. Instead, she bounded ahead to the waiting Extend Machine. After all.

She had a story to listen to.


	327. The Story Of A Marriage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We do of course have the Osiris Story Recording again! It gave me emotions to record, not really because of the content but because of the Osiris. Unfortunately the quality is also a little bit worse because I was in a hurry to get it done before a thunderstorm and I've had a lot of allergies lately, but I hope you can enjoy it still!

“Let’s see…” There was Ris again, just like last time. “These Conquest Videos lacked the answers you would hope for, didn’t they? The person who Irarako wished would come and save her. The alien… The man from outer space. Of course, it’s in part, his sin which led to hers. I’ll share for you… The story of a **marriage**.”

\--

Once there was a man and a woman, and they were very much in love. Does that sound familiar? It should. Men and women in love are often parents, after all, and if we’re searching for sins of the past generation, of course they would be. However, that’s not the case here. The man and woman who were very much in love were not the parents of Irarako Ebizakaya. They were a married couple whose last name was Ueda. Ayu and Kurou Ueda, I’ve met them myself. Lovely people. Yet, they too, have a sin which ripples out from the past until today.

There is nothing which separates the sinners from the virtuous. The worst people can keep to themselves and commit no sins in their life, and the best people can make mistakes and cause grievous harm despite their best efforts. I do not condemn the Uedas for their sin, but I do condemn the path their actions led them down. The single mistake which created the result.

This marriage was one built on communication and trust, and a love too deep to even imagine. The pair of them were married and had a child before the Final Killing Game ever took place. The kind of people who became adults with a peculiar swiftness, who had established themselves with a typical normalcy while a majority of their peers were still trying to find their footing in the world.

This married couple received and took an invitation to Dome City. It was in line with their desires, after all, to live in the most peaceful place possible. Let’s disregard the way that Dome City enforced that peace, as that is a sin more broad than any individual left alive. The Uedas went to Dome City and made a home there, but this was well before Earth’s orbit decided that the SS Akamatsu was no longer allowed to visit.

Thus, Kurou found himself returning to Earth from time to time. His talent was carpentry, and that was universally useful. He helped out in Towa City for a few weeks at a time before returning home, and during this time, he would find himself flirting. This wasn’t a sin by any means- It was previously agreed upon between the couple. To avoid staleness in their marriage, they each permitted the other to explore, particularly at times when they were apart from each other.

There was one certain exploration at hand in this matter, though. The one which would lead to a sin, with a woman whose name was Diana. Diana and Kurou met in a bar in Towa City, where he had gone to unwind from the day and she had gone for fun, newly twenty and ready to indulge with the bit of money she’d saved up to try some fancy cocktails now that she could legally order them.

She was not a woman who cared much about the law, but she wasn’t a bad person either, and if she had the opportunity to follow a rule then she would take it. There were plenty of laws which she broke out of necessity- After all, she’d had to raise herself and her brother, eleven years younger than her, for a few years now. He had some friends who were glad for his company, so she was usually able to send him off overnight for the sake of her work. Tonight, though, she’d sent him off for the sake of her enjoyment.

She deserved a night off, a night to herself. And of course, she really did. She was a hard worker living a difficult life, nobody would deny her that and nobody _should_. And at this point, she was one person caring for two. When she would become one person caring for three, maybe she could no longer get away with a night like this. At the time, it was all she needed.

Even if that night would be the one which prompted her to care for three… I dare anyone to hold it against her, and I’d be sure that if the dust of armageddon clears from this world, your life will blow away with it. Diana Ebizakaya has no sin in this story. She never did.

And for all he knew himself, Kurou Ueda had no sin either. Yet, there they were. Diana and Kurou in the very same bar on the very same night, though they were normally worlds apart, there they were. And they spoke. They sat beside each other at the bar and drank and swapped stories, back and forth, for hours. Fascinated with each other, though I couldn’t tell you most of what they said, I know some of it.

I know Diana mentioned her younger brother, and I know she spoke of the medical misfortune which followed her family around. I know that she turned down an invitation to Dome City, preferring to stay where she was. I doubt she made this decision based on any knowledge of the ill-fated nature of the city she had been invited to, given that Towa operated on a similar premise anyhow… But I commend her anyway, for turning down the offer, even if the motivation was only that she would rather stay in the place where her family had always lived.

I know that Kurou extended that invitation, of course. I also know that Kurou committed a grievous sin during this conversation. Yes, it was something he said which was his sin- It was the sin of him and of his wife, the sin of a married couple, not just his. It was by no means a sin when, in accordance with he and his wife’s open marriage, he took Diana up on her rare offer of one free night with her. It wasn’t a sin on anyone’s part when the contraception they were using failed. It wasn’t a sin for Diana to fail to get any contact information for Kurou before he left, leaving herself with no way to tell him when his daughter had a half-sister on the way.

The sin was the reason that Diana didn’t do that. The reason why Kurou was never able to be made aware of his other daughter, the reason why he would never answer her cries. Asking for the man from space to return and save her, to come and take her away from this place and away from this life and somewhere that she would feel loved, and appreciated, and where people wouldn’t lie to her at every turn-

But Kurou told Diana all about his family. He spoke at length about his beautiful wife and his precious daughter. He filled her in completely, pride in his heart and swelling in his chest the whole way through. Diana was falling in love with him by then, but he was already in love. So she couldn’t be in love with him and she couldn’t have her own family with him. She didn’t ask to keep in touch, because she was sure he wouldn’t want to hear from her. She never tried to look him up when she was pregnant, because, again, that wasn’t something he needed to know. Somebody like her, she thought, had no place in the life of a man like that.

He would have invited the news. He would have done everything he could, but he and his wife had committed a sin which left Diana in the weeds, and by extension, Irarako as well. That sin was the sin of telling Diana about his family. That sin was one of pride, the pride that Kurou and Ayu had in their own marriage and in their own family. By claiming and lauding that perfection, another family was left to flounder without the kind of support that a man like Kurou would have always been willing to provide.

There was no massive failure the way that there was in the story of Mirai. There was nothing which happened that would be seen as an evil act or as something wrong. Yet, that’s how a sin of pride often behaves, isn’t it? Because being proud is an admirable trait right up until it becomes arrogance and self-importance, or until it landed in such a way that an admirable pride harms somebody else. I’ll repeat, I hold nothing against anybody in this story. They’re good people. And in those conquest videos you saw, too. Iyami’s actions were questionable, but nonetheless. Good people, with no grand cruelty committed amongst any of them.

Yet, it still ended in tragedy. An admirable pride in one’s home life created the environment in which another could commit a most egregious sin of sloth. Had something been done, anything, by anyone? Then a life would have been saved, perhaps several. A good person would never need to live with the guilt of an awful result to an uncontrollable nonaction. The world turns on, this rotten world, and as it spins so does a tapestry of fate so tangled, so unpleasant to view that to look upon it directly would drive any creature with a mind to inescapable ruin.

I’ve looked upon it directly. So it’s no surprise I’d like to bring the entire world to ruin with me.

And you, well. As you conquer these ruins, you see bits and pieces. More and more of this world’s truth. The misery that runs to its core and brings suffering to all and any, those who’ve done everything correct, who’ve done no harm, who’ve never even had a chance to learn if they are capable of harm… Crushed, destroyed, by the whims of the world around them, through no fault of their own. Someday it will be clear to you as well, and then.

I’m certain you’ll join me in desiring an inky black future for humanity.


	328. Stage Two, Day 11: My Onee-Chan

Homura Shinku _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Sloth:** Reduced damage from Sloth-Based Enemies.  
**Death by Wide Kick:** Reduced damage from Kicks.

Saya Yoshiro _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Sloth:** Reduced damage from Sloth-Based Enemies.  
**Death by Wide Kick:** Reduced damage from Kicks.

Yosuke Oowada _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Sloth:** Reduced damage from Sloth-Based Enemies.  
**Death by Clione Sword:** Reduced damage from Clione Weaponry.  
** Died while Unable to Move:** Reduced chance at being afflicted with paralysis.  
** Death by Anchoring Clione:** Reduced damage from Anchoring Attacks.  
**Died To Personal Weakness:** Reduced damage from All Swords. (Killed by a Sword.)

Katsue Nageko _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Sloth:** Reduced damage from Sloth-Based Enemies.  
**Death by Clione Sword:** Reduced damage from Clione Weaponry.

Syoko Saihara _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Sloth:** Reduced damage from Sloth-Based Enemies.  
**Death by Wide Kick:** Reduced damage from Kicks.

Yume Mirai _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Sloth:** Reduced damage from Sloth-Based Enemies.  
**Death by Clione Sword:** Reduced damage from Clione Weaponry.

The extension of everybody who’d died- Who was, nearly everybody, period, left the group unwilling to talk or really discuss everything that had just happened. The difficulty of the battle, sure, but more distinctly, the story which had revealed that Irarako’s father was, all along, somebody that they were all to some extent aware of. The father of one of their peers… Who had already died.

And Katsue, the one who was in part responsible for that death, was the one who ended up seeking out Irarako alone on Jabberwock Island. She was sitting on the ground by the bridge to Kashiwagi Forest, but she wasn’t looking at it. Instead, her eyes were turned to the sky again. Katsue sat down beside her. “So Ayano was… Your half-sister, this whole time, huh?”

“Yeah. Ain’t never coulda guessed… I were spittin’ image my mom, so we didn’ even real look alike at all,” Irarako said, turning to Katsue. “Jus’ cause I know I’m related her now, don’t mean I think any different you for how she died, y’know.”

“Thanks. I think she’d appreciate you being straightforward that way.”

“Were her idea what to do it, if it even went through. An’ it didn’t, so can’t hold ‘gainst you. My onee-chan, huh? Mean. Already felt real sad she died what for bein’ my friend. But then again.” She smiled a bit. “Now I got her to real wanna save too, yeah? Cause she’s my family too. I got family left after all, even though Oji-san died for reals.”

“It must have been lonely,” Katsue said, “When you thought there was nobody. You hid it well, but…”

“Ya. Pretty lone, to think’s jus’ me left. But I got whole other fam, right? Ris said loads of times if my dad knew ‘bout me he’d take good care me. An’ Ayano, I always got along with her fine. Is nice, real! Reassuring. Don’t feel so alone. Not that I felt super alone… With friends like you guys. But fam’s different.”

“Yes,” Katsue said, “It is. Once you all see my Conquest Videos, you will… Probably hate my entire family. My big sister made me shallow promises, and both of my parents have really hurt me. But I still love them. Despite all of that, I do still love them. So it’s going to hurt, hearing what you all have to say about them.”

“I can keep shut-mouth if-”

“Don’t… Even try to promise that. All of you are passionate people, you won’t be capable of staying silent when you see what happened. But… Just, maybe if you could moderate it. I don’t want to hear about how my family who I once loved are rotten to the core, that they’re bad people, because I never thought they were. They were a wonderful family until the day that they weren’t. I can’t let go of the love I had for _those_ people just because they morphed into other worse people over time.”

“I get,” Irarako said, “Mean. Couldn’t never really hate Oji-san. Even if thought for split seconds real bad things bout him, I wouldn’ wanna hear other folks things sayin’. I still wanna… Have a proper funeral for ‘im when we get outta here. Even if just me an’ Rifa’d show.”

“I would go, if that would help. But I didn’t know him, so maybe you’d rather I didn’t.”

“I’d appreciate real, the support,” Irarako said, “If’n you were willin’ to, yeah. An’ I really won’t talk too bad of your fam, yknow. I know how that shit feel.”

“I don’t think you’ll be able to restrain yourself. Certainly, others won’t. Yume, Syoko, for sure. I’ve seen it once already… The way that people will believe they’re protecting me by speaking ill of others. If they’d do it to Yuji, who hadn’t actually done any of the things that they thought, then they will do it to people who actually did harm me.” Katsue sighed. “It isn’t like I don’t know that they’re cruel, and that I deserve better people in my life. They’ll treat me as if I don’t, though. As if them saying that my family is terrible will be some wake-up call to something I hadn’t been aware of. I’m not that dumb. I just still remember when they weren’t.”

“Mm… Are ya thinkin’ this’ll be soon?”

“I’m fairly convinced at this point that my ruin will be _next_. Based on the items we’ll be needing next… And the way things have been going so far. I’m pretty worried about it.”

“Worry bout?” Irarako tilted her head to one side. “Well, sure. If’n it’s you next it’ll be stressful… But you don’t gotta worry too much. It’ll be fine. If you ask others be real careful not what to imply you stupid for the unhating-”

“It isn’t just that I’m worried about. That’s just the only part of it I’d worry about when it comes to _you_.” Katsue wrapped her arms around herself and looked away. “I’m certainly… Not innocent, the way that you are. And I don’t think you’ll judge me for that. Everyone is liable to judge my family for what happens there. Perhaps Yuji as well, though he hasn’t done anything nearly as wrong as them. Or as wrong as… Me. “

“You?”

“Mhm. It isn’t just… Well, it’s bad enough that I still care about my family after what they did, right? Any good person would want to condemn them completely, cut ties and run no matter how hard that would be or how complicated your life would become. I didn’t do that. And I was… Just as responsible for what ended up happening in the end. For the destruction of my family.”

Before Irarako could try to make some case for Katsue, why she couldn’t possibly be at fault and was blaming herself for something that wasn’t her fault at all, she walked away.


	329. Stage Three: Only Ribbon Round It:

  
  
  



	330. Stage Three, Day 12: Someone You Can Spend Your Life With

Katsue Nageko was the first one to wake up that day. She’d hardly been able to sleep at all, actually. She was the one who slept alone this time, letting everyone else set up bunking effects, because she expected this outcome. Expected to be unable to get any rest in anticipation of the outcome that she was now standing, staring alone into, floating out on the ocean with her feet planted here in the sands.

The bridge which had materialized for this ruin stretched to a dock which jutted out from a familiar waterfront, the docks upon which her fishing town in Okinawa made its money. Calling it a village was a holdover from the past- It was a bustling city by this point, frankly, though it was still much quieter than many cities could be. To measure it, one just had to look at the entertainment district, and that was on display in this ruin as well. Where the wharf’s edge faded away and entertainment faded in, there was a rather small club that appeared here now. The one that Katsue had been to so many times.

The Memento Mori Nightclub, a place which was open most of the time but busy mostly on its themed nights. It stared back at her from across the swells. She was, admittedly, a bit surprised to see that her ruin focused on a place like that. The worst of her sins, that which the Conquest Videos would expose, happened in other places. The side of a road, her family home. She supposed that those docks made sense in a way, though.

Her sins, which numbered too many to count. Her sins, which she would be judged for one way or another, she was certain of it. Her peers might say that she had no fault in the matter at all, but turn and call her stupid for being hurt when they put all the blame on other people. She honestly couldn’t imagine a truly positive outcome from this, though she knew one thing for certain. Shin… They’d made an agreement together, not to hate each other. That no matter what their videos revealed, the two of them would still try to complete the Zero Sum Game, with or without everybody else.

She’d seen now, Shin’s skill with that bow. While before it had been more or less a sacrificial promise, we’ll try until we both get killed, Katsue thought they may stand a chance now. That even if the other survivors decided after seeing what transpired, that she wasn’t worth it after all, maybe she could still pull it off. Still save the people she loved. Still save… Yuji.

Who had finally seen her heart.

He was the only who had, really. When he remembered, that is. Because he had acknowledged it all. Everything that she did wrong, her entire sin, the way that she’d hurt him. He reacted to that, just the way that she expected he would. But then, he forgot, and there was something broken between them. Upon remembering, he reevaluated. He knew her sin and the blame she carried, but chose to fight for her in spite of it. Maybe that was the advice he’d gotten after finding out the first time, which let him come to understand better without disregarding her part in it. Either way, he did understand. Katsue couldn’t deny that. He saw the good and the bad in her, and he still…

She looked down at her hands. Somehow, nobody had noticed it. She knew nobody had noticed because nobody had mentioned it and if they’d noticed it they would mention it. Yosuke, she thought, had noticed in a way. He noticed that Yuji didn’t have it anymore. But Katsue had it, here, on her finger. That ring. A promise ring, really, that’s what it would be called at this point. Not calling it engaged yet. Too young, after all, for that. But it was still that ring.

His grandmother’s ring, that Yuji held onto always to use when he found the person he loved the most. That family tradition which had been leveraged against him in the past, though Katsue hadn’t heard about that herself just yet. She didn’t know that Yuji’s father considered her, personally, somebody who couldn’t receive this ring. But Yuji knew it when he gave it to her, and she still knew its significance.

It was this, which motivated her most of all. Yuji was alive after all. He’d promised himself to her moments before he was going to die, as if to say. When we meet again in the next life, I’ll understand you then. I’ll know you that time, we won’t end in tragedy this time. But his next life was still here, thanks to Luciora. It was out there, a life held in limbo, hostage for the success of the game’s participants. Inspiring the eight of them to die over and over again, so that the others might not need to die a second time so soon.

If he’d still have her, then Katsue needed to seek him out. To make it through this game and be reunited with the love of her life, of all of her lives. There was the worry, of course, that he had only given her the ring because he was dying moments later, because he thought he would never need to follow through on the implicit promise.

But to know that, too, she’d have to save him first. Either way, she was motivated to keep pressing onward in this game. To keep suffering, dying, having her past exposed as it was about to be in that club and on those docks. The sins she had committed, and those which had been committed against her. Today, it would begin. Today, she and all of her so-called friends would face the music, and the truth would begin to be revealed.

She turned away from her ruin to go back to the Dining Hall. After all, they’d have to see what their hosts had to say on the matter of the ruin. The backstory of the location, just as they had for Kashiwagi. Just as they had for the ruin of the least sinful sinner among them, Katsue believed. Sloth was bound to that fate, to sinning without blame. Not her, though. Certainly not her.

She wouldn’t know until the first Conquest Video, what deadly sin she was believed to have, though she had some idea of it. She took a deep breath, and folded her arms behind her back as she walked away from the ruin she would, later, be walking into.

_So I’ll be going back there again. To see my sins on display… In the place where I thought I found happiness._


	331. Stage Three, Day 12: Picture Perfect Family

Upon arriving back in the Dining Hall, Katsue saw that though several people were already there, it wasn’t everyone yet. She walked straight to the monitor and stood in front of it, waiting for the moment it would begin after the last couple of participants made it into the room. And as soon as they had, it did buzz to life in front of her eyes.

\--

“Hey kids! Welcome back to Extend TV! We’re here today bringing you the latest in Jabberwox News!” Evangeline was dressed like a news anchor, with the image of the new ruin on the screen behind her. “If you thought that last ruin’s idyllic forest was a little bit too rural, this time we’ve got something real up-and-coming for ya! A fishing village on its way to citydom, busy but quiet, with all of two nightclubs on its shores!”

“One of those is a nightclub for normies. That’s not the one you’ll be visiting today,” Ris said.

“This Okinawan city-village is home to some great folks you might have heard of before! Claim to fame, crown jewel, it’s got some good ol’ celebrities! Coming in first at the heard-of-him scale we have one Gavin Kirisame, nee Sakaki. What’s with all these tree names, huh? The once and future Ultimate Buddy, now a fully grown man who continues to brighten the lives of all he meets! Except for me, but hey, that's just cause I'm _super_ jealous he's got such a coolio wife."

“Also in this city resides that wife, because where else would his wife be? While Gavin may be known socially, his wife is renowned for her talents in cybersecurity. Even if you didn’t recognize the name Megumi Kirisame, it’s impossible to have gone your life without encountering something or other that she’s invented. That’s right, this is the place which is home to these illustrious, skilled folks, with enough smarts in their brains _not_ to go to Dome City.”

“And of course, a third Ultimate who-”

“They don’t need to hear about her, Eva. Ryouma has nothing to do with this story, so let’s just move on and discuss the non-Ultimates who are important there.”

“Awe, phoo, awright. But I claim the cute one!” Eva raised a hand in the air, pointing into the sky. “She’s a sweet songbird, and an onee-chan to boot! Never selected for the Ultimate program due to her well-rounded averageness in many categories, her remarkable ability to be well-adjusted, let’s not downplay that Sachiko Ryuunosuke is driven by fate to one day top the charts as a singer-songwriter! Oh, but it’s just too bad she hasn’t got anyone to play guitar for her anymore, that’s bound to have set her back a little. And I was really looking forward to the drop of her EP on soundcloud! I’ll be a roadie for Ryuu-cha-chan, if she just lets me kiss her once!”

“To imply you’d be satisfied with a kiss would make me laugh, if it were funny, and not just sad to think about. Similarly sad to think about is a man named Kenta, whose achievements are utterly inconsequential. But then again, he’s happy, he’s just a humble family man raising children with his much more talented wife and… Hm. Say, Evangeline? These files…”

“That’s right, they’re from three years ago! I couldn’t bear to get ahold of anything more recent! My poor Ryuu-cha-chan still hasn’t put out any music, so I can’t bear to imagine the sort of struggles she had after her little brother bailed on playing the instrumentals for her!”

“I see… Well, to finish with Kenta’s file, he works hard and provides for his family, and is an all-around… Stand-out sort of guy, even if it makes you wonder if he’s getting cucked to see his gorgeous wife?”

“That gorgeous wife, well, she’s another one of the city’s crown jewels! No Ultimate title for her, but none is needed! Karine is simply a vampire queen! A woman of wealth and high society, who goes to all of the parties with caviar and maintains her public image! A wonderfully cunning politician who’s held several local offices in the past while also maintaining a multi-million follower instagram influence account! And with two lovely daughters, this gal can truly do it all! It’s said that when rumors began to spread of her being a vampire due to her appearance, and the way she never seems to age? That she leaned right on into it and skyrocketed herself from just another of her family line, to a wonderfully mature thirst trap who never compromises her dignity online! Or in the public eye, either. She and her whole family have an _image_ to maintain!”

“That’s why it’s too bad…” Ris shuffled through another piece of paper and furrowed his brow. “Ah. Three years ago… Well, I’m not going to read it directly as it’s written, but understand the person in question was not quite herself at this time. It’s a shame that the younger daughter has such a habit of trying to ruin the family name, sneaking out of the house at only fifteen to drink, dance, and do drugs in the far-less-normie nightclub of the hour, Memento Mori. The only family member with an Ultimate Title, yet she only feels the need to continue volunteering her time to blood drives as usual rather than utilizing it to advance a career or reputation. That may well be why she utilizes the surname of her father. It certainly never said Nageko on her birth certificate, but why would somebody so flippant be permitted to be a Ryuunosuke?”

“These files are from when she was fifteen. Three years ago. Can you imagine what happened next? What sort of ruin the rebellious child would bring to her perfect family? Of course not, that’s what Conquest Videos will be for! In the Memento Mori Nightclub where she began to cast her curse, you’ll learn just how these lives were torn to pieces and twisted from the inside out!” Eva clapped her hands together. “Awe, well, I guess seeing Ryuu-cha-chan suffer is good in its own way too.”

“An utter downfall of both personal and cosmic proportions… In this city of sin. Could you possibly make the neon lights of Memento Mori illuminate…”

“A brighter future…”

“For vampirity?”


	332. Stage Three, Day 12: Power Of Clione

Katsue frowned and took a step back from the monitor. “I… Wow. Okay. They really have to put all of that background information in right off the bat, huh? No matter what, it’s completely obvious that I’m going to be the subject of the next ruin.”

“Eva is clearly exaggerating just how bad-”

“Don’t… Don’t assume that.” Katsue turned toward them and narrowed her eyes. “If you think it can’t possibly be _that_ bad, then it turns out that it is, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. I think it’s best for everybody if you truly do believe that I’ve done the worst things you can imagine.”

“Do you actually want us to do that?” Yosuke asked, taking a step towards her. “That much?”

“That much. I am, after all, responsible for ruining my family. Beyond that, and how that came to pass? You’ll see, but don’t assume it isn’t utterly disgusting.” She looked away and tucked her hair behind her ear on one side, then approached the Extend Machine. “Did we get some sort of upgrade, from that last ruin?”

Homura popped up next to her, being the most experienced with using the Extend Machine, and found a new menu labeled ‘Clione’.

**Clione! Your new best friend!**   
_You probably gathered from the shigabane that clione are the extra bits that creatures get to have and use! Well, you can use them too, if you’re careful! Each time you find one, it will unlock the use of a support clione and an attack clione. Each participant can install one of each at a time! If you use them too much then they’ll rebel and kill you, but you can just come back, so don’t worry too much. These should be useful tools to help you in the ruins. Just think real hard after you have one installed, and you’ll be able to utilize it!_

Katsue nodded along with the instructions, then took the controls from Homura and set it to install a support clione in herself- one that healed damage when used. As soon as she told it what to do, a claw extended from the machine and grabbed her X-Key, dragging her into the Extend Bed through it. There was a spray of glimmering sparkles around her body, then nothing. After all, it was unlikely to cause any changes when she wasn’t actively using it.

“You really just, uh… Went for it, huh?” Yume asked, raising an eyebrow. “Not nervous at all about what that’ll do to ya?”

“Whatever we’re about to go through is my fault, so I wanted to make myself useful. I tested the process, and it’s unpleasant, but doesn’t seem unsafe. And now, I’ll be able to help you recover if you get harmed in the process, so of course I wouldn’t hesitate.” Katsue stood up and took a deep breath. “There is one other available, an attack clione. If anyone wants to pick it up, feel free, but given the limits on how much they can be used I thought it unwise to double up until we start having enough that everybody can have one.”

“I will take an attack clione,” Saya said.

“Are you sure…?” Yume asked, “I don’t trust this thing.”

“It is an upgrade, and everything has been fair so far. The instructions and warnings are straightforward.” She stepped forward. “I also am the only person here with no particular inclination to do well at a weapon. Perhaps, while ranged attack’s are Tsubasa’s method of becoming a more capable member for the party, mine would be this clione.”

“We can undo it, right?” Yume asked.

Homura clicked around a bit more, then nodded confirmation. “Yeah, we can completely remove cliones too. That makes sense, since we can only have two at a time and we might want to let somebody else use the one we’re currently using, or switch to a better one, so. Yeah. Reversible!” He flashed a thumbs up.

“Very well then. I’ll take that attack clione for the time being.” Saya stepped up to the Extend Machine and went through the same process that Katsue had. Unlike Katsue, she ‘activated’ the clione just as soon as she stood back up, though she wasn’t going to use it for anything yet. As soon as she did, tentacles sprouted from her shoulder and wrapped around her right arm, twisting along its length before pulling into a barbed spear shape on the end. She squinted, and was able to untwist the tentacles as well, making them longer and more versatile, before concentrating a bit more to return them from whence they came. “Okay! Very cool. Very painful.”

“What!?” Yume took another step forward.

“I mean, it’s tentacles coming out from inside my skin! That’s exactly as painful as you would expect!” Saya giggled. “But, it’s fine, really. I think that how cool it is kind of outweighs how much it hurts to do it. Wouldn’t you?”

“I mean, sure, I would, but that doesn’t mean I can’t worry about my girlfriend doing that and feeling that, right?” Yume sighed.

“Certainly! But worry not. Physical pain is fleeting and I truly do not care.”

“Well, with that… Shouldn’t we get going?” Shin asked.

“Yes. I’d like to get right into things,” Katsue said, “I also want to ask you. If I’m killed, keep going. I don’t need to be able to defend myself right away, I’d rather we make it through this ruin as quickly as possible, than worry about me and my ability to explain away the things that you see.”

“You’re sure?” Yosuke asked, “I’m pretty sure I’d want to be able to talk about the conquest videos that show up for me right away, whenever that happens.”

“I _am_ sure. Like for Yume… You’re liable to misunderstand the situation if you stop between videos. So I want to frontload as much as possible and progress in an efficient manner, understand?” She crossed her arms. “Even if I get killed, keep going until you absolutely need to turn back.”

“I understand,” Syoko said, “I want… To understand you, Katsue. So I’m perfectly keen to press onward as much as possible, in that aim. As long as, when we get to my ruin, you do the same for me.”

“Certainly so.” Katsue gave a nod, then stepped past the group and back towards her ruin, weapon held ready at her side as she walked with purpose. Towards the rotten truth. Towards the memory of the days when her family… Perfect, promising, well-renowned and typically pleasant, was destroyed at her hand. Her past, the one which she defied in being herself at all today.

Her sin, which dwarfed the other two they’d seen by miles and miles of decay.


	333. Stage Three, Day 12: Onto the Wharf

Upon arriving on the docks of the ruin, there was an instant shift in weather, not dissimilar to that which had taken place in Kashiwagi Forest. While the other change had been to make it clear that rain was coming, then put the rain itself on display, this one was subtle. Jabberwock Island was naturally a bit warm. Not sweltering, but clearly a tropical island. This ruin would, most of the year, be similarly warm if not warmer. But the water was a grey color, and there was a slight chill to the air. Not enough not to wear shorts, but enough that a jacket might be a good idea.

“It’s February,” Katsue explained the shift without being asked, then took a long look around. “Makes sense that it would be. My sins which are tied to _this_ area of town, well, that would be when they occurred. When it stands out that they occurred, I mean. Like how Ebizakaya’s ruin reflected the weather of her worst moments… I’ll be frank with you, this reflects the weather of one of my only truly good moments, but I didn’t acquire those through pleasant means at all.”

“In this area… We’ll probably see bird-type enemies, right?” Shin asked, remembering that Katsue had mentioned that in the past. “We’ll have to be on the alert for those quite a bit. If they’re flying, then they won’t offer footsteps to let us know they’re around.”

“Mm, that’s correct. We know that we need bird items to advance certain facilities, and that’s tied to the name I had before this one.” Katsue lifted her umbrella and stepped forward, eyes keen to the area around her. “Things may become… Strange, in this ruin. I’m sure this won’t surprise you in the least, that the landscape of my mind is awfully complex in all the worst ways.”

“Be prepared for shit to get fuckin’ weird? Yeah, okay. I’ll cop to it, those first two ruins were pretty straightforward,” Yume said, “What happened in them was fucked up, but it’s pretty easy to figure point A of those events to point B of why we’re the way we are now. For you… Yeah, chuunis are _always_ complicated!”

“Ahaha… Yes, quite.” Katsue reached her weapon, point-down, into one of the crates which lined the docks. It came away with a squirrel on the end of it. “Careful of these. It appears the rabid pests have chosen something other than a maple tree this time around. Say, Nokage. You’ve got things to say about the sins of people. Anything for me?”

“For you? Um. No, not… really. Nothing that hasn’t already been said, anyway, I mean. You’re astoundingly self-aware.” Ushina looked up at the sky and tapped its chin. “I could, of course, refer to the way that you did, in fact, break apart many aspects of your family. And as for what your sin clearly is… But, again. There’s no need. Unlike the others, you aren’t hiding that what you’ve done is terrible. You’re accepting every accusation that Evangeline and Osiris give you. You’re not lying to anyone. So I have nothing to say.”

“That’s reasonable,” Katsue said, then smiled. “You’re telling me that the great Syoko Saihara is _still_ lying to us about something, then? Of course, I’m not surprised. And I don’t blame you, either. I can’t blame anybody, now that my sins are about to be displayed, not really…”

“Everyone’s lying!” Ushina laughed. “Well, except for Yume and Ebizakaya! Their baggage has been aired. But the others are lying. Even Homura’s lying. Even I’m lying. That’s the way things are right now… You were primed with two weeks of absolute distrust before coming here, so why would you start being honest now, until it’s dragged out of you?”

“I just don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea. I don’t want anybody to think for a moment… That what transpired here was not the result of my actions.” Katsue turned and noticed a creature stumbling across the dock. The others did as well, and got ready to fight. It wasn’t dissimilar to the male creatures from the first ruin, but a bit different. Its clothing was unpleasantly familiar, actually, and while it had the same arm as a clione, something about that clione was more reminiscent of the one that the Creature of Wrath had.

And dripping from its mouth… “Well, it’s all I’m good for, yeh?”

Evidently, it was meant to resemble Yuji. Down to the ring that it wore around its neck, but Katsue just smirked to see that. Any intention of the ruin to leave her hesitant was dashed by the inclusion of that detail. The Yuji who understood her- The one that she loved now, would not be wearing that. So she brandished her weapon to attack…

And found it grasped within the creature’s hand from a distance, as the arm did, after all, behave the same way the creature of wrath’s had. It dragged Katsue in by the shaft of her umbrella weapon, and once she was close, lifted its other arm. In it, it held a heavy dowel, which it brought down on her head.

Two quick arrows fired by Shin straight through the still-dissipating image of Katsue dispatched the creature before it could even begin to consider attacking anybody else, though. It had taken damage from her weapon when it pulled her close, so was able to be felled at range. He stepped forward and gathered her belongings and X-Key. “Well then, come on. She told us to keep going even if she got killed.”

“She did, but we’re so close to the beginning… We wouldn’t even have to give it till tomorrow, we could just go get her and come right back-” Syoko started to protest.

“No. If anything, she may have done that on purpose,” Shin said, “You saw her, she didn’t hesitate at all to see it was based on Yuji. That may not have been a mistake. She might, in fact, prefer not to be held accountable right away to what we find.”

“Consciously or subconsciously, I agree,” Ushina said, “Asking us to continue even if she dies, then dying so early, is seeking a way out of dealing with it. A bit cowardly… But understandable, what with the severity of her sin seeming to be as it is. Facing judgment head-on is a difficult matter.”

“I don’t know how I feel about this,” Yosuke said, “But I guess… We should do what she told us to do, right? She’d be more upset if we ignored her than if she actually wanted to be brought back this early, I think?”

“Certainly so,” Syoko said, then stepped forward. “I was serious about what I said. I want to understand Katsue Nageko. I want to know what led to all of this… I want to know who she really is, so that we’re on even footing when she learns who I really am too. So, come on. We need to remember that we will die.”


	334. Stage Three, Day 12: Unpleasant Approach

Syoko and Shin were the ones most confident in the honoring of Katsue’s wishes at this point- And as such, they led the way deeper into the ruin. Homura joined them in the front lines as he usually would, what with his axe skill. Irarako joined them despite her own reservations with the intention of making up for her retreat to the back lines during her own ruin, as a result of the small creatures. Everyone doubted those would appear again, and even if they did, it wasn’t like they’d be any children that _Irarako_ knew herself.

Aside from Katsue, nobody had really taken the time to talk to her about the story that Osiris had told about her parentage. After all, it was, just as everything else for her, fairly straightforward. Ayano Ueda was her half-sister; And that would be something to address more when they were face to face with each other again, frankly. There wasn’t much reason to worry about it right now, when nothing was going to change and processing it too hard would make Irarako feel bad that she wasn’t able to protect her big sister.

It was also difficult to dwell on the complications of somebody like Irarako, who was bright and at it again the very next day, when put up againt the latest participant’s behavior and ruin. Katsue’s experiences promised to be of a much more difficult nature for others to see- Not to say that they were inherently _worse_, as any one person’s worst experience was still the worst for them and comparing was pointless, but for the observers outside of the experience, this did promise to be a rougher experience to be a part of.

Katsue had seemed to be doing better, since changing her name again, but the ruin was bringing her troubles back in full force, unsurprisingly. Even this early in the ruin, just on these docks here, there were things which seemed… Not quite right. Beyond the creatures that mimicked Yuji, beyond the rabid pests which took up residence in the crates, there were things that just didn’t check out, that weren’t right and certainly weren’t so in the reality of this place.

Every so often, one of the basic streetlamps would be a high-gothic one instead. Outside of the traversible area of the dock, flocks of crows would fly as if they were seagulls, stopping to land and lock eyes with whichever participant happened to be looking that way. The clouds in the sky didn’t grow any thicker or thinner than they began, a basic February day for the island, but moved much too quickly, far more than the light chilling breeze would imply they ought to. Regardless of those movements, the sun never seemed to appear, and there was no circle of light trying to shine at any individual point.

Under the water, fish swam as expected, the same fish which would be expected of this area most of the time. But every so often, there would be something incorrect. An anglerfish, an oarfish. A human arm, for a split second, parting the dark waters in a desperate bid for survival-

“This place gives me the creeps!” Homura admitted aloud what most of them were thinking. “I kinda thought that the nightclub would be weird, sure, but the docks? Shouldn’t this be a nice break from the cramped stuff? But instead it’s suuuuper uncomfy!”

“Don’t say things like that,” Shin said, “These ruins are distorted versions of the places we know. Taken from our memories, then dialed up. The fact that this one’s much stranger than the others must mean that Katsue remembers it in a less pleasant manner to begin with. After all, for each of you we’ve seen so far… You were still able to live as normal, in the same place as ever, after the results of your Conquest Videos. Just because bad things happened there, it doesn’t appear your own ideas of your hometowns were distorted before the addition of creatures and traps.”

“Is it really so cognitive as that?” Syoko asked, holding her arms close around herself against the bracing draft that blew in when she spoke.

“Nanomachines kinda have to be!” Homura said, “That’s something I heard, yknow? Cause I used Luciora before. It’s a lot like the particles that make replicants. It took forever for those particles to get fixed up good enough that the replicants made with them didn’t change shape based on other people’s expectations of them, and they _still_ change based on the replicant’s own self-cognition in certain ways. So, Luciora’s gotta have _some_ basis in the same theory. I mean, look at the shigabanes which change our own appearances! The ruins wouldn’t be exempt from that!”

“I… Also got usin’ lucioras an’ I ain’t never heard none of that before,” Irarako said, “Why do ya know it?”

“Huh? I mean, Doc Kirisame helped develop it, so she answered any of my questions while I was staying with her,” Homura said, “That one’s not even, I know it cause you think I wouldn’t. I straight up just asked a buncha questions about the weird nanoparticles that brought me back to life! Anyway, I need to be quiet now. Sorry I won’t be able to pick up on any enemies.”

“Huh?” Yosuke blinked, only to realize what Homura meant when he turned on his listening ears, as Homura was turning them off with the application of his noise-canceling headphones. A the group got closer to the nightclub, noise from inside _was_ getting progressively much louder, and while it didn’t bother him yet, he could tell how Homura might want to stop hearing it so much. The group had been so distracted with being put off by the incongruent environment that they’d completely failed to notice how close they were getting to their destination.

And there, in front of the doors, a monitor rose from the ground.

\--

“Hey kids. Congratulations on already getting here, or whatever.”

“This is way early for a Conquest Video, right?” Eva pressed a finger to her cheek. “But we have a ton of ground to cover with this one! All sorts of salacious details! I mean, it’s the tale of a beautiful young girl’s descent into sin, and this time, it’s gonna be juicy. It’s nothing as booooring as Sloth!”

“Certainly, it’s a much deeper sin than that. That is to say…”

“It’s!” Evangeline pushed in front of Osiris. “**Lust Part One! Before The Descent, A Decision Which Drags A Dhampir Down to Hell!** Ohh, that just sounds so fun. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, for this is not a place of honor!”


	335. Lust Part One: Before The Descent, A Decision Which Drags A Dhampir Down to Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > Extra Warning this chapter for bits of transphobic and homophobic language.

A disgraceful child looked at an ID which stated that she was a twenty-two year old girl named Hiyoko. Something that she’d acquired somewhat awkwardly. When she went hunting for a fake with which to fuel her rebellious streak, so she could spend her allowance on alcohol and nights out on the town, she’d been asked what sort of fake name she wanted. When she answered Hiyoko Ryuunosuke, answered with the name she would have had, she’d heard once, if she had been born a second daughter to Karine. The guy she was dealing with barely blinked, saying it was smart thinking.

Chubby cheeks like hers, she wouldn’t pass for an adult man, but she could pass for an adult woman. So her fake called her a grown woman named Hiyoko. It had started off calling her twenty-one, but she’d turned sixteen since then, and it aged with her. It had her same birthday, just off by a few years, easier to pass muster if she were tested on its falsehood. She hadn’t been, though, not as of yet. Maybe folks found it too awkward to give her much scrutiny, with her appearance at it currently was.

She’d always been a very _pretty_ boy, so it was more likely that those who checked her ID were more flustered by their perceived misgendering of her than any babyfacedness they might have had. That, or the last name she used on it. Ryuunosuke, after all, was an influential name for an influential person, who’d served several terms in the city council. One way or another, Hiyoko managed, unbothered, to behave in her rebellious and self-destructive ways.

At this time, she wouldn’t call herself traumatized yet. But still, she found herself wanting to behave this way. Maybe it was just her mother’s strict nature, maybe it was the clear favoritism shown to her sister by her. Her father was her sister’s stepfather, so his favoritism felt like a given, in a way, toward his biological child. Had she been a girl this entire time, she’d have been considered a daddy’s girl, for sure. As it was, she was just a strange, ungrateful, disgraceful child who didn’t behave very well, but whose father kept her from ever _suffering_ in her home.

But now, well. She was she. Hiyoko. Staring at the ID and coming to understand that the whim she had to use the name she might’ve had wasn’t only because she wanted to have been a more wanted child than she felt she was, but because she wanted to be herself. To be a girl, like she felt she was somehow meant to be. Not just because her mother would hate her less if she was a girl, but because it actually felt right for her. It was this decision that she made. The decision which would lead her down the path that eventually destroyed her family.

Her life with them had never been perfect, but theirs as a whole, with each other, devoid of outside influence? It was, wasn’t it? But there she stood in the living room, before her mother, and her father, and her older sister, fists clenched as she admitted to the truth.

“I think… I’m not a boy. I think I’m a girl.”

“Well that’s just great, sweetie- Hiyoko, I presume?” Kenta asked, hands pressed together with a warm smile on his face.

“Y-Yeah.” She nodded along, face turning red as she waited for the others to respond.

“I always wanted a little sister!” Sachiko exclaimed, “Awe, oh, jeeze. I bet I know what it was, right? You withdrew from doing music with me cause you didn’t wanna do it with the wrong name… That was so inconsiderate of me, being so upset. Ah, I can dress you up, right? Can I dress you up all cute and stuff?”

“Hah, yeah, I-”

“Hold on a moment.” Karine rose to her feet. “This is true, is it? You’re serious? You are not, and never were, Ryota Nageko. Instead, you are Hiyoko. This is what you’re saying. Now, you think, or you’re certain?”

“I’m certain…”

“That so? You’re certain, you are Hiyoko. Not a Ryota who likes to wear skirts because he thinks that’s a better way to get the attention of boys, who I _know_ you like plenty?” Karine narrowed her eyes. “Because, you know. We handle this very differently based on which answer you provide to me. I don’t want you thinking that the reason I don’t consider you an eligible heir is out of your attraction to men, and believe that making it into an ‘acceptable heterosexual attraction’ is the way to gain my favor.”

“That, um. Well, okay, I mean. That’s… I don’t think I’d really.” Hiyoko shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense, no. I’m a girl. I wouldn’t come to that conclusion if I wasn’t sure of it. I think that… Well, that kind of outlook you cited is pretty outdated and being a girl definitely seems less acceptable than liking men. I never really thought me liking men was something you considered a problem?”

“Oh, oh of course not _birdie_.” Karine reached forward to cup her daughter’s cheeks.

“Birdie?”

“That’s the nickname I would have always used, for my daughter Hiyoko, and since that’s you now, I’m going to call you it,” Karine said, “But more importantly, we need to get busy on making this work, right? First, of course, you’ll have to cut off all of your current friends and transfer to a new school. I’ll tell people that ‘Ryota’ left to study abroad, but I felt so empty nest about it that I had to take in my dear niece Hiyoko just to fill the void in my home and heart~”

“My friends?”

“What, don’t you like that idea? If you’re _really_ a woman, I should think it would be a dream come true to make sure there isn’t a soul left in the world who knows that you ever _weren’t_. And for my part, I can’t look like such a failure of a mother that I’d raise a sissy, can I? And of course, the studying abroad option leaves the door open if you ever decide to go back to being Ryota, of course. If you realize that you can’t handle the intricacies of the womanly world after all.”

“I don’t know if…”

“If you’re having reservations of course, we don’t need to do it.” Karine stood to her full height again and patted the top of Hiyoko’s head. “Poor child, you must be so confused. But I’m offering you the ideal scenario here. Immediate social transition, nobody will ever need to know the old you. If you really want people to know the old you, I’d seriously reconsider what you’re telling me. Any real trans woman I’ve met would be overjoyed at this opportunity!”

“I’m, I’m a real woman!” Hiyoko protested, “I just, I like my friends, you know? And I think they’d understand.”

“Tsk, no. They wouldn’t. You’re young, Hiyoko, you overestimate humanity’s capacity for kindness. In fact, no human mother would be as kind as I am now, offering you this sort of result. It’s only because of my occult agelessness that I can even hold this sort of compassion.”

“Uh, I’m human-” Kenta started to protest.

“Not now, Dad,” Sachiko chided him.

“If that’s what you think will be best for me… Then I’ll gladly walk the path you set for me,” Hiyoko submitted, dipping her head. “Mother. As I am your daughter, I know you only mean well, and… You do know much more of the world than I. I’ve yet to retrieve all my memories of my past lives, but I’m certain, I was a daughter of vampires in each of them. So if this is the path I walk to confirm that daughterhood, then I’ll walk it.”

“Very well.” Karine pressed her hands together, then whipped out her phone and strode into the other room to get to work on salvaging her reputation without crushing her daughter. She wasn’t trying to be cruel, not really. She easily could have forbidden Hiyoko from existence, but chose to humor her, because she could.

And Hiyoko, for her part, still had her other secret. She may be losing the friends she grew up with, but she still had the night. She still had her fun with others, in the dark, illegally, always with her name that she’s had for a year now without realizing its meaning for her till now. She could still find connection with others in the shadows. All was not lost, and her whole family supported her transition, right? She should have been overjoyed, that this whole thing wasn’t a disaster, that in relative terms, it went well.

So why wasn’t she satisfied with the outcome?

This was Hiyoko Nageko’s first ‘mistake’.

Becoming Hiyoko Nageko.


	336. Stage Three, Day 12: Everybody Talks

“Awe jeeze! I can’t believe that Katsue’s own mother would say stuff like that to her!” Evangeline actually sounded just a bit put-off by the conquest video she’d just witnessed. “I mean, for real? That’s just pretending to be supportive when you actually obviously aren’t okay with it at all! And for Katsue to be stuck going along with those conditions just to be herself? What the fuck??”

“I didn’t take you as the sort to take umbrage with any sort of cruelty towards young girls. Why the sudden change of heart?” Ris picked at his fingernails as he wondered.

“Well excuse you! I take umbrage with young girls not being treated like young girls, no matter the quality of the treatment that their girlhood shall bestow upon them!” Eva flailed her arms around a bit. “I mean, come on. Saya can tell you that I always respect people’s personal identities, no matter what crimes I’m committing! People are who they are and I’m not in a place to deny that, nobody is! Besides, it’s way more fun this way. Telling people to be who you want them to be makes them all booooring.”

“But if you want somebody to be interesting, doesn’t that preclude you from that conclusion?”

“Um sure, I guess, but you know what I mean! Besides. Who would wanna keep this world from having one more cute girl in it?” Eva squished her own cheeks together. “Wait, no, I know that one. Miss Karine Ryuunosuke is the kind of fucked up MILF who thinks that all young girls who might be prettier than her are a threat, right? That’s some real Snow White shit! Like the princess this time, not the weather pattern or the drug.”

“Are you calling her a MILF categorically, or seriously?”

“I mean, categorically, she is. Seriously, yeah I probably would like to fuck her! Fuck some goddamn sense into her at _least_. Karine, you’re hot in your own way! Stop being such a bitch! For real though, those conditions really were just to make Katsue suffer, huh?”

“An attempt to coerce her into desisting.” Osiris shook his head with a sigh. “Yet, she continued, because of course she did. ‘If you’re really a woman, this will be worth it’, she says, and yet, it is. Becoming oneself often is worth any pain, but it was so very unnecessary to set that condition. I’m glad for every terrible thing you stand for, you at least can understand that this is unacceptable.”

“Of course I can! Well, anyway. The seeds of destruction are planted.” She shrugged. “The first of many, in the tale we’re gonna witness. The way this family was driven to destruction… But, I kinda have to wonder _myself_. More sordid as this may be, Ris, is it gonna be a sin this time? Or…”

“Sin is all that we can share. Judgment on whether that sin is truly bad, or truly the participant’s fault? That’s for them to decide.”

\--

“Katsue…” Syoko muttered under her breath, glancing at the X-Key which was currently clipped onto Shin’s necklace. “Something like that, I… I mean, I had my assumptions about what her home life was, in relation to her gender, but. I guess I couldn’t have really guessed it would be like that.”

“Yeah.” Yosuke wrapped his arms around himself and grimaced. “It’s not as straightforward as having… One unsupportive parent, and one parent who was supportive but abusive?”

“That guy…” Yume lifted her bat and swung it at the monitor, shattering the glass before turning to look at the other survivors. “Really pisses me off. They’re both shitty parents! They pretend like they’re being kind and good when they’re absolutely not, that’s worse than just being outright, I mean… Fuck. Be good to your kids or let them find another goddamn family, will ya?”

“Oi!” Irarako spoke up, “She wouldn’ want us ta talkin’ bout her folks that way!”

“I don’t even want to acknowledge them as _being_ her folks!” Yume protested, holding her weapon out to her side. “Why would you!?”

“Ya heard the files, right? An’ saw her thoughts, even jus’ in there. She told me bout it too.” Irarako shook her head. “They’re her family. She don’t wanna hear us just shittin’ all over them what that doesn’ never mattered. She tol’ me… Said she knows, they maybe all hurt her real bad, but she remembers time for lovin’ ‘em too. So’s hurts to hear bad words for ‘em from pals what don’t even understan’ yet.”

“I understand plenty! And what I understand is that both those fuckers just _suck_! It’s not a hard line to cross! My Mom still sucks for killing Dad, yknow. I thought they sucked for abandoning us, but it’s different, but still bad! And yeah, they loved us a lot before that happened, they were good parents, I did love them, and they did suck!”

“This…” Shin spoke up, “Must be the reason that Katsue let herself be killed. Being present for such ignorance of her wishes and her judgment seems unpleasant. I wouldn’t want you dishing on my sister on such limited information, even knowing that she’s considered my ‘most hated person’. You don’t know anything until you’ve seen everything.”

“I like that, Tsubasa,” Syoko said, “You don’t know anything until you’ve seen everything. We _really_ need to try and keep that in mind, and not jump to conclusions or get fired up until we know the whole story. “

“Seriously?” Yume asked, squaring her shoulders. “That’s the stance we’re going to take here, huh? You have seen it. You saw the way her mom was treating her in that video and you saw the way that her dad was treating her when he showed up on that monitor- You fucking _heard_ that he almost killed her once!”

“Oh, shut the fuck up. Yume, is that not the _exact_ stance you wanted your peers to take in regards to your ruin? You’re the one who’s allowed to judge off of partial information just because it’s convenient to you?” Ushina asked, leaning over to point a finger toward the underside of Yume’s chin. “What a hypocrite. Wasn’t defeating your boss supposed to make you _better_?”

“Er. Not to cause a problem,” Saya said, “But I cannot just agree with you, Yume. I am able to manage the expression of my emotions very effectively, so it does roll off, but I have trouble with the way that nobody here will acknowledge anything pleasant about the woman who raised me.”

“Hm?” Ushina quirked an eyebrow, turning away from Yume. “And what would you say is pleasant about Mercury Mars?”

“It- That is not the issue!” Saya’s voice ever-so-slightly cracked from its usual even tone with a slight squeak before she returned to her base. “But if you are seeking an actual example, well. Despite her methods, and some poor motivation, I don’t believe her philosophy is wrong. But, Yume. Think of it this way, instead, if you can’t manage it with parents. Picture Nanjo. What if somebody said he was nothing but an idiot you shouldn’t even _care_ about?”

Yume crossed her arms. “Well, I’d be pissed, but, uh. Just because he’s an idiot… He hasn’t done anything that bad. What am I supposed to do? Not fucking hate the people being shown to me as the type of people I fucking hate the _most_?”

“Jus’ don’ hate ‘em out loud,” Irarako said, “That’s all Katsue really wants. Not to hear it.”

“...Fine, I’ll just fucking shut up the rest of this ruin, huh.” She turned, stepping up to the doors for the nightclub straight ahead.


	337. Stage Three, Day 12: Lights and Music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The embedded video this chapter is just to give an idea of what sort of music is playing in this place

It was-

Blinding?

Deafening?

Completely disorienting?

Well, all of the above could be applied to the ruin’s recreation of the Memento Mori Nightclub. They could probably, on some level, also apply to reality’s version of the place. It would certainly apply to Homura entering that space under any circumstances, but it was also clearly more intense here. In the ruin’s version, the lights and music had the clear intention of putting them off guard, whereas in reality, it would be for fun.

Just a little bit too much. Even Yume wrinkled her nose at the assault on the senses that opening the door represented, though none of them could actually hesitate for long. A disorienting nightclub wasn’t much without throngs of people within, and in this case, there were throngs of enemies. Creatures that appeared just like the one which had killed Katsue out on the dock, and animals as well. None of the squirrels were visible, but the ruin seemed to be playing its hand already, showing the expected budgies and some unexpected Ravvits, which looked somehow more threatening than the ones which had appeared in the Kobe ruin.

And there really were so, so many.

Yume fumbled her bat up into a readied position. “Shit! What the-”

An arrow whizzed by her ear, reached the nearest creature to her, and phased right through it. It didn’t disappear after being proven an illusion, but… The one who’d proven this fact spoke up, “Throwing all of these enemies at us would be far too much of a difficulty spike. I’m sure several of these _are_ real, so don’t let your guard down, but it certainly isn’t all of them. Let’s go.”

Yume nodded along, though from where she stood in the doorway and the blank look in her eyes it seemed like she wasn’t actually able to hear what Shin said. Her hearing loss wasn’t playing nice with the bizarre rave music which played at her right, but when the others started to step forward, she moved ahead into the club as well. With the door shut behind them, it became even more difficult to brace themselves against everything going on.

Especially for Homura, who squeezed his eyes shut the second that they were actually closed in with the lights and music, tapping his fingernails against the outsides of his headphones. Ushina stepped over and put its arms around his shoulders, squeezing just a little tighter than most people would usually want, but for Homura there was evidently some form of grounding effect from the action.

With Homura evidently unwilling to participate, the ones who stepped forward to fight were Yosuke, Shin, Syoko, and Irarako. That left Homura, Ushina, Yume, and Saya to stand back a bit, though with this many enemies around, the two of them who could remained on high alert. While under most circumstances, there was only space for four people to attack at a given time, with the potential of enemies coming from any direction the concept of a front line was becoming a bit blurred.

Shin still had plenty of arrows, so he didn’t hesitate to use them. With his surprisingly swift reload time, it was easy enough for him to test if an enemy was real or false, though a single arrow or even two in a row wasn’t about to kill anything in here when it did connect. The ravvits acted similarly to the previous ones, trying to tackle, but did so with their mouths open- revealing sharp, pointy teeth.

The budgies flitted around- they didn’t make to attack much, more focused on avoiding being attacked themselves, but the glint of their beaks made it clear that they _would_ strike as soon as they thought they had an opportunity. Then, of course, the creatures, which made up the vast majority of both the illusions and the real enemies in this room, though the crowded nature did prevent them from utilizing that attack which dragged a target within bludgeoning range from a slight distance away.

Despite the chaos, the group was holding their own, but not exactly advancing- they were holding fort only a few steps from the door they’d come in from, because even with Shin’s probing arrows, far too many attacks were whiffing through illusions. Since they wouldn’t dispel after being proven false, it was impossible to keep track of even for someone as observant as Syoko or Yosuke.

Then, the music got even louder.

Homura shrieked and wrapped his palms over the edges of his headphones that he’d been tapping before, shaking as he dropped to his knees in the middle of the club. Caught off guard by the action itself, his peers in the back line just turned to watch and weren’t able to react quickly when an enemy broke through the illusions and dove directly towards his currently completely-vulnerable form. It was just a ravvit, but it still was a ravvit taking advantage of his weakness.

That is, his peers on the back line who were able to _attack_ were unable to react quickly enough, but that didn’t mean they were all too stunned to move. Ushina could move, and it did. Ushina moved right away, placing itself between the ravvit and Homura without a second’s hesitation. The ravvit’s teeth sunk into their chest, and from that wound, they began to disintegrate…

**Differently** than the other survivors did.

While the others would be injured, then die, then turn to dust all at once- Ushina’s body seemed to fall to particles where it stood, spreading out from the point of injury, turning to bits of itself and fading away. The dust the others turned to lost its echoes of personhood immediately, turning bland and blowing away, but the way that Ushina’s form fell apart appeared still as if it were itself, only in bits and pieces. Rather than blowing away, too, the particles coalesced into something like a funnel shape which shot-

Straight down through the floor, leaving behind only an X-Key, given that it wasn’t permitted to carry items anyway.

And seeing this- Through the haze of the flashing lights and pounding music and dancing enemy hordes, Homura lost any and all semblance of pretending like he wasn’t absolutely, intractably, melting down. “Getout of here… We have to get out! Now! Right now!”


	338. Stage Three, Day 12: Evacuate The Dancefloor

“We need to leave- We need to leave weneedtoleave let’s go back we gotta go back we have to go home go home we need to go home _right_ **now**!” Homura protested all in one breath, hands keeping his headphones tight to his ears as he shouted, managing to be heard by everyone over the din of the music. He was yelling loud enough that he could hear himself yelling, after all, and that was quite a bit in this environment. Ushina’s X-Key sat on the ground in front of him, at his knees.

The Ravvit which had been attacking, which killed Ushina, was felled with a pair of swipes from Syoko’s sword and Yume’s bat.

“We can’t go back yet,” Syoko said, “We’ve only seen one Conquest Video, and there’s still seven of us!”

Her words didn’t seem to get through to Homura- Whether she just wasn’t loud enough to be heard physically, or if he just wasn’t in a state to comprehend the words, he just kept muttering to himself. “Don’t let it- I can’t- This can’t, again, no, nonono, not my friends, not my friends, not-”

“Yosuke!” Shin called out, “Syoko’s right, we need to keep going. Shinku’s just… Having a moment. Carry him.”

“Carry… Him?” Yosuke furrowed his brow. “Well, okay.”

Yosuke was in fact, shorter than Homura, but not by much, and the composition of their bodies was ‘shorter muscle’ against ‘slightly taller but still short and generally small’. So it wasn’t especially tough to scoop Homura up into a fireman’s carry. Homura’s concerns got even louder, but not specific, and when Yosuke also grabbed Ushina’s X-Key they went back to the original volume. He was barely registering the fact that he was being carried, so long as his friend didn’t get left behind.

Of course, carrying Homura as a person and not as an X-Key might not have been the intention, but then again, Shin wouldn’t have given the command to _Yosuke_ if he meant otherwise, right? Yosuke wouldn’t do it the other way, he had no intention of that- He was pretty sure at this point Shin didn’t either. Nobody needed to say it, but there was a clear unspoken agreement after last time that even if it was the most convenient method, that was a fucked up thing to do and shouldn’t be as readily committed as before.

Carrying Homura over his shoulder as such, Yosuke wasn’t exactly able to defend himself from the creatures and oh, there were so fucking many of them and he couldn’t at _all_ tell which ones were real and which ones were illusions. He just had to assume they were all real and he needed to avoid being attacked by any of them, which wasn’t exactly his strong suit. He was used to, well, not being in battles- But even when it came anywhere close, shadowboxing was generally a stand-in-one-place and exhibit strength sort of thing.

Yosuke tried not to think about that, though, because he did have an end goal. Across the dance floor, there was a small door with an exit sign illuminated above it. That had to be it, right? So he began trying to get over there, despite the chaos raging around him. In the effort of avoiding leaving Homura to die, there were several casualties of other members who covered Yosuke’s back. Something about letting him get killed in such an awful state… Knowing that the shigabanes could apply to certain feelings and situations outside of just methods of death, there was some pragmatism to it even beyond the idea of it.

The others were disoriented, sure, but not miserable and not breaking down. It was easier to die in the general course of battle than to die while suffering, right? Even if the suffering and the death wouldn’t necessarily be linked. Shin, who’d had the idea in the first place, diidn’t even bother moving. His X-Key could be scooped up on the eventual retreat, when they did hit that point. His weapon could be retrieved from the doorway on their next pass into the ruin, since this wasn’t far at all. He stayed where he was, firing arrows from his clearer vantage point until a budgie swooped in and raked its claws across his throat. He went in the usual fashion- Momentary corpse, dust, X-Key and items, so it was clear that particle effect was specific to Ushina, not to the nightclub.

The next one to go was Yume, whose blunt weapon wasn’t particularly effective against the Creatures or the budgies- The ravvits were felled, probably because they were an iteration of an enemy from her own ruin, but the others didn’t blink much at her axe. With that in mind, it was probably for the best that Yosuke wasn’t trying to fight with his own blunt weapon. Despite this, it actually _was_ a ravvit which got the blow on Yume, but only because she was distracted by ineffectively swinging in the direction of birds.

Saya, meanwhile, wasn’t felled by any enemy whatsoever- She was killed by her weaponry. She hadn’t hesitated to use the new clione she’d installed into herself, and she was, as she personally expected she would be, quite skilled with it. Numbers-wise, she probably dropped the most enemies in the group. Even with so many illusions, plenty of the enemies were real. It was a relatively large space, and it wasn’t like the number of enemies was absolutely unmanageable. This _was_ a difficulty spike, just not an utterly unfair one.

Even though she stretched the clione enough to defeat as many of the enemies as she did, it wasn’t long before the tentacles turned around on her and swiftly, in a way that looked almost merciful, began to strangle her for only a moment before putting in even more force to split her head from her body. As with the others, her weapons and X-Keys were left to stay where they were. Enemies had never tried to pick those things up before, after all, and backtracking to deal with that was simply unsafe in this environment-

And then, they were out. Yosuke with Homura on his back. Syoko, and Irarako too. The four of them crashed through the exit and were, once more, on the dock. It was even more distorted this time, and Memento Mori sat… Both behind and ahead of them, a corridor of oceanfront connecting two instance of the same building. This oceanfront’s water was nearly pitch black, like tar. Small chunks of red paper flitted over the waves. The sky was still grey directly overhead, but shifted to a bloody crimson where it met with the pitch water’s horizon.

The same color as the monitor which sat on the ground in front of them.

\--

“Hey kids!” Evangeline pressed her fingers together bashfully. “W-Welcome back to Extend Teeeee-veeee.”

“What’s with the shift in personality?” Osiris asked.

“Ris! It’s a bit!” She dialled herself right back up to eleven. “I was acting like a smitten schoolgirl, you know, because of the content we’re about to see! Sweet, sweet content. Be sure to like and subscribe, and shu-mash that bell too!”

“You don’t know what sort of content this video will contain. Titles can be misleading,” Ris said, “But then again, maybe not. We’ll see, in **Lust Part Two: Valley Boy’s Valentine to Vociferous Vixen.**”


	339. Lust Part Two: Valley Boy’s Valentine to Vociferous Vixen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra warning this chapter for: Suicidal ideation and attempts

Hiyoko had begun to be herself, in the past months, to both pleasant and unpleasant results.

The pleasant results were all in her personal nature. She was much more comfortable, and outright, happier to be herself than to have been the person she was raised as. She got along even better with her father now that she could be open with him, and the same held true for her older sister, though she still refrained from returning to working with her in music. That was the line, wasn’t it? Where the unpleasant was still hitting her hard.

Hiyoko didn’t have time to play guitar with her sister. When she was home from her new school in the afternoons, Karine would drill into her ‘female lessons’, describing all the ways she should and shouldn’t behave now that she was a woman, to avoid bringing shame on the family, to avoid embarrassing herself- She didn’t know how much this checked out, really, she couldn’t imagine that most of the things she was being taught were things that people would actually care that much about. As far as she could tell, she already had a great number of ‘feminine mannerisms’ even before she’d ever determined a reason for it.

In the evenings, Hiyoko had to steal what time she could for herself. After a rather late dinner most nights, she would ‘lock herself in her room’. It being a ground floor room, and her family having better things to do, she could sneak out of her window easily. Without her original group of friends, she had to get her human interaction wherever she could. She had to find connection in one place her mother hadn’t cut her off from, because her mother had never known about that place to begin with. She would go to the club, as herself, being herself. She wasn’t sure if others there saw her as a girl, but she permitted herself not to worry about that.

She would just get drunk, and dance, and give herself over to that sort of life. She was, truly, a creature of the night. A vampire princess who couldn’t go out in the daylight, who showed her face and power only under the cover of shadow. She liked the idea of it. She liked it. She liked…

Well, she had fun, and that was about the only time she felt like she did. She should have been more grateful, right? She felt guilty, often, for her resentment towards Karine. The way she’d been cut off from all of the friends she’d known her whole life, the way she was expected to behave… Karine said it was ‘womanly behavior’, but it was for a very specific type of woman, one which Hiyoko never intended to be and one which Sachiko had never been expected to be herself. Sachiko didn’t have to _perform_ womanhood to prove her girlishness. That was just who she was from the start. Karine didn’t expect an exaggerated gender from her firstborn child, because that child had nothing to prove.

Hiyoko did. Hiyoko had to prove to her mother every single day, that she too was a girl. That everything she did was the behavior of a girl. That she was willing to do and learn anything at all to earn her place in her gender. That she could have her entire personality squeezed and crushed down into becoming her mother’s idea of Hiyoko. What Hiyoko should be. Someone so feminine and perfect that anybody at all could see the reason in her transition, if the fact that she’d transitioned ever even came up. If Karine failed to convince anybody that Ryota and Hiyoko were different people altogether. Or if Karine failed to convince herself. Hiyoko couldn’t tell. She didn’t know.

Her mother was so, so kind to her, helping her with all of this. So she was an ungrateful child. But then again, of course she was, right? She was half her mother and half her father. She lacked in the warmth of humans and the pragmatism of vampires. All the weaknesses of both. She couldn’t see her mother’s perspective on her own, and she couldn’t just be satisfied with the kindness she was shown. All she could do was throw herself, over and over, into whatever would let her forget and whatever would let her feel as if anyone outside of her family knew she existed at all.

She should have been ecstatic. Being able to become herself, no matter the difficulty, should have left her overjoyed. And she did, sometimes. In flashes. Moments, where she felt honestly, incredibly happy. When her sister used her as a fashion model, she did. When her father called her his little girl, she did. And even, at times, when Karine said that she was doing well at her lessons. Her family could make her happy. And hearing her name, or the assumption of girlhood, from anybody outside of them? That too. Plenty of things made her happy. Made her heart swell. But, it was fleeting, that happiness.

She was still, somehow, she didn’t understand why… Overwhelmingly sad. Lonely with a hole through her soul, an emptiness that she cursed at and clawed at. Why wouldn’t it leave? Why not? Why was the love of her family not enough, and why was the love of strangers she found in the music, a veritable tar-pit of love all around, to and from everybody in the room, even that not enough? What did she have to do? Why wasn’t she happy? Why not? Why not?

She had all the ingredients to happiness, didn’t she? She knew what was wrong with her. She was born a boy. And she was fixing what was wrong with her. She loved her family and they loved her. They paid her more attention now, a dissatisfaction she softly wondered at before. She still had fun when she snuck out, what was she missing? What was she _missing_? Could she not find salvation in self-actualization, or in the love of her family, or at the bottom of a bay breeze?

_Why not at the bottom of a bay, huh?_

But not today, because she had something else she needed to find out first. About a week ago, she’d had a piece of paper pressed into her hand at some point during the night. She couldn’t place when exactly it happened, let alone who’d done it, she was much too out of it by that point. Killing her awareness to feel alive would do that to a girl. But she had the note, which told her to wait outside in a week. The same time she’d normally arrive at Memento Mori, but not right at the entrance, over on the wharf a bit. A little more private, but public enough that she didn’t feel concerned about giving it a shot. And, well, if she did get murdered? That would kind of be okay too.

She knew she shouldn’t be having thoughts like that, but thinking about how she _shouldn’t_ feel that way made her feel that way more, because why was she so broken that even with everything in the world going for her she would feel that way? Ugh. Stop. She lifted her hands and slapped at her own cheeks a little bit.

“Sorry to have invited you out in such an orthodox way,” A voice, smooth and enchanting, spoke from her left side, “But I didn’t exactly have another way to get in contact with you, did I, dollface? Frankly, I’d call you that anyway, but I’d also like to know your name.”

Hiyoko turned to look, and saw a boy there that she’d seen at Memento Mori plenty of times. They’d danced together, too. That was about it for interactions that could be had in a place that loud, but that was enough that Hiyoko considered them acquainted. He was ridiculously attractive. Tall, with a shiny bright smile and fluffy blue hair. He didn’t know her name, but she did know his. Many people their age did. While Hiyoko hadn’t known it when she’d initially danced with him, Yuji Sato was just about the most popular person in the school she’d transferred to after being ‘replaced’ with herself.

Seeing him out in the open like this, being the person who passed her the note- She lost her doubts that they were one and the same, and it didn’t even surprise her that much. After all, he had a lot on his shoulders. He was an Ultimate who spent most of his afternoons weaving baskets in the school’s art room, the only reason why he’d turned down running for student council. He was beloved by most everyone, and seemed to make high honors every semester. Like her, he had plenty of pressure to want to escape from.

“I’m… Hiyoko Nageko,” Hiyoko answered, “But I know who you are. I can’t say I would’ve actually expected that Memento Mori would be your scene…”

“Eh, the only other option’s too full of normies. I like the people here more. Also, they card harder, so even if I wanted to go to that club, my fake might not cut it.” Yuji chuckled. “Hiyoko, huh? That’s a pretty sweet name. Uh, well, it isn’t like I want to be too forward, but… Frankly, I haven’t ever approached a girl with serious intent myself before.”

“Because most girls just throw themselves at you, I get it.” Hiyoko rolled her eyes. “So, what is this? You figured something out about me and want to hold it over my head, or…”

“Ahaha, no, no! Nothing like that, of course. Um, I don’t know much about you. But I think I’d like to?” Yuji looked away, tapping his foot nervously. “I told you, I prefer the people at Memento Mori. When I saw you around at school and realized you’re actually my age… Well, that’s the thing, you know? You’re an interestin’ person!”

“Oh, you’re… You’re serious?” Hiyoko wrapped her arms around herself. “Why would you, I mean. You could have literally any girl in town?”

“Literally? Not quite, but sure, those who like men. I hope you number among them. That’s the thing, dearie, I don’t want to be with _any_ girl in town. I want to be with somebody who’s interesting enough that I’d rather spend time with her than do any of the other things I normally do. I’m not sure yet, but I’m already distracted enough just thinking about you without any other information, that I think you could be that girl. So.” He reached behind his back and produced a heart-shaped chocolate box, painted red with woven strips of thin cardboard that he’d evidently made himself. “Be my valentine?”

“It… Huh. It is valentine’s day, isn’t it?” Hiyoko blinked, then firmed her gaze in his direction. “Are you really alright, with a girl like me? I bear upon my heart several curses. For one, I have a vampire lineage, so I can’t go out during the day very often! And another curse I have, look at that, even just having two curses, that’s gotta be too much, right? I’m cursed to a form which doesn’t reflect my actual self, restrained to this mortal body.”

“Is your true form much scarier than this?”

“No, much more beautiful.”

“I find that awfully hard to believe. I can’t say I can imagine a greater beauty than yours.” Yuji wobbled the box out in her direction a bit. “Then again, I suppose that would be the point, right? A wonder unimagineable by humans, is what the true form of a vampire princess would be?”

Hiyoko found her face turning red and her hands reaching out for the box. “A-Ah, well, calling me a princess, that’s a little bit much, don’t you think?”

“I’ll wear my heart on my sleeve for ya, dear. I’d rather come on too strong than leave any room for you to think I might be a liar.” He put a hand on his hip, then turned around and waved with a chuckle. “I think I’ll give you a spot to think it over, right? My number’s in the box, or you can find me at school~”

And he was gone again, leaving Hiyoko alone on the pier with a box full of valentine’s chocolates from, cliche as it was, the dreamboat of her high school. This couldn’t really be real, could it…? She decided not to open it yet, and went home, and hid the box in her guitar case.

The next day, she opened the guitar case, looked at the box, then closed the case again.

The day after, Yuji winked at her in the hallway, and she hid her face only to hear him laugh, just a bit. Not at her, but maybe at her emotion. She thought it was an angelic laugh, not the least bit mocking, and that was what gave her the confidence, on a third day, to open the box.

A selection of very ugly chocolates lined the expertly crafted box, and a little note sat on top of them.

“Sorry, I’m not too much of a chef, but I couldn’t well give you something storebought, could I~? I wasn’t sure if you might have allergies, so there are no flavors. Just some plain dark, milk, and white. Pretty sure you wouldn’t need a card to tell the difference between those! Anyway, my phone number’s 000-000-0000. Drop me a line, valentine?”

She laughed out loud at the cheesy sign-off, then lifted one of the dark chocolates to her mouth. Ugly as it was, it was still delicious. Then, she pulled out her phone and sent Yuji a text. Or, hopefully it was Yuji. He responded remarkably quick, and it was evidently him. He gave her his actual number. This wasn’t a prank, this was for real.

Hiyoko was overcome with joy! Then with dread. Then joy again! And the dread-

She was _happy_. Legitimately so happy that a boy liked her, that a cute boy wanted to date her for real. But she dreaded that the happiness couldn’t last, well, of course it couldn’t. It didn’t seem like he’d understood her initial attempt at disclosing the fact she was transgender, thanks to the language her anxieties led her to hedge it in. This couldn’t last. He couldn’t really, really like her, if he found out, if he knew. And then…

He could tell the entire school, couldn’t he? And Karine would be so disappointed, she would make Hiyoko transfer again. Or worse, say that she clearly couldn’t handle living as a woman, and needed to go back to being Ryota. So that wouldn’t… Work.

Hiyoko went for a walk that evening. She walked past Memento Mori, and onto the wharf again. She was holding the box from the chocolates. She’d taken them all out from inside of it, put them into a little tupperware and set it on her desk with a post-it attached.

“I’m sorry, Onee-chan. Dad. Mom. You can have these if you want.”

That was all she left for them, because that was all she had to say. She didn’t have some long manifesto to give, some explanation for everything and why she was going to do what she was about to do, because they wouldn’t understand, she hardly had an explanation for herself. That was the thing. For every bit of suicidal ideation she had before, anything she would have put in _that_ note had blown away. This was an act of desire. A selfish wish.

She read the note over again, then clutched the box to her chest and smiled. She was overjoyed. She was so very, very happy. Ecstatic, really.

_So she pitched herself from the edge of the dock,_ **into the swell.**

.  
.  
.

Her intention had nothing to do with her broken feelings, or her emptiness, not at all. Her wish was to die happy. She didn’t think she’d get the chance again. Her life ahead didn’t seem promising, but with that note from a boy, she’d unlocked real happiness. She doubted her ability to hold onto such a thing, so she decided that she would take the opportunity to die while feeling good. To lack misery in her final moments.

Perhaps, her state of mind wasn’t the best, to think these kinds of things, but she didn’t care. She was dying now in _cheer_. Just like she wanted, right? This was what she wanted.

But Yuji surprised her again.

He was there, somehow, and he saw her. So he dove after her. He saved her life, and brought her to his mentor’s home, where she woke up on a couch. Gavin and Megumi, the proprietors of the place, had given them space to talk when she started to stir. He told her he’d have brought her to a hospital, but he didn’t want to run into his dad there. He’d have still gone if the homeowners here told him he should, but Hiyoko required minimal first aid, mostly just to warm up. She noticed that her clothes had been changed. So…

He told her he didn’t mean to look, he wasn’t trying to be a creep or take advantage of the situation, but he thought it was better if somebody her age changed her clothes, right? She wasn’t worried about that as much as what he might have seen in the process. And he laughed as if that didn’t matter at all, and cupped her cheeks and told her that he never would have guessed, but he loved everything about her anyway, it didn’t change a thing. He wanted her to be his girlfriend. Would she?

And Hiyoko Nageko made her second ‘mistake’.

She agreed… 

And fell in star-crossed love.


	340. Stage Three, Day 12: Being Number One

“Ewwww~!” Eva exclaimed, “Ooshy-gooshy! They started so sweet? So utterly ooey-gooey mushy sweet and nice? Those two, who ended up suuuper dysfunctional at the end? Gosh, love is dead!”

“I don’t think so,” Osiris said, “That dysfunction was the result of a clash between their trauma responses. We’re seeing plenty of that to this day, and they did seem to ‘end’ on the note that they’d work to overcome that issue.”

“Ummmm. Well, okay.” Eva shrugged. “I dunno about that trauma response stuff? Like, I still don’t get it! What sorta trauma did that chad of a dude even _have_?”

“There _were_ conquest videos for him, if he’d made it this far,” Osiris said, “For that matter, not all Conquests are created equal. Not only was there much more contained within that last one than some of the others we’ve seen so far, but unlike the previous participants’ five videos, Katsue is slated to have six.”

“Dang! Well, I guess that a whole lot of life can happen in two years, right? Cause that would’ve been… The February that she was sixteen, right?”

“Yes, that does seem to line up. We know that she was already sixteen when she came out and changed schools, and her birthday is in September. I won’t give away too much, but I know that her seventeenth birthday also features among the tapes, so, yes. Sixteen. Two and a half years, about, before she entered the Killing Game. Plenty of time for her life to fall apart.”

“I dunno what we were on about with the start. Those files gave me a totally different impression of her family’s integrity, than seeing it in action does! Ugh, I almost don’t even wanna see what’ll happen next. A controlling mother, a useless father who won’t help her deal with that mother, and a big sister who I personally love, but who’s also letting this happen? What kind of mask-off horrors are we even gonna see from them?”

“A horror that even Evangeline can’t imagine? Gosh, I don’t want to see that either. Oh well. Illuminate a brighter future?”

“For… Humanity.” Eva sighed, and the monitor powered down.

\--

“So that’s how they got together…” Syoko observed, staring at the now-inactive monitor. “I think that’s… Nice. That’s really wonderful, actually. The way that he was able to see through to her heart. Even though eventually, things would change, and he wouldn’t be able to anymore… That’s where I’m at right now. I can’t see her heart. I can’t understand her, and really, nobody can understand me. So I was wrong to judge him so strongly, you know? I was.”

“I know,” Yosuke said, “I was friends with him, remember? I was worried that I might have had the wrong idea about him, but that was just a precaution, yknow? I didn’t want to be completely destroyed if he wasn’t the person I thought he was.”

“And even with that divide between them, he loved her. They loved _each other_, with their whole hearts, even if those hearts couldn’t really connect.” She turned and looked at Irarako. “I don’t know if I could even be capable of something like that. I don’t know… If I’ve got the kind of heart that even _can_ love someone so completely.”

“Eh? Well, it ain’t like right when you start datin’ anyone’s gotta be lovin’ complete,” Irarako said, “Relationships get built, not found! Whenever yer like. Wanna try’n all.”

“Ahah… I don’t know.” Syoko brought her hands up to the collar of her shirt, fiddling with it as she stared at her reflection in the blank monitor. “Katsue had to struggle so much to get here today. Even just from that much, she’s had to fight to be herself for years. She’ll have to keep fighting in the future. People like us… Always need to. Mm.”

“_Syo_ko?” Homura piped up. Yosuke had set him down, though his stream of muttering had only stopped when the conquest video captured his attention.

“I…” Syoko lifted her gaze from the monitor. “Think I’m starting to get it. Whatever happens next, ‘Hiyoko’ was the person that those around her shaped her into. But Katsue, that’s who she really is. It took Yuji knowing who Katsue is, for him to understand her. I want to understand too. I want to be her friend. I want… To reach through the past for the thread that connects us, as girls. I have to know how she felt.”

As she was speaking, Syoko had stepped over the monitor and wandered over to one of the piers. This brief corridor between instances of Memento Mori didn’t seem to have any enemies, but that didn’t mean there were no dangers. Yosuke, with a start, realized exactly what that danger was, and stumbled over his feet chasing down that same dock. “Syoko, _don’t-!_”

The desperate sound in his voice caught in his own ears, it hurt to hear. For somebody who cried so often, this kind of momentary distress was unusual, the instant of overwhelming concern and panic. Dawning realizations and long bawling sessions were more his thing, so his urgency startled himself, but not as much as it startled Homura and Irarako, who didn’t even know what he was shouting about-

For about a half second, before Syoko went limp and dropped sideways like a stone, her body falling into the recreated ocean. It’s pitch dark cold enveloped her at once, just the one splash of her entry, and then nothing for a few seconds. Most of her gear, as well as her X-Key, got caught up in a lobster trap hanging off the side of the dock, but for a leg brace she’d been wearing, which seemed to now be lost. Yosuke couldn’t even breathe the sigh of relief at spotting her weapon and, well, _her_, in this form, were still accessible. He was too shocked at her sudden action.

“What… the fuck.” He grit his teeth, watching the water return to an uncomfortable stillness in front of his eyes. He gathered her items and stood, taking deep breaths and trying to moderate his voice against the mix of emotions. Confusion, and surprise, but strangest of all were that the tears pricking at his eyes were _angry_ ones. Syoko had been the one who told him not to risk any potential penalty for killing himself when he found out about the dysphoria shigabane for one, but for another?

They’d been roommates, and very good friends, this entire time, and he hadn’t the slightest inkling that she would consider doing this for _any_ reason. Of course, it wasn’t like it would stick, she knew that. And it wasn’t… Or was it? In response to a negative emotion for her? She said she wanted to know what Katsue felt, but even so, to go to this extent…

Yosuke, despite having thought he had some idea of what he’d see, began to dread Syoko’s Conquest Videos. What sort of things would he find out about his friend, about the girl who everybody, including herself, considered so perfect, so above it all, above all of this? He’d never even thought about it, never let it cross his mind that even the scattered things he knew about her past were actually hurting her to this day. She was the very example of an Ultimate-

And.

Oh, of course.

It wasn’t like Yosuke had yet to meet an Ultimate who wasn’t, somehow or another, _fucked up_.

So it was entirely possible that she was among the best at _that_, too.


	341. Stage Three, Day 12: Intentional Death Penalty

The remaining three survivors made the decision to flee, their pockets basically full of whatever items they’d managed to recover, the rest would have to wait until their return. X-Keys were gathered up on the retreat, as even the nightclub’s ambient assault relented to allow them to get back to Jabberwock Island. Homura collected them all and approached the Extend Machine.

Katsue Nageko _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Romantic Creature:** Reduced damage from Romantic Creatures.  
**Death by Bludgeoning:** Reduced damage from Blunt Attacks.  
**Death by Long Grasp:** Increased chance to dodge attacks from more than 2 spaces away.  
**Intentional Death Penalty:** Increased chance of more dangerous enemies appearing when in own ruin and ruin of origin sin.

Shin Tsubasa _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Vulture Budgie:** Reduced damage from Vulture Budgies.  
**Death by Claws:** Reduced damage from Claws.  
**Death by Lacerations:** Reduced damage from Slash Attacks

Yume Mirai _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Vampire Ravvit:** Reduced damage from Vampire Enemies.  
**Death by Fangs:** Reduced damage from Fangs.

Saya Yoshiro _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Rebellious Clione:** Clione Will Rebel Less Often. (N/A)  
**Death by Jealous Clione:** Clione are subjugated to your will and no longer rebel, but are slightly less powerful than your peers’ clione attacks.

Syoko Saihara _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Drowning:** Will no longer drown immediately when falling into water, or be knocked back into water by enemy attacks.  
**Intentional Death Penalty:** Increased chance of more dangerous enemies appearing when in own ruin and ruin of origin sin.

“What the hell was that, Syoko?” Yosuke questioned before she’d even stood up from the Extend Bed. “You just… I don’t even know what- Are things seriously that bad for you!? Why did I not know this? Don’t you think you can talk to me about these things?”

“I… Don’t know,” Syoko admitted, sitting up. “I can’t say that I, well, realized if things were that bad… For me.”

“I was surprised by that, as well,” Katsue said, “You really just. Did that, huh?”

“I don’t know, I…” Syoko brought her hands up to her head. “I said I wanted to feel how you felt, to understand you, but everyone wants to understand you, right? And I’m the only one who… So I’m not sure. Maybe I am just. Oh. Oh, jeeze. There’s something _wrong_ with me.”

“I’ve known that for a while, yes. I still can’t imagine _what_ that is, though,” Katsue said, “I don’t think I will, until we see your ruin. Whatever lurks in your past. You’ve been seeing what lurks in my past, and I guess it’s not going so well for you.”

“It started off not going well for you, either,” Syoko shot back, “You got the same shigabane as me, so Tsubasa was right. You let that creature kill you.”

“Yes, that’s true. And I’m glad for it. I would have hated being in a position to argue back against Yume’s unfounded accusations against my family,” Katsue said, then furrowed her brow. “It does confuse me a bit, though. What does ‘origin sin’ refer to?”

“Prob,” Irarako spoke up, “Whatever sin what Osiris claims was led to your sin, in his stories?”

“That checks out,” Syoko said, “But how do we even know what our origin sin is, before we get to that point?”

“Well, I dunno,” Homura said, “But I know there’s a Shigabane for getting killed by the person whose sin is your origin sin.”

“Wh- How??” Katsue questioned.

“Tsubasa’s origin sin seems to be wrath. Remember how you guys went on ahead while I extended him, after Yume evened the score? So you didn’t see it, but, yeah. Shigabane for being killed by ‘origin sinner’. It gives you some resistance to all sin-related enemies,” Homura explained.

“You didn’t think to mention this sooner?” Yume asked.

“I did not.” He shrugged.

“It seems like a useful Shigabane,” Shin said, “But one that most people probably can’t get, right? Because the friendly fire shigabane keeps us from being killed by another survivor more than just the one time.”

“I mean, if we really wanted to get that sorted out,” Homura said, “We could just extend with shigabanes disabled one time, in order to pull it off, yknow? But! That seems like a really fucked up thing to do, and I’d _really_ rather not, uh, sit around and kill each other?”

“Mm. No, that doesn’t seem worth it,” Saya said, “I suppose we should keep it in mind, in case we start to really struggle later on, but only as a last resort. Speaking of strange, useful shigabane… Jealous Clione..?”

“That appears to be specific to you,” Shin said, “I imagine we all have something like that, a specific shigabane effect that’s changed by our sin. I suppose now we can expect your sin will be Envy. Or, maybe origin sins can repeat. Yours and Yume’s may both be Envy, and that could be the root of your Shigabane. Since it showed us an initial form of the rebellious clione effect, I assume that’s the one the rest of us will experience. As for you, well. You were correct, weren’t you? This is _your_ weapon.”

“That’s nice! I had a fun time using it until it murdered me.” Saya flashed a thumbs-up, then turned to Homura. “Hey, why didn’t you extend Nokage yet?”

“I wanted to get all of this out of the way first,” Homura said, “Because I’m not… Completely sure that this is actually their X-Key.”

“What’ssat mean?” Irarako blinked.

Homura turned to the machine and set the X-Key in, and the screen flashed up with exactly what he was worried it might. “No Data.”

“No… Data?” Saya questioned, stepping up next to Homura. “Does that mean… Oh dear, is Ushina dead for real?”

“I don’t think so,” Homura said, “I think it just went somewhere else in the game, I’m not that worried about it. It’s not gonna die so easily. We have a blank X-Key here, which is good to have on hand. We should put it somewhere safe. But the thing that’s weird to me is… Anyone who counts as a ‘life’ does appear in this count on the screen. And the number’s back up to eight, with all of us. Evangeline might have been partly lying about Ushina’s truthfulness, but I’m pretty sure that we were right about how the life count works.”

“So that means…” Shin muttered.

“There is _somebody_ else here,” Homura said, “I don’t know if Ushina does count, in that number. But we have to consider the possibility that, with Ushina included, there may just be _ten_ people inside the Zero Sum Game. Then again. Maybe not. I don’t know.”

“We’ll keep an eye out,” Katsue said, “But for now, we should rest. Tomorrow, I’ll make sure we get further into my ruin. Those first two… Well, I can only imagine that the next one begins to reveal the truth of how everything came apart.”


	342. Stage Three, Day 13: Dance Till You're Dead

The next day came around quickly, and everybody ate, well, just as quickly. Katsue clearly wanted to get right back into the ruin, wanted to get her ruin over with as soon as possible. While Irarako had felt similarly, Katsue’s urgency was of a much more dreadful kind. She just wanted to be done. She wanted to get out of this, to stop dealing with it, and suffer the reactions rather than continuing to be anxious over it. Couldn’t keep being anxious about what people would think of her, she’d prefer they just thought it. Get it over with already. Get it over with.

She had steeled herself against letting herself be killed again this time, mostly because of the way that she’d seen her peers deal with, or fail to deal with, Memento Mori. Even in its dialled up form, she could handle that perfectly fine, right? She always could. They couldn’t, because she was stuck in a death game with a bunch of normies. Or, close to normies. Normies in the sense that they had an age-appropriate level of experience with nightclubs, being, none. Compared to her lots. Lots and lots of experience.

Were they good experiences? Eh. She’d probably set them down as a flat neutral, if she was to be completely honest. Going there with Yuji was good, actually, but before they started dating, it really was just a means to an end. A way for her to rebel, then a way for her to see familiar people when her usual ones were cut off. It hadn’t made her happy, but it also kept her sane. She wouldn’t have made it through those few months before she got together with Yuji if not for Memento Mori, she’d admit it.

Some might say she still didn’t make it, she’d just been rescued from her attempt to solidify that fact. She wouldn’t actually say that. She did make it that far, and the action she took was for an entirely different reason. Really, what she needed most of all was therapy for the fact that she’d even thought that a reasonable course of action, seizing the day to die happy while she could… But then again, there was still more to her past. She needed therapy for a whole lot more than just that.

Yet, despite it all, she didn’t feel currently unstable. She felt… Not fine. Really, she felt quite bad, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t feel stable. There was a difference. Having her past exposed like this, and needing to think about it again, was difficult and painful, but she didn’t expect she’d absolutely lose it. Even letting herself get killed by that creature was on subconsciously intentional- She didn’t make the decision to do that. She was a confident person, now. She still had a ways to go, but she did have that on her side, the confidence to face her past without being destroyed all over again. There was no intention here to die and stay dead.

Hiyoko was dead. Hiyoko Nageko wasn’t somebody who existed anymore, only in Katsue’s past. Somebody who would be molded by others and who wouldn’t take fate into her own hands nearly as much as she ought to. Katsue didn’t actually blame Hiyoko for what happened _to_ her, even if she blamed her, and herself, for the results. The way that her family was destroyed. That was on her, that was on Katsue. Every attempt she made to exist as herself, to go _beyond_ Hiyoko, was what drove her down this path.

But she was at the end of it. She was Katsue against all of her best judgment, she had arrived at herself, arrived at an existence that she could be satisfied with. Even if it turned out, on the other end, that Yuji was a liar- She would continue on. And even if she had nowhere to go, she couldn’t go back to being ‘Ryota’ in her mother’s home. She was now the person she was always meant to be, and while that person would suffer the effects of her past…

She knew that she was _going_ to be okay, one way or another, in the end.

So she approached the doors of Memento Mori with her peers, brandishing the parasol. She pushed the door open and… Danced inside. Graceful, but to the beat of the music that pounded away. Homura had his headphones on again, and was waiting just outside, at the edge of the door. The others joined Katsue inside, but there was something strange about the way that she so skillfully moved across the dancefloor…

She could tell.

Unlike the other survivors, Katsue never once extended her weapon in the direction of an enemy which wasn’t really there. She could tell the difference between illusions and reality, and was one-by-one picking off the real ones without too much effort expended. Nobody was killed this time, and soon, all of the real enemies were killed. This was made evident by the lights slowing, the music reducing in volume, and the illusory enemies vanishing from view entirely. Katsue took a deep breath, then turned around a smiled, striking a pose.

“This is _my_ ruin, after all. What sort of an ancient being would I be if I didn’t have some idea on how to conquer my own dungeon?” She slung her weapon over her shoulder and put her other hand on her hip. “Permutations of the horrors within my psyche have existed time, and time again, through history… Challenging adventurers century after century, though I would usually be the one _responsible_ for the dungeon’s creation, not the one attempting to clear it.”

“Understandable,” Shin said, “How could you tell the difference, though? Like, seriously?”

“Huh? It’s plain as day,” Katsue said, “The fake ones all move to the beat of the music. Any of them which were out of step were real, because they weren’t generated by the club, they’re brainless cretins who don’t even know a little bit about dancing~! What, nobody else picked up on that?”

“I don’t think any of us had the combination of being able to see well enough and hear well enough to notice any kind of correlation,” Syoko admitted, “Until the ambience chilled out a bit just now, it was all really overwhelming.”

“I could tell from my X-Key, the first time you came through. None of you’ve really been to a rave before, huh?” There were shakes of heads all around. None of them had. “Right, well then! It’s a good thing I’m up and at ‘em again. Let’s keep going. _That_ fight was actually kinda fun. If I have to have all my traumas exposed, I may as well get what I can out of the process~”


	343. Stage Two, Day 13: On The Second Floor

Now that Katsue had cleared the floor, the group set about retrieving all of the gear that they’d left to wait in the nightclub for their return. Luckily enough, everything _was_ still here. Their dropped items didn’t despawn or anything of that ilk, so everybody was able to return to their properly equipped selves before continuing through the ruin. While Homura had expressed his belief that Ushina was still alive somewhere, he did hesitate when he reached the spot where it had been killed before. It had to still be alive, right? They always talked before about how they wished they could, but couldn’t ever die. And for that matter, it wasn’t so stupid that they’d sacrifice itself for Homura’s sake if Homura were the only one between them who could come back.

Even if they _did_ wish they were dead, it wouldn’t do that to Homura, wouldn’t put that on his shoulders that their eventual final death was because of him. With that confidence that his friend wouldn’t do that, he could rest assured, right? Right.

And with that, the first instance of Memento Mori was behind them. The first instance, because they would likely enter again after the short stretch of wharf upon which the second conquest video had been shown, the stretch of wharf upon which they currently stood again. Syoko fidgeted as she stepped on the boardwalk, staring off in the direction of the pier.

“You know what’s uncanny?” Katsue spoke up, “From my Conquest Video, you couldn’t exactly tell _which_ dock I jumped from. But you picked the same one as me for your little stunt. Well, even if the video did show you… This version of the wharf is quite different. It’s been twisted up by the shadows lurking in the recesses of my soul. The way that my memory and curse alike have twisted my hometown. You probably wouldn’t even be able to tell, not being a local, that it’s the same place.”

“So by choosing that one…” Syoko muttered.

“You’re beginning to understand, yes. Your soul resonated with mine. The curse that I bear, it’s being revealed, little by little. Whether I wish it or not, it’s spreading to all of you, placing its weight on your shoulders. Being of ancient occultic blood herself, it’s resonating more strongly with Saihara, though she’d buried that facet of herself so much I could scant detect it until recently…” Katsue turned and gave a knowing look toward the group. “As far as I’m concerned, once all of our curses are spread among us… If we can _handle_ their weight, we will be much stronger, much more capable of defeating the challenge set out ahead of us.”

“Of course,” Shin said, “I agree. If we _can_ all handle the weight of the curses being spread over us. I have my doubts.”

“As do I, but that’s alright…” Katsue trailed off, her confidence going away along with her sentence. “There’s no reason not to press on ahead.”

And with that, she kept moving forward, though not very quickly. She took her time, giving long looks over this fabrication of her hometown’s port. There were some boats floating at the ends of some of the docks, flickering in and out of vision and shape. Sometimes they appeared as the basic fishing boats they were, and other times looked like miniatures of dark-colored pirate ships. And of course, sometimes, they weren’t there at all. Their appearances corresponded with the tide, which went in and out at a rate much quicker than it would in reality.

Then, that was it. Before even reaching the door at the other end which would assumedly open back up into Memento Mori, the scene faded away instead. A few steps before the door, the wharf shifted back into the nightclub without any action taken to make it happen. The music and lights remained at the same level they were before, and the creatures on the ground floor were still gone. The ground floor, because this was the second floor of the building, the mezzanine area. This was mostly unused, only when the club was rented out for a specific concert rather than its usual state. It was difficult to properly rave from different floors, after all.

This second floor did, sitting on the railing which overlooked that first floor, feature a red CRT Monitor. It was flashing colors in tandem with the lights, until the group took another step closer and the scene changed.

\--

“Hey kids! Welcome back to Memento Mori!” Eva exclaimed, spreading her arms out so wide they filled most of the screen, one hand completely blotting out Ris’s face. “And Extend TV, while we’re at it. So by now I think you’ve noticed that this ruin is super weird, right?”

“They already figured out the reason for that, you know.” Ris grabbed and lowered Eva’s arm which was blocking him.

“Sure did! Which, yeah, I mean. I made allll of this. The Neo World, the Luciora. Of course I know how it’s gonna end up functioning together! They even got the right reason! P-Particles were kinda a cursory nanomachine to Luciora’s development, ya know? Being able to make new people with technology is a real good first step to being able to recreate existing people with technology. You’d kinda think it’d go the opposite way, right? But really organic matter is a lot harder to work with than synthetic matter that behaves organically!”

“You can tell by the fact that the Replicant research was mostly completed by one Ultimate, whereas Luciora took a number of devoted scientists at DIYEAR working together. I doubt any of them ever expected it could be used in this way…”

“Why would they? Science balks in the face of no implications! Well, in any case, you kids are _right_, I guess. The Killing Game’s programming has existed a long time, so we just worked in that framework. But to make the Zero Sum Game, from the ground up, it has to be influenced by your own memories. We can’t just look in your minds and come up with shit like they do for the executions. Luciora’s been our little helper this whole time, so of course it’s gonna warp the ruins two different ways!”

“Way one. There is luciora out in the world right now, and it _is_ connected to ours. It builds a ruin that reflects the current state of that location in the world, then, way two, draws on your additional information to ensure it remains navigable. We manually add traps, puzzles, and most enemies.”

“Most! The creatures of your sins, the bosses? Those kinda just… Exist! We dunno where they came from or anything.” Eva stuck out her tongue. “Not like it matters, really, yknow? This ruin’s fucked up because Katsue’s fucked up! Let’s see why!”

“Yes. It’s time for…” Ris hesitated at the title, grimacing, but saying it anyhow. “**Lust Part Three: Royal Tradition Of Human and Succubus.**”


	344. Lust Part Three: Royal Tradition Of Human and Succubus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we go, I've got a real horrific chapter for you right now on election day. Who knows, maybe it'll keep your mind off it?
> 
> Extra warning for:  
Rape (stated, not shown), incest, and a bit more transphobia from Karine / internalized mild transphobia from Hiyoko's narration

It was Hiyoko Nageko’s seventeeth birthday.

The months which had passed had gone by in a fairly reasonable, normal fashion. In fact, they’d been more pleasant for a number of reasons. When she’d gotten up the nerve to invite her boyfriend around and introduce him to her family, her mother’s behavior actually eased off quite a bit. There were still the lessons shoved on her to behave in a ‘ladylike’ way, but they weren’t daily anymore, and Karine’s statements to her hurt less.

It wasn’t as if those statements were ones which Hiyoko could even pick out as being ‘hurtful’, at any point. It wasn’t outright. It was the kind of thing which she would be hurt by, then wonder what in the world was such a problem, why her mother’s words pricked at her heart so cruelly when it seemed so innocuous on the surface. But, those had decreased.

At her new school, she’d begun to make some friends, in part thanks to Yuji. She also acquired enemies who were jealous of her for being the girl who got to be with him, but she tried not to let that get to her. They’d expose her secret if they found out, but in a way, being with Yuji let her keep it hidden even better than she might have before. There was the easy explanation that she got cuter over time because she was trying to hold onto her casanova of a boyfriend. Some people probably pitied her, thinking she was making a desperate bid to remain desireable.

She didn’t mind if people thought that. And she did have friends- Nobody was really _ride or die_ for her, nobody got even as close as the friends she’d had before Karine forced her to transfer to keep her status hidden. But she had them, and life was generally going pretty well. The previous weekend she’d had a small birthday party, since her actual birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. It was a nice time, and the first party she got to have as herself.

She’d expressed to her friends that she was trying to learn more about makeup, but her mom didn’t want to teach her, and her sister didn’t really have enough products anyway to help her out. This had come up in passing, but it seemed a few of her friends remembered it, because they pooled together to get her a small, basic makeup kit, and offered to help her out after school on her actual birthday after school. That was when she was going out to dinner with her family, right? So she could look nice and grown up, nice and seventeen.

Yuji’s gift to her had been a vampire cape. He felt a bit silly giving it to her in front of her friends, but they all thought it was very cool, especially when they heard that he’d made the fabric for it himself. It was waist-length, with a shimmery inner lining in red, a black satin-type outside, with a collar that could flip up or fold down into a soft peter pan collar, which fastened at the front with a fluffy bow. It was her favorite gift, and frankly, her friends’ favorite gift to watch her receive, too. But nobody there felt inadequate at the end of the day- Her group of friends had worked together to get her a gift they knew she’d like from a conversation before, and her boyfriend had gone all-out to get her a very indulgent gift catered to her interests.

Getting her makeup done by her friends, with the products that she’d packed up in a nice box very carefully that morning, was a nice time. They were all just teenage girls, so none of them were masterful, but certainly good enough to give her a makeover. It had a gothic flair to it, given that they’d ended up connecting at first on their love for vampire romance novels. The other girls had a book club that Hiyoko had joined, and over time they’d all grown pretty close. Even closer, she thought, after they’d gotten her such a thoughtful gift. Maybe they were ride-or-die material after all.

She had been a bit concerned to have these girls looking closely and scrutinizing her face enough to make it look nice, but if any of them noticed anything off about her facial structure, they didn’t say anything. Her chubby cheeks had always been a help, and she guessed by how soon her mother let her return to school that she was able to pass well quite soon after coming out. She’d caught it just in time, really, because she couldn’t imagine having near as much luck if she’d gotten older than she was. Luck was on her side to realize and begin transitioning before her father’s genetics made it more difficult for her.

Not that it would have been hopeless that way, but perhaps her mother would have been less willing to help her if there was going to be no way to disguise the fact that she was transgender for a _while_ to come.

When she arrived home, she showed off her makeover to Sachiko, who squealed and fawned over how pretty her imouto looked for a solid ten minutes before dragging her into her room to try and give her something suitably pretty to wear to dinner. Her usual vampire-chic wardrobe wasn’t quite the thing for a family dinner at a fancy restaurant, after all. She hadn’t even considered that fact, but Sachiko got her into a sweet little number with a ruffled black skirt that went to just above her knees, and a red-pink blouse that equally cut its sleeves just at her elbows. She looked like any other lovely young lady ready for dinner on her birthday.

When Karine opened the door and saw her daughter dressed up so nice, she took a moment, and Hiyoko wasn’t sure why, but let’s explore what she would have realized in retrospect crossed over her mother’s face. First was confusion that her younger daughter could actually look this nice. Second was frustration at that fact. Third was worry about the attention of men, then a fourth, relief at the memory that Hiyoko was in a relationship with a very charming young man of good social, if not necessarily economic, standing. Fifth and finally, she was pleased at the professionalism that her daughter was exhibiting for what would really be their first time out as a family together.

Obviously, they’d been out, but not _like this_. Not at a good restaurant where people who Karine knew would be. Going to a family chain restaurant was different, when it came to public eyes, than going to a hot spot to trot in town. Karine had probably needed some convincing that it was okay to do this at all, but she’d been convinced. The family took two cars, because Kenta was coming straight from work. To Hiyoko’s birthday dinner.

And it was uneventful, but for one strange thing. The entire time, both of her parents gave her odd looks, over and over. She couldn’t help being uncomfortable, but she still had a nice time. She had a delicious meal, and picked out a molten chocolate cake for her dessert. Vampires liked chocolate quite a lot, after all. Karine and Sachiko had both stolen bites from the frankly massive piece of cake, likely sized up from its usual thanks to Karine mentioning to the waiter that it was Hiyoko’s birthday.

Kenta was offered some, but he turned it down. He’d hardly touched his own food either. If the glances Hiyoko had received made her slightly uncomfortable, it was as if giving her those glances at all had made her father much, much more uncomfortable. One of the only things he said all night, actually, was after the check came. “Hey, Hiyoko. Why don’t you ride back with me?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Karine said, “I needed to run an errand today, but I forgot. Sachiko and I can stop at the store and meet you at home.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kenta said, then stood up after placing the requisite cash onto the check. “Fine with you, birdy?”

“Ah, yeah!” Hiyoko nodded along, standing as well. She didn’t know why her father was so uncomfortable, but she still preferred driving with him compared to her mother. Karine had a bad habit, which she would exercise tonight, of having perhaps one glass of wine too many to be allowed on the road, but out of simple spite managed to never be pulled over or get into legitimate danger in that state. ‘No legitimate danger’ didn’t mean ‘a drive which wasn’t frightening’. Sachiko, being her mother’s daughter just as much as Hiyoko’s was her father’s, didn’t seem to have a problem with this. Hiyoko was so preoccupied with this, she didn’t notice that her uncomfortable father had been drinking too, probably more than he’d eaten all night, all day for that matter.

So splitting up this way wasn’t unusual for them, though Hiyoko was more often the one to suggest it. Maybe her father just wanted to talk to her about something he didn’t want to in front of his wife. Telling her how nice she looked, maybe. While Karine’s compliment came in the form of ‘you really do look like a real woman’, she imagined anything more polite than that from Kenta would earn her ire.

“I’m going to pull over here, okay?”

  
  
In a way, well- In a way he did want to tell her something he couldn’t tell her in front of Karine. In a way, he did want to tell her how beautiful she was. How beautiful he thought she was. How cute- And how- How sexy she was- How she’d really just become- Her third ‘mistake’? Too pretty for her own good? A succubus? A temptress? Ha. Ha, ha. He had been so very _pleased_ when she came out to him. 

But so worried at the same time.

Hiyoko?

Birdy?

Please don’t hate your pitiful father.

But-

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

Why?

Why did such a good day turn so, so rotten?

Why was Hiyoko Nageko’s seventeenth birthday…

The day her image of her father as a good man, a family man, a provider-

A perfectly fine Dad-

Shattered?

The day that _Kenta Nageko-_

Raped her.

For the _first_ time.

██████████████████████

And he had the nerve to-

“...Hiyoko? Honey? Are you okay?”

“Just go, Kenta. Drive.”


	345. Stage Three, Day 13: You Are Always Asking What Is Up With Me

“...Wow, haha, lame,” Eva said, “We didn’t even get to see what happened for ourselves, huh? Yeah. Okay~! You really have to give us balls that blue-”

“Of course it wasn’t going to show that,” Osiris said, “Even though these Conquest Videos are constructed from memories, as you said before… There are some standards to uphold. Yume’s video didn’t go into detail, either. It’s unnecessary, when everyone is made aware of what happened, to view all of that.”

“Unnecessary, but oh-so-interesting! Everyone loves to see the worst of the worst!” Evangeline bounced in place. “Oh, but I guess that the morals of the group outweigh mine, huh? There’s minors watching, so the worst we can go is R-Rated.”

“...Yes, I sure fucking hope so,” Osiris shook his head. “I don’t… Feel like doing this right now.”

Eva blinked, then closed her eyes completely. “No, honestly, I don’t either.”

“I don’t know why any of you would want to, but I guess, illuminate a brighter future for humanity.”

\--

Breaking.

Breaking.

Broken. Gone.

Katsue thought she was ready to see what was in that Conquest Video. She knew it was coming, and yet, she somehow wasn’t. Her reaction, the way she was feeling, it was… Somehow…

Even worse. Even more broken than she _had_ been. Because somehow, right now, her horror wasn’t at what had been done to her. Her horror was at her initial emotion, which she couldn’t shake. Which made her want to throw up. Which was overwhelming her senses. Which was-

**Love.**

Rather than an attack on her emotions the way that she expected, the visceral disgust, she instead, felt love. She loved her father. No, not the version of her father in that video. Not that one. She didn’t love _Kenta_. She loved her _Dad_. The one who was nice to her. The one who was sweet and gentle and gosh, wouldn’t that have been nice? Wouldn’t that have been fine? He didn’t have to blame her. He didn’t have to be so rough, so cruel. That wasn’t like him. That wasn’t the Daddy she knew and **loved** at all. If he had been sweet with her-

Would she have-

No, some part of her brain was sure she still wouldn’t have liked it, but that part of her brain was being pressed back, choked out, stifled. She felt warm. She felt warm and feverish and oh-so-broken to be having these kinds of thoughts. Where were they coming from, the thoughts? Was it because he changed so much? To a completely different person? To Kenta instead, where he had always been her dad?

If he was going to do that to her anyway, couldn’t he have still been himself? Couldn’t he have preserved that idea for her? Someone she loved, hurting her, instead of breaking a split in her mind that this was somebody else. It was as if her dad had never harmed her, it was Kenta, and they were separate. So she still loved the memory of him. She loved him so much and she wished that person hadn’t died that day. Hadn’t been wiped from existence by Kenta.

Yume went to open her mouth, but Irarako grabbed at her arm firmly. Whatever she had to say wouldn’t be helpful right now. She wasn’t the one who needed to talk, though it was unclear who _would_ be the one that could say anything worth saying that Katsue was ready to hear at this time.

“I sort of…” Syoko was the first person to speak, and Katsue’s head snapped around to look at her. “Expected that might be it. Well, not that, exactly, but. Something like that. I… I’m so sorry.”

She was apologizing, specifically, for giving Katsue a birthday cake. That much was clear- Syoko was trying to follow the idea that Katsue didn’t want to hear about the detriment of her family, so this was how she could react. Saying sorry for her part in hurting Katsue with the result of that. Her previous birthday had changed everything for her, after all. It was no wonder she didn’t consider it a happy day.

Yet. Katsue’s voice dripped, almost as much as a creature’s. “You expected that might be it, did you? Ahhh. I see. You’re still making _assumptions._”

Speaking of creatures, one of those appeared from behind her. Despite her aggression, Yosuke moved to defend her from it, but it ignored her. The ‘Romantic Creature’ walked right past Katsue, then took a blow from Yosuke. She blinked, then released her healing clione, which for her came forth from the center of her chest, at her sternum. It flicked powder over the creature, then retracted. “That’s not a nice thing to do to my boyfriend, you know.”

“That’s not- What?” Yosuke questioned, taking a step back to just barely dodge the creature’s retaliatory swipe. Homura, Irarako, and Saya all stepped in to defeat it instead, before Hiyoko could heal it again. After which, Syoko found herself face-to-face with Katsue.

“What… Is going on?” Syoko asked her directly, “If I’m making assumptions, then tell me what I’m wrong about, please.”

“You don’t know anything. You don’t know anything about them. About my family. We were happy. We were a happy family. We were. And I loved them. And they loved me. It was good. It was. It really… Was.” Katsue pressed a palm to her eye. “It was my curse. It wasn’t them, it was the curse I carry, which you _can’t_ handle, none of you can. It’s my fault that happened. If I were normal… If I didn’t have this body that my father was compelled to… If I did not corrupt each and every person I ever touched. It’s me, understand? It’s me. So don’t blame them.”

“It’s not _you_!” Syoko insisted, grabbing at Katsue’s arms. “Why would you think that?”

“Something he said to me, it wasn’t that first time. But he said it. I asked, you know? I asked the demon who had taken the place of my loving human father. He said to me, your mother’s great, but she doesn’t have a dick, you know? So it’s me. It’s because I have this kind of body. I invite misfortune and I belong nowhere.” She locked eyes with Syoko. “But you don’t belong anywhere either, do you?”

And she stabbed her umbrella through Syoko’s stomach, reducing her to an X-Key in moments.


	346. Stage Three, Day 13: Relationship Status

“Does anybody else…” Katsue looked up from the X-Key she’d just caused, lightly twirling her parasol. “Have any questions?”

“Was killing Syoko really necessary?” Yosuke poked the bear.

“Syoko. Are you sure about that?” Katsue asked, tilting her head up to look down at him. “Haven’t you heard? Nokage’s said it, so has Shinku. And really, it’s becoming obvious to me. You’re all focused on me… The things you think about my family. What if I told you that… I love them? What if I told you what seems so unpleasant and disgusting? I wanted that to happen, _just_ like he said I did. What about that? Huh? Maybe you’d hate me, but it’d turn on your brains. If anyone here’s not who they say they are… Well, huh, there’s a few. But she’s one of them. And I’m not.”

“Okay.” Shin took a step forward. “That’s enough of this.”

“Enough…?” Katsue asked.

“Yeah, it’s getting kind of ridiculous. But, yknow, I have a theory on how to fix this, so… Yosuke, you wanna pick up another person?”

“Guess so.” Yosuke shrugged, then came up behind Katsue and scooped her up. Before she could retaliate against him, Saya had reached out and swiped the umbrella right out of her hand with her clione, leaving her defenseless to Yosuke’s lifting. She just sighed and groaned, but didn’t seem too put out by the action, actually. She lifted a fist to her chin and pouted.

“Good, now let’s go back a few steps, to the wharf,” Shin continued. Katsue was carried back there, and everybody else walked because they had no reason not to. Splitting up seemed like a bad idea, and they were curious what Shin was on about, for that matter. He got to the dock, and pointed at a crate. “Saya, could you pick that up for me?”

“Yeah!” She agreed, and lifted it. Then, she made the connection, and dipped it into the ocean, filling the crate with cold water. Of course, she was doing all of this with her clione. It was much stronger than her, even with the nerf that her subjugation of it had inflicted, more than enough to fill a crate with water and pick it back up. “Yosuke, I would recommend setting the vampire down on the ground and taking a few steps back.”

Yosuke did as he was directed, though Katsue tried to follow him in his steps away, he managed to put enough distance between them for a moment that Saya felt comfortable dumping the crate of water over the top of Katsue’s head.

And she immediately dropped to her knees, pressing her hands into her face in silence for a while. Then, she screamed, not dissimilar to the scream the narration had made in the previous video. Then, stood up, took some heavy breaths. “I’m, okay! Yeah, I’m okay. Umm. I’m fine. Yeah.”

“Nope,” Shin said.

“I’m! Oh my _God_,” She grabbed at her head again. “That’s. Gross! Gross gross gross gross! What the fuck was that! What was that! I was in love with him! I was in love with my dad! With my abuser! For a bit there! Um! Uh! What! Fuck! Oh my- I killed _Saihara_-”

“That was what we in the business would call a status condition, yes.” Shin twirled an arrow idly between his fingers, other hand on his hip. “In the business of understanding RPGs, that is. Please, all of you, get with the program? She was acting very erratically. And the clione she used to heal that creature didn’t have any of the same corruption as Saya’s represented before the subjugation shigabane. That _must_ be the condition you’re more prone to, and frankly, I don’t blame you at all for having that inflicted after the video we saw.”

“You must think I’m… Disgusting…” Katsue stumbled a few feet over, then retched into the bay, losing her breakfast into that cold tar pit. “After that. Seeing that. You know what I… Am. What I’ve been. What sort of things I’ve done in my life! And then, the way I reacted, I. I promise I don’t really feel that way I promise I mean. I still don’t… Don’t want you to assume about my family it really is just. Everything was _fine_ until I existed. I don't want you to hate people who were fine before I ruined everything. But. No, no, I never _wanted_ that to happen, I promise, believe me, please-!”

Shin tucked the arrow away and reached for Katsue, grabbing both her arms and pulling her away from the dock gently enough that it was hardly like she was being manipulated at all. “I do. Remember, I promised? I’d be your friend no matter what I saw, as long as you do the same for me. Even if you _had_, which you didn’t, seduced him intentionally. I’m on your side.”

“That was just the first- The first time.” Katsue hiccuped, tipping her head so her hair hung over her face. “Sometimes, I guess, maybe I did. To put him in a better mood. To avoid it being worse. I don’t know. I’m the worst. I really am. Why’d I make you promise that? I didn’t… Want. To do any of it. But I did. I did what he told me, eventually, I just did. I didn’t try to escape, in the end, I let it keep happening. So why would you be on my side. Why would you be willing to side with somebody who has such a curse. The curse of my father’s blood… A man who could so readily turn from the light to depravity, so what if I could? What if it’s just-”

“You don’t want to hear what I want to tell you in response to that,” Shin said.

“I agree,” Yume chimed in, “But I got something to say. So, later on. Lemme know when you wanna hear it after all, right? It’s pretty rude to your family, but it might help anyway. Depending. Like, I ain't Syoko, I don't claim to fucking, have any shot in the dark at _understanding_ a chick like you, but I'm pretty sure my words would help me if I was in your position. If I was ready to hear 'em and all.”

“Not right now.” Katsue shook her head. “The thoughts from that status condition are still… That’d make it worse. I hate this. I don’t like this at all. I don’t want to think about this any longer, I just want to keep going, alright? We have to keep going.”

“I understand.” Yosuke nodded. “Sorry for carrying you over here, by the way. Tsubasa keeps asking me to pick people up and I’m not sure how to deal with that except by actually doing it.”

“That’s alright, we’re friends. I wasn’t that mad. I would’ve killed you if I had my weapon, but I didn’t, so it was fine. Whatever that condition actually did to me, it only _really_ changed my opinions towards you guys as far as it would apply to friendly fire… If anything I just think it's really impressive that you can carry someone who's like half a foot taller than you so easily.”

“I’m sure we’ll have it explained soon!” Saya exclaimed, then turned back toward the second floor’s entrance-area. “Just as soon as we return to where we left off, with that monitor.”


	347. Stage Three, Day 13: Lovesick, Baby Lovesick

Immediately after walking back onto the mezzanine of Memento Mori, the monitor on the railing lit up again.

\--

“Hey! Yeah, wow, for the first time you cured a status condition!” Evangeline exclaimed, “Congratulations for figuring that out! Yes, the way to cure the condition called ‘lovesick’ is, well, a cold shower. Yknow, to put out the fire burning in your heart?”

“It was a bit difficult to devise a status condition for the sin of ‘lust’ which wouldn’t be unfairly cruel,” Osiris said, “But that’s why I took responsibility for creating it. Anything Eva could think of would have been ridiculous.”

“Ris chickened out by making it a fire in your heart, not a fire in your loins!”

“It’s only fair. Lovesickness has three effects. It overwhelms you with positive feelings toward everyone you met prior to the Killing Game, it encourages friendly fire, and it causes you to use support cliones on enemies without any corruption, so you can’t just get burned out on it. Honestly, had you not figured out how to cure it, it would have been a very difficult condition to deal with.”

“As it was, well, you just ended up with one death,” Eva said, “And you do know how to cure it if it happens again. Also, unlike the berserk condition, you _are_ able to flee while a party member is afflicted with Lovesick, and you’ll be able to deal with it back on Jabberwock Island. Ris actually didn’t want to let you do that, but I said, hey. You get to shoot me down for my terrible awful idea, I’m gonna shoot you down on letting a status condition make one of these kids just massacre all their friends if they’re too far from water to fix it.”

“Yes, well, that just goes to show that there needs to be two hosts here to keep each other in check.” Ris sighed, then the television powered off again.

\--

“So it could have been even worse than it was?” Katsue questioned, holding her hands close to her chest. “Instead of just… Hm. Yeah. I guess I didn’t bother worrying about what the status condition for lust could be, before now. Maybe we should worry a bit more… Though I’m relieved, to think about it that way. How it could have been so much worse, but it was _just_ this.”

“I think it’s stupid that you’re getting called lust at all,” Yume said, “I mean, damn. There’s plenty of fucking lust to go around and I wouldn’t really say, I mean… Pinning that on you?”

“Pinning that on me is _exactly_ what it’s about,” Katsue said, “I mean, if you think about it… Sin’s not the kind of thing that is usually objective. You can confess your sins, but more often, it’s somebody else accusing you of a sin. So it’s not so much to say, necessarily, that I committed a sin of lust. Rather, that I committed the sin of allowing others to accuse me of lust. To define what _the sin_ might be… What would actually be called that?”

“I think,” Katsue continued, “It’s probably something to do with, _inviting_ lust. That I’m somebody who… Would have been fine, had I never tried to be more beautiful. That by appealing to my boyfriend, I opened up appeal that should have stayed locked away. A Pandora’s Box.”

“At the bottom of Pandora’s Box is hope,” Shin said, “Isn’t there?”

“Yes.” Katsue pressed a finger on her other hand to the ring that she wore, and smiled a bit. “Despite the difficulties I’m experiencing… The ways my curse is spreading, the ways that my past is being laid bare… I do want to escape this place. I don’t want to stop. Were I truly being destroyed by the attacks upon my soul, maybe I would say, enough of this. Let’s live in peace until the world’s too gone for us to exist. But I won’t do that. I want the life I have waiting at the other end of this all.”

“I do… I do too,” Yosuke spoke up, rubbing at his arms. “I don’t have any idea what that will look like. I didn’t… I realized who I am, while here in this Neo World? I don’t know what my life’s gonna be on the other side, or if I’m ever gonna be _okay_ after all of this? If I can even keep being me, or if I’ll have to change my name again to shake off the memories, but the fact that I’m willing to see that through. I want to make it. I want us… All. To make it.”

With that, he squeezed Syoko’s X-Key in his hand a bit. What Katsue had said to her… He knew that when Katsue’s switch was flipped, she could say ridiculous things. He still had no comprehension of what she’d meant when she told him that they shared a similar curse, but he wasn’t going to dwell on that for long now, because, honestly. Anything his brain could come up with was… Probably a worse explanation than whatever his own Conquest Videos would eventually reveal to him, right? Paranoia didn’t help anybody.

Even still. There was some truth to what Katsue was saying… Not in that Yosuke knew if she was speaking accurately, but in spite of the lovesickness, she meant some of that. Maybe she wouldn’t have said it if she hadn’t been conned into being so angry at Syoko for honestly, a rather innocuous opinion compared to what some of the others might have said-

But she thought it. Evidently, she thought it, but didn’t want to share it until her emotions had been flared up by a status condition. Yosuke had no idea what she could have meant by that either, though. Katsue didn’t belong anywhere, but neither did Syoko? But Syoko had a loving family. Two parents who… Well, admittedly, they’d made the same mistake that Yosuke’s parents had made. Letting Dome City’s government manipulate their memories, sure. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t belong. Not the way Katsue implied, that she had to live somewhere miserable because she had no other options.

Syoko didn’t live somewhere miserable, and Syoko had other options, right? If there were some issue with her dads, there were people who’d take her in, who’d support her, it wasn’t as if she wasn’t going to pull her weight.

Katsue probably would have had that kind of support network too, if not for Karine, right? If she hadn’t been pressed to cut ties, she clearly had friends who could have been there for her. They weren’t, though. They couldn’t be. Katsue’s own mother had made sure of that.

Yosuke found himself starting to get angry, too, and really wished there wasn’t such a gag order against badmouthing Katsue’s family members. He agreed with Yume, here. Those weren’t parents. Not really.

Just because Katsue didn’t have any others, didn’t mean she had to accept that they still were.


	348. Stage Three, Day 13: Catwalk

There were a few more creatures to dispatch, and the mezzanine was clear. That was the next order of business when the group got back to their dungeon-crawling exploits. The trouble here was that, despite clearing the entire floor and seemingly having each square mapped in the Monopads, there was no way forward. Stepping back to the wharf just brought them back to the same area they’d been before. There were no doors, no stairs, nothing which seemed to signal a way to continue on.

“There must be some way to keep going,” Katsue said, “This club has catwalks for the lighting crew. If nothing else, we’d be remiss not to end up there at some point in our exploration…”

“Oh, catwalks?” Saya asked, tilting her head to one side. “Interesting. And we have been wandering around aimlessly searching for a way to advance… But did not think to look above our heads, did we?”

“I mean, sure, but how would we get to something above our heads?” Yosuke asked, wobbling a hand. “If that’s supposed to be our way to continue, what are we supposed to do? I could probably boost you up part of the way, but I don’t think I need to remind you that I’m the shortest person here.”

“Really funny you ended up so short,” Homura said, “Or maybe I just got stupid tall. My genetics shoulda been way against me to be taller than you! But, even if I was strong, I’m not tall enough for boosting either.”

“Well.” Katsue looked up at the catwalks in question. “I actually don’t think _anyone_ here, either way, would be tall enough to give a boost all the way up there…”

“We should not be thinking of it as boosting!” Saya exclaimed, then her clione whirred to life from her shoulder again.

“Augh!” Yume jumped a bit. “Saya, I’m glad you’ve got something that you’re enthusiastic about and all, but doesn’t that hurt, like, a lot? You shouldn’t just be brandishing it around because you can!”

“The pain isn’t very important to me, but I’m not just doing this because I can. I have an idea!”

“Oh!” Yume pressed her hands together. “My darling. You are so smart and clever. Please stop inflicting horrible pain upon yourself.”

“Okay but I’m going to do my idea first.” Saya shrugged, then extended her clione out towards the catwalk above them. It was like… A grappling hook. That was the only way that her action could reasonably (or unreasonably, for that matter) be described. She pulled herself up onto the catwalk by contracting her clione, swung her legs over the side, then returned her arms to their usual twin nature. “I was right!”

“Well, that’s all well and good that you’re up there, but we're down here, and you're up there,” Homura said, “So what about the rest of- oh!”

He jumped back as there was a heavy metal clattering where Saya had released a ladder which descended almost directly in front of where the group had stopped to contemplate just how lost they’d been. Progression, unlocked. Katsue was the first one to climb up, and Yosuke followed after, waiting until she was all the way up before he began to ascend. He doubted that she’d have any concern of him looking up her skirt, given it was well-established at this point that his eyes belonged only to men, but he wanted to be polite anyway.

Plus, he wasn’t sure if he trusted the ladder to hold two people at once, given he wasn’t exactly _light_. He may have been short, and he may have been lean, but muscles were dense! Being as strong as he was, he was also remarkably heavy for his size.

That might be important to keep in mind, right? He somehow felt like weight was something which came up in puzzles pretty often, even from his utterly limited experience with video games. So when it came down to it… Well, Shin was horribly malnourished, so probably the lightest among them. Homura probably came in second by virtue of just being _small_, followed closely by Syoko because, well, Yosuke would admit that she was probably also not the most healthy weight for her height, out of an evident desire to preserve her waistline more than anything.

Yume was also very thin, but not in a way that made Yosuke worry for her health, so she would probably be next after Syoko. From there, probably Saya then Katsue, or the other way around. Both of them had some softness to them, but Yosuke wouldn’t be able to necessarily who weighed more, and theorizing too much would cross the line from ‘puzzle speculation’ into ‘just rude’. After them, he likely weighed the second-most, being a tiny ball of muscle. Irarako was taller, also muscular, and a bit curvy, so she was probably the heaviest person among them. And also the least likely to be annoyed that Yosuke had that thought at all.

Anyway, they’d all made it up the ladder by this point. A bit down the catwalk, there were some of those Vulture Budgies flitting around- Yosuke hung back, because he knew his weapon wasn’t particularly effective against these things. Katsue stepped forward again and dealt with most of them herself, as the piercing weapons seemed naturally inclined to it. Irarako did as well, but while she was distracted with one particular bird which took two hits, another one was able to peck at her a few times. Somehow, even just that was able to reduce her to an X-Key, but then, these certainly weren’t normal birds.

Yosuke grabbed her X-Key and her items, then took a moment after the defeat of the birds. “Hey, we haven’t really found a lot of new stuff in this ruin, have we?”

“I’ve been insistent that we keep going,” Katsue said, “Aside from enemy drops, if there’s anything to be picked up lying around, I’m sure that we’ll find it on a gathering day, or if we take our time returning after the boss? So far, we haven’t been hurting for equipment, and forgive me for finding it more important that we clear the ruin than finding everything inside of it right away.”

“Understanda…” Yosuke trailed off as the scene shifted again just a few steps further down the catwalk. It was a living room, a couch across from a television. Its trim was red, so there was no surprise to be had when it powered on.

\--

“Hey kids.” Osiris gave a half-hearted wave. “Welcome back to Extend TV.”

“This is such a weird ruin, huh! Everything happens everywhere!” Evangeline threw her arms up above her head and wobbled them a bit. “Now you’re in a hooouse. A house that relates to the next Conquest Video, of course! But wow, what a mess your brain is, Katsue. Not that I’m surprised. Hallucinogens in your youth will do that to you.”

“Yes, you would know, Eva,” Ris said, “Let’s just get into it. This video promises to be no less disgusting than the last, but then again. We all knew that Katsue Nageko’s life is of the sort which never should have been allowed to occur as it did. And more of that will become clear in **Lust Part Four: My Story Animated, I Stole My Mom’s Boyfriend??**”


	349. Lust Part Four: My Story Animated, I Stole My Mom’s Boyfriend??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings on this chapter are: Continuing themes of the previous conquest video, as well as even more blatant transphobia and homophobia

Hiyoko told her boyfriend about what happened.

Sort of.

She told him what happened, and when, but she didn’t tell him who it was.

In fact, she _lied_ about who it was. Because, this was her father, right? Her father who she loved. Her father who loved her. Her father who had always been a good man, and Yuji thought so too. Of anyone involved, Yuji and Kenta got along just fine. Karine was standoffish as ever, and Yuji never introduced Hiyoko to his parents because he technically wasn’t supposed to be dating at all, house rules.

She told him that it was a stranger. That she’d gone out to Memento Mori that night to celebrate and been taken advantage of, because. Just being in an open relationship didn’t mean she was fair game for just anybody to take. It was stretching the truth, but not unbelievable by any means. And Yuji didn’t know what to do or how to handle it, but he didn’t break up with her. He tried his level best to learn to be supportive. To figure out what he could do for her to make it even the smallest, tiniest bit better. And he could, actually.

The divide between them, the misunderstanding, wasn’t going to rise for real, in full force, until the time at which he forgot their largest fight with each other. Until they were face-to-face in a Killing Game and he made it evident- Evident though Hiyoko wasn’t even sure if he’d really forgotten, but would take what she could get. But that fight was yet to happen. That divide was yet to grow. There was a different schism to be had at this point in time.

The schism between- The _divorce_ between Kenta Nageko and Karine Ryuunosuke which, to any intent that Hiyoko could think, sat squarely on her shoulders. Well, it was her father’s actions, but he blamed all of those on her in the first place and she had yet to come up with a good way to refute that thought. He behaved this way because she got too pretty, because she appealed to his fetish, she drove a good family man off the deep end. She was the prompting which led a perfectly acceptable father to become a monster.

He hadn’t stopped at just once. He barely even pretended that he was going to. The second time was three weeks later, and that was the longest gap that Hiyoko had experienced over the last few months. Every time, he asked her to forgive her pathetic father who just couldn’t help himself. But every time, he got bolder. First, he wouldn’t do it in the house. Then, he wouldn’t do it if Sachiko or Karine were home. Then, just Karine. He didn’t seem very pathetic or pitiful to Hiyoko, as he escalated his bad behavior towards her.

Each time, she doubted more and more that Kenta had ever been a good man, but each time, she fought him less and less. He _could_ be kind, and he would. If he wasn’t angry with her. If he wasn’t angry with himself. If she gave in, gave him any indication as if he wasn’t hurting her just by feeling the way he did towards her, then it was better. Never good. Never less than terrible, but still. There was ‘better’ to be had if she pretended.

Though that didn’t stop him from escalating, and now, well. This event. This incident.

Sachiko wasn’t at home. Hiyoko, Kenta, and Karine were all sitting on the couch in their living room, watching a movie. Which had started out fine, really. Hiyoko still enjoyed spending time with her family, despite everything. Times when they were actually a family were rare, but pleasant. She loved it. She loved the opportunities where things actually felt normal.

Too bad, this was about to be shattered. This particular opportunity, and every opportunity from that point on. It was dreadful.

_God_, it was awkward enough to be watching a movie with family when a sex scene came up, but that previous awkwardness couldn’t exactly compare with when, under the blanket, her rapist father dragged her hand into his lap, giving her a tactile example of his arousal at what was playing on the screen in front of them. With Karine right there. His wife. Her mother.

She grimaced, but said nothing. Just as always, she said nothing, because she knew that saying something, anytime, about any of this, would eradicate any normalcy. Even if there was the chance it could save her from her father’s bad actions, she would probably never see him again, and probably live only with her mother. She had no idea what that would look like, but she couldn’t imagine it would be good. Was it so terrible of her to want to maintain her family? To want to let things stay the same as they ever were despite what she was enduring in secret?

Her best efforts weren’t much, though. Her wishes and desires didn’t matter in the long run. To her surprise, at first, Kenta let go of her. Then, he spoke up. “Karine, I have something I need to tell you.”

She withdrew her hand as soon as she was able, and wondered- Was he finally putting his money where his mouth was? When he went on and on about how he was pathetic, begging her not to hate him, whining about how he couldn’t help himself and he was so sorry for being so terrible. Was he going to own up to it?

Her hopes didn’t last very long.

“I just can’t keep it a secret any longer. I’m sorry, but I’ve been having an affair.”

Karine straightened her back where she sat on the couch, and lilted. “Oh, is that _so_?”

“Yes,” Kenta continued, “It’s the truth. I’ve been sleeping with… Hiyoko.”

Karine took a deep breath, then stood up from the couch. She folded her hands and turned to face the both of them. Before she could begin, Hiyoko spoke up instead, “He’s- He’s lying! I mean it’s. I didn’t _want_ to!”

“Convenient that you’d say that _now_. This has to have been going on for a while. It seems to me as if you’re saving face.”

“Wh...at…?” Hiyoko questioned, starting to stand, but Kenta grabbed her by the arm to keep her in place. “I… I didn’t say anything because. I didn’t want to ruin our family, and. I didn’t know if you’d _believe_ me-”

“And who’s to say I believe you now?” Karine raised her eyebrows. “I’m really not inclined to. After all, I was worried about this from the very beginning.”

“You- Huh?” Hiyoko was a million miles away from her body, which was currently being tugged closer to her f- To Kenta. And her mother? Karine. Karine was just standing there, looking down on her.

“I was relieved when you got a boyfriend, I was. But I guess that was just some sort of cover story? Your father’s a good man. He never would have fucked his own son, no matter how much you begged. But if you appealed to his fetish…” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I raised such a dumb slut. Then again, my _daughter_ is the child of two vampires. Grimsley would have never been unfaithful to me, especially not with her. You’re just tainted blood and it was a matter of time before you did this to me.”

“I didn’t…?”

“Why?” Karine’s voice was losing its composure a bit, starting to crack. “Why must I lose… Everyone I love, to this disgusting ideology? Why do I keep ending up with fucking _gay_ husbands? In my very own home, under my very own roof, I’ve had men stolen away from me, over, and over. Well. Don’t worry. I’ll be amicable in the divorce. You two can stay here and live your happy little degenerate lives together. I’ll take Sachiko and I’ll make sure she knows that it’s _your_ fault, Ryota, that she doesn’t have a father anymore.”

So was it Hiyoko’s fourth ‘mistake’, that she hadn’t told her mother what was going on, before Kenta took an opportunity to twist the situation to his satisfaction?

...Or would Karine have reacted the same no matter when, or what, was said on the matter?

Either way.

It was that day, when the family Hiyoko tried to preserve with her silence, was ended. When her parents got divorced and she began her rotten-

Disgusting-

Worthless life.

In the sole custody of Kenta Nageko.


	350. Stage Three, Day 13: It's Crazy What You'll Do For A Friend

“I really hate that woman,” Eva said, “I mean, really, really. Let’s do a quick lil comparison here! Her long silver hair to my long white hair, her attempts at hiding her rot to my putting it on full display, come on, who do you think is worse? Which of us is the more terrible grown woman who hurts young girls??”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but in a way, you do have a point. After all, we know full well that in your outright bad behavior, you can’t seem to get anybody to truly love you-”

“Damn, call me potatoes, cause I’m roasted~”

“Meanwhile, the issues for Katsue have arisen from the fact that she _does_ love her family. Even what we just witnessed… Though that destroyed her image of her mother, it still wasn’t such that she could flip to hating her. It would be easier, for Katsue, I’m sure. If she could just hate the people who hurt her. But that’s what happens when those people have the ability to convince you that you’ve done something wrong. If you think that some other course of action would have prevented everything from being unpleasant, if it’s in any way on you, how can you blame the other people for how they reacted to those actions you took?”

“That sounds hard. I’m glad I care about nothing and don’t have to deal with those kinda quandaries! I like and dislike people as I please and it’s got nothing to do with shitty victim-blaming tactics! Ohhh, but damn, Katsue doesn’t want people talking shit about her family, right? Cause of that same thing. She still ~loves~ the people who think that her sexual abuse was her fault for _being a trans girl_.”

“It’s not that easy to drop attachments for most people,” Osiris said, “I only _wish_ it were. Though I do agree with you. And we’re the enemy, so it’s not like we need to try and be _polite_ by watching our words. It’s despicable enough to let your spouse do those things to your child. Leaving them behind when you go? Couldn’t dream of it. That’s even beyond anything that somebody like me would ever imagine doing. I’ll bring an end to a world my child exists in, but I won’t let her _suffer alone_.”

“But you said yourself, you don’t think that we’ll survive if we lose, either. Osiris.”

“If we lose, then here’s hoping that it won’t be a world for her to suffer in. If our opponents win, then, well. We can only trust that they really will illuminate a brighter future.”

“For the ones we leave behind. Bye-bye.”

\--

“Honestly, I do need to agree a bit there,” Saya said, “Growing up around Eva, well, that was unpleasant. But at least she never gave me any pretense that I shouldn’t think it’s unpleasant, if I found it to be unpleasant. Sorry to say. Er, not to be, as they say, ‘shitting’ on your family, Katsue. But I do think it’s cruel that they wouldn’t allow you to form your opinions freely.”

“I’d have words to say,” Yume said, “If I didn’t think you were all gonna fucking gang up on me again over them. Really, what’s so bad about having opinions about people whose worst actions we’re seeing? There’s kinda a point where you cross the line and somebody’s worst moments actually _are_ what you should judge ‘em for.”

Irarako wasn’t there to stand up for Katsue’s request the way she had before, though, so nobody actually reprimanded Yume for what she said.

Shin spoke up with his own thoughts, “I understand that seeing these things is making you feel awful, of course. For that matter, you don’t need us making you feel worse by saying things you don’t want to hear. But frankly, in order to feel less awful, you may need to hear at least… Some of it. I told you I’d be on your side no matter what, and by restraining myself from speaking freely, it feels as if I’m _not_ on your side. If I don’t refute the things your family says about you, it’s almost as if I’m agreeing with them. Which I never would.”

“So, okay…” Homura pressed his hands together with a deep sigh. “Let’s go over this, and Katsue, look. I have no _problems_ with you, but I also don’t actually care that much what you think about me, so like our enemies, I’m not going to hold back. To recap. Your dad is a chaser who raped you, your mom is a total transphobe who thought your actual gender was a sex thing targeted _at_ that dad. And your big sister is like, not really a factor in all of this? Sounds like willful ignorance to me, but sure. I’ll exclude _her_ from my hatred, but that's it.”

“I don’t know how much of that Mom meant…” Katsue muttered, rubbing her arms. “She’s always had issues with jealousy, as long as I can remember. She’d go through Dad’s phone all the time and always try to make sure he wasn’t cheating. She might not have actually meant everything she said to me… She was just angry about the situation.”

“That’s bullshit,” Homura said, “People who are just angry about the situation… Wouldn’t say all of that stuff. Some of it, sure, but not all of it. All of that together, she’s just. Yeah, a garbage person! I really don’t understand why you’re still-”

“It’s because-!” Katsue interrupted, suddenly shouting, “Because they’re my _parents_, okay!? It isn’t just- It’s not just the way I loved them, the way they cared about me when I was a kid, it’s not just that! It’s also because, I’m _them_. They _made_ me. So what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to say, yeah, honestly. Both of my parents are disgusting, terrible people? Both of them are cruel down to the bone and I hate them? So then what about me? What about the person who’s just two rotten, awful people combined? What about _that_? If it’s mistakes I made, that turned good people bad… Then even if I’m bad, I might be able to become good, right? But if they’re just bad, if that’s all they are, then that’s all I can be, too. That’s it, that’s…”

“**The curse of my blood!**”


	351. Stage Three, Day 13: The Monster Was You

“It’s not, actually,” Shin said, his voice still completely calm as he looked directly at Katsue. “The curse of your blood? You can’t seriously believe that’s true. That you’re really just like your parents. That’s not how it works at all.”

“Is that so? Is that what you think?” Katsue asked.

“I’m nothing like my mother. I’ve done bad things, maybe even under her influence, but I’m nothing _like_ her. And you’re nothing like them,” Shin said, “Not in any way that matters. I’ve seen it for myself, time and time again.”

Katsue looked away.

“Even when you’ve lashed out at people, you’ve never said anything even a little bit comparable to what Karine said to you. And it isn’t as if you’ve begged for pity while continuing to do something terrible.”

“Just because I haven’t done exactly what they’ve done, doesn’t mean… If I am to hate them, to hate my bloodline, then how am I supposed to avoid hating myself? It’s much easier to pity myself as an unfortunate bad seed who ruined my family, than to envision my fate as inevitable from my parentage.”

“It doesn’t have to be between those two options,” Shin insisted, then looked to the others. “Don’t you all have things you want to say? Go on. Now’s the time. I’m already being a douche, may as well just get it all out.”

“Yeah, uh, okay.” Yume stepped forward and cracked her knuckles a bit. “_Look._ I want you to get somethin’. I think you’re a pretty decent person? A cool kinda gal, for the most part. Love the gothic flair and all of that. Your ‘folks’? Not so much. And it ain’t just about you. Pretty sure I’d end up hating those people even if you were never _born_. My judgment’s seemed sound so far, yeah? If I hate them, and don’t hate you even a little bit, then, fuck. Why can’t you do the same? Just condemn them for what they did to you. It doesn’t have to be some ‘curse’ that automatically hits you too.”

“I’m…” Katsue grabbed at her hair with one hand. “What? What am I supposed to do? That third option… It isn’t like that’s better. Even if I can accept it, it isn’t any better! Why can’t you just hate _me_? Can’t you all just agree that I’m the worst? That you’re witnessing my _sin_ in these videos and I’m disgusting and I deserve everything that’s ever happened to me? Because. Because if it’s not me…”

“If it’s not me.” She took a deep breath and lowered her arm again, somehow finding herself calming down to an extent. “Then it was just going to happen. If it isn’t that I went wrong, or that I’m bad because both of my parents are bad. Then if I get better… If I really try, and I’m a more stable person, and a good person, in the future? I might still get hurt again. If it didn’t happen for a reason related to me. And I don’t want to… Think about that. I want to put these things _behind_ me. But if it was just. Something that happened to me, outside of my own actions, then it can happen again. Right…?”

There was silence all around for a minute. It was Yume, again, who ended up speaking. Because Yume was the only one here, of those currently alive, who hadn’t felt Katsue’s words to her core. Everyone worried about that. About the past repeating. But, for Yume…

“So? Maybe it can. But anything can happen to anybody anytime. That’s how life fucking _is_, you know? Maybe sometime in your life, people are gonna betray your trust. Maybe you’ll get abused, or abandoned, or try to kill yourself again. Sure. But maybe I’ll experience those things. Or anybody here! We’re still young, so, sure. There’s plenty of bad things that can still happen. Plenty of good things too. The shit that happened to me? Specific to me in some ways, but it still _could_ have happened to anyone. It _has_ happened to other people, in broad strokes. It wasn’t because of me. It was just, the way my life went. And it’s the same for you. You happened to be born to shit parents! Okay! Write yourself off as bad, you’re never _gonna_ get any better anyway, you’d have a lot more to worry about then.”

Katsue had been staring down at the floor, but lifted her head at this last bit. Took another deep breath, then spun her parasol in her hand. “Karine Ryuunosuke has claimed to be a vampire. Kenta Nageko has claimed to be a human. But neither of those statements are correct. Perhaps, once, they were. Perhaps I can remember those times, and fondly. But it isn’t because of their half-breed daughter that they changed in nature. They merely… Allowed themselves to fall. Their species became, where it hadn’t been before, the same. Both became monsters, but I refused to see it, as if I would be a monster too for acknowledging their descent…”

“I was worried about this…” A voice came from behind Katsue before anybody could congratulate her on her revelation. A distorted, creature voice. “...From the very… Beginning.”

Katsue turned toward the source of the sound, just in time to see it. There was a creature crawling out from underneath the sofa. It wore a cape that resembled a clione, dragging itself along by spindly arms. A mop of long silver hair obscured its face entirely, resembling… Just as Katsue had just said, a movie monster, in the way that it moved and crawled while its words dripped out.

It pulled itself right up to Katsue, who stood in too much shock to react when it grasped at her, dragging its form upright with her body as a handle, settling with its fingers on her shoulders. “Do you think that you can steal my life away from me…?”

Holding itself up this way, it was taller than Katsue- Opening up space for an arrow to fly right over her head and land in the middle of the creature’s face. Its grip on her shoulders became painfully tight as it shrieked, but then… It let go, and collapsed back to the floor, dragging itself along with those unpleasant arms toward the wall, which it scaled and disappeared somewhere into the ceiling.

“That’s…” Katsue muttered, staring at the spot where it had disappeared.

“Okay.” Shin pressed his bow in between his hands with an awkward look on his face. “So, I know we just spent far too much time getting through your trauma brain to understand that your parents are horrible people, but that may have actually put us more in _danger_. Though I’m proud of your revelation and it isn’t like I want you to change your mind back.”

“Right. That creature existed because I was able to see Karine for the monster that she is.” Katsue nodded, immediately understanding what Shin meant. “But I’m not sure I agree, about the danger. She ran away as soon as we fought back at all.”

“They couldn’t possibly expect us to fight a creature that size before we get to the actual boss room,” Yosuke said, then looked to Shin. “...Right?”

“Not seriously, no,” Shin said, “But it might still set us back. That’s not unusual to include in games, an enemy that you can’t reasonably defeat until later, but which still causes problems until that point. Either way, it’s a balancing technique. I’m sure that Katsue with this level of self-confidence will be even more formidable on our side than she has been till now.”

“I’m just too powerful now!” She laughed, and slung her umbrella over her shoulders again in another pose. “Don’t worry. If I can see them for the monsters that they are, now… I’m not about to let them hurt you as a consequence. I said it already, right? I’m going to be _better_ than I’ve ever been before. _I’m_ the one who’s still a vampire, after all.”


	352. Stage Three, Day 13: Rejuvenated

Irarako Ebizakaya _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Vulture Budgie:** Reduced damage from Birds  
**Death by Toxic Beak:** Reduced damage from Beaks  
**Died After Overcoming Trauma:** Will extend with statistical and visual ‘upgrades’

Syoko Saihara _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Friendly Fire:** Allies’ attacks will no longer harm you  
**Death from Piercing:** Reduced damage from Pierce Attacks  
**Death from Origin Sin:** Reduced damage from all Sin-Based enemies.

The group had decided to go back and extend the others after the encounter with the Karine-like creature, because honestly, after a day like that, anybody would be exhausted. Even with her intention to get through the ruin as quickly as possible, well, Katsue kind of did have the breakthrough a long time coming that she had no obligation to care about people who had done their level best to ruin her life, and had definitely stolen away an adolescence that she almost could have had the luxury, over many other trans youth, to actually experience properly.

If not for them.

There were a _lot_ of things in Katsue’s life that would have been great, if not for Kenta and Karine’s efforts to ruin them for her. It had taken a wake-up call from people who’d similarly lost their teenagerhoods to trauma, for her to realize that fact really did sit on their shoulders. Where she’d once believed that she had prompted them to harm her, not absolving them but not squarely blaming them either- She finally understood, and it was a huge emotional burden to manage that understanding.

Absolutely better for that understanding, but certainly not up for continuing into the ruin right away. Besides…

“Aw, shit, right!” Irarako exclaimed, looking herself over. Her outfit was like something a thief in an RPG game would wear, and her hair was half-up in a side ponytail. Her abs were now on display, and she fluffed up the jacket which squared out her silhouette. “Totes real forgot I’m gettin’ makeover first time dyin’ since my creecher kill’n.”

“Very impressive.” Syoko giggled, watching Irarako bounce around on her feet to explore her new look. “The new look, and the fact that you went this long without dying to find it out, really!”

“Yeah! Thought so!” Irarako struck a pose. “Well, anyway. Couple thing. Your origin sin’s lust, huh? An’, an’ Katsue! I don’t gotta try real hard what policin’ pals’ language no more!”

“That’s right, you don’t.” Katsue tucked her hair back behind her ear. “Thank you for doing that for me, though. Until that fourth conquest video, I honestly wasn’t ready to hear it. Even what I did hear, it hurt a lot. It wasn’t going to be helpful until I saw… Until I was reminded, exactly how my mother’s anger had expressed itself. I didn’t remember very well. I was so convinced that it really was my fault. I needed both parts. A reminder of what really happened, and the support of my friends, to recognize the truth. At the time, I... I didn't know other trans people, not really. So I didn't have a whole perspective on just how wrong everything was.”

“It makes sense,” Syoko said, “All of that, but also… The fact that your ‘sin’ is my ‘origin sin’, lines up. No wonder I want so badly to understand you, and… Even though I was only observing, I’m starting to think that in some ways, I just might. At least I’m on the right track.”

“You will. You’ll understand me if you want to.” Katsue brought her hands up, pressing them over her heart. “Everyone will, but… I think, what you’re about to see? It does get worse. It does make me look worse than it has up to this point, even. I realize now that it wasn’t my fault, but that doesn’t mean… Well, alright. How about this. Tomorrow’s the gathering day, so think it over. If you’re not willing to absolve both me and _Yuji_ of whatever you see in my next Conquest Video, then you shouldn’t come back to the ruin with me when we go.”

“Yuji?” Syoko asked.

Katsue nodded. “The event that he forgot, the one which made what you saw of our relationship as awkward as it was. The time when he broke up with me, before. I’ve completely forgiven him, the blame for that incident rests squarely on the shoulders of Kenta Nageko. If you can’t accept that, then you wouldn’t be supporting me, you’d only be hating people around me, and there _is_ a difference.”

“I can’t say I’ll just automatically _forgive_ your boyfriend,” Homura said, “But I’m also not gonna say it’s all his fault or anything, and I won’t disrespect _your_ decision to forgive him. I might still hold it against him, but I’m not about to say, oh noo, you really gotta break up all over again! Or anything. I think now that you realize your parents are full of shit, your judgment should be pretty sound.”

“I was _also_ pretty full of shit back then. Just because I acknowledge the reason why I got fucked up is my parents, doesn’t mean that my being fucked up didn’t translate into bad behaviors of my own. Frankly, consider it this way. What you saw of Yuji in that second video there? It’s a credit. He put up with me acting that way, doing what he could to manage me despite everything. We started dating when I tried to _kill_ myself and he rescued me. That’s a lot! That’s a lot for anybody to deal with! If anything… I was in the wrong for holding it against him, when it became too much. He may have forgotten it, but even if he _was_ just pretending like I thought, I should have tried to do the same, honestly.”

“I imagine… Yes,” Syoko said, “You can see clearly now, so I should try to do the same, shouldn’t I? I wanted him to be bad. I wanted to believe that he was. I can’t say why, exactly, but I expected that of him. Maybe, well, I think it may have had something to do with him punching me in the face, but now that I know _what_ connotation that day had for you, well. I would have punched me too.”

“It’s okay,” Katsue said, “You’ve had bad experiences with relationships before, so that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Huh? You… How did you know that? I’m quite sure I never mentioned anything of the sort.”

“Just because I can’t quite see your curse yet, doesn’t mean I can’t assume _anything_ about you.” Katsue chuckled. “I think it’s high time you and I had a heart-to-heart, don’t you? Let’s hang back from gathering tomorrow. To understand each other, like you claim to want, of course we’ll have to talk some more.”


	353. Stage Three, Day 14: Someone Who Doesn't Exist

Syoko had agreed to Katsue’s terms, so the rest of the group prepared to dive back into the old ruins the following morning, while those two were just going to scour the beach. They’d been in the Zero Sum Game now for two weeks, for longer than they’d even been in the Killing Game. And for the people on the outside, well, it hadn’t been that long. It had only been two days, which was actually reassuring to think about.

Whatever they did to resolve the problems raging outside, well, they were making good progress. It was clear that the longer they took, the worse things would get. Nobody wanted to talk about that, but they certainly all thought about it. Which was why, two weeks in, it was good to be more than halfway through the third ruin. Even just one ruin a week would be a reasonable pace, and they were doing better than that so far. There had, apparently, been several days of the apocalypse raging outside already, before the Zero Sum Game even began- But nonetheless, they were doing well.

The broadcasts of Extend TV being shown outside of the game was a bit unsettling to think about going at such a quick pace through the time dilation, of course, but that was another thing that nobody was talking about. Unpleasant things were left to the wayside as much as possible, and the survivors couldn’t blame each other for that at all. It was only natural to want to focus on the here and now, because the weight of the world? Wasn’t something any of them were actually equipped to carry, and while it might receive a passing mention as a motivator to keep going, if any of them stopped to consider what was being asked of them, it might just be too difficult to keep trying.

And they couldn’t give in to what their enemies wanted.

Instead of discussing something so weighty, when Katsue and Syoko walked along the beach, it started off with small talk for a while. Then, it dipped into something a bit heavier as Syoko made a glance toward the ocean, and Katsue noticed.

“It’s a bit cruel that you would blame your intentional death on me,” She said, “I don’t much appreciate being accused of that kind of thing.”

"I'm sorry." Syoko looked away. "I wasn't lying when I said that, though. Obviously it wasn't all of it. But…"

"This game must be particularly interesting for you. Since you're fascinated, with death and dying. As if imitating me at my lowest points is the way to understand who I am now…" She shook her head. "Dying the same way I intended to won't tell you what kind of person I am. At best, it lets you feel as badly as I did, once. What I want you to understand is the ways that I feel _happy_. Like with Yuji. And the ways that I'm not innocent, how I hurt him too."

"And I have a hard time with that, you're right." Syoko sighed. "Imagining how… You could have both been trying your best and still caused problems for each other. Not that you were innocent and trying your best, and he was taking advantage of that for his own satisfaction."

"Because that's how it was for you, before."

"...I don't know if I should date Irarako after all."

"Why's that?"

"I obviously don't know how a relationship is supposed to work. And looking at you and Yuji… That's the kind of way that soulmates start. And furthermore. He eventually realized whatever misunderstanding happened between you wasn't your fault, right? That's unconditional. I don't know… I think the only person I ever could have felt _that_ strongly for is long gone. Somebody who I could love no matter _what_ they said or did. Who I could forgive for anything. And it isn't fair to Ira, to be with her when somebody who could feel that way about her must exist somewhere in the world."

"Kaneki."

"H-Huh??" Syoko stopped in her tracks.

"That's the name of the person you're referring to, right? I've heard you talk. You named your hermit crab after him, but when you say things about how precious Kaneki is to you, you're not really talking about the crab, are you?"

"...No." She looked away. "I don't know if I should talk about that, though. There are multiple stories out there. My Conquest Videos might tell the truth more reliably than I could, or it might not. And if it doesn’t, I could get in a lot of trouble for telling the whole truth, too. Like, probably get my memory wiped again kind of trouble! Because apparently my government _does_ that to people! And has done it. To me. Before.”

“Either way, whatever that was, it’s completely in the past. Right?”

“Yeah. Kaneki’s gone from my life forever,” Syoko said, “I’m not worried about being still hung up on somebody who doesn’t actually exist for me, anymore. I’m just worried about not being able to be… All-in, with somebody I like. I do _like_ her. She’s really cute, and we get along, and I think she might still like me if she finds out the truth about me. We both like girls, and we’ve got this whole situation to relate over in a way that we probably can’t with people outside of the game. It all seems like good reasons to date her, and I want to. But _should_ I?”

“I think you’re being too hard on yourself. You deserve to at least give it a shot. Accursed women such as us still deserve to be loved. I was lucky enough to have love to help me through some of the worst days of my curse… And even if your love would not necessarily be of a cosmic, soul-singing nature, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth having. Irarako already expressed she’s willing to put work into a relationship, she’s clearly not expecting a cosmic love that comes about in an instant. I think love like that is rare, and it’s not innately better than other kinds. Soulbound loves are often star-crossed. Mine would have ended in tragedy, if not for luciora’s grace, recall?”

“Jeeze. You realize your parents are shit and suddenly you’ve got all this really good advice for me,” Syoko said.

“It’s partly because I’m overcoming my curse, but also partly because you’re only now confronting yours. I would have no advice to give to the Syoko who I initially met in the Killing Game. You would have never given me the slightest indication that there were any field in which I could advise you.”

“There are… Plenty of fields I could be advised on, yeah.” Syoko looked away. “There shouldn’t be, really. I should be much better than I am. I’m… Slipping. I guess in a way, there’s not a lot I can do to improve myself in here, not, the way I usually do. I can’t go and research anything and everything I don’t know and come back the next day an expert in it. So if something comes up that I’m not good at, I just… Stay bad at it. I stay disappointing.”

“Perhaps it’s time to realize that a lack of expertise in a given category isn’t disappointing. It’s simply… Human, or similar. And I think you may have lied to me, before, about what you are. A shapeshifter? We’ll see, right?”

“Yes, I believe so. No matter what my Conquest Videos choose to show you, it probably will reveal… My buried, insufficient nature.”


	354. Stage Three, Day 14: Till The Dread Runs Out

Yume’s ruin was re-explored first, and there wasn’t much of note there. The group was able to get meat off of all of the animal enemies that had respawned there again. The only interesting fact of note was that upon approaching the boss room, the Creature of Wrath could be heard through the wall. There wasn’t much reason to re-battle it right now or anything, so they turned back at that point. Next up was Irarako’s ruin. The group, aside from experience and Saya’s clione, hadn’t actually upgraded much since the last time they were here.

Even so, the marginal improvements still helped. The last time that they’d been back through this ruin, after all, the animal enemies hadn’t posed nearly as much of a challenge, with the upgrades they’d undertook for the intention of fighting the Creature of Sloth. They _definitely_ wouldn’t want to jump right back into fighting that again, but the enemies in the ruin preceding it were fair game.

The only people who had the intentional death shigabane were staying behind anyway, so there wasn’t much concern about stronger enemies than usual appearing. Though that hadn’t come to pass in their last venture to the ruin, that didn’t mean that it wasn’t a real threat. Especially if Syoko lived for longer this time, given that they were now aware her origin sin was lust. The shigabane obviously didn’t apply to people who weren’t present or who were dead, so it wasn’t long at all that there was the compounded effect.

Next time, they’d probably have to contend with that, but this wasn’t that day yet. This was just Irarako’s ruin, a sweep through again for more supplies. Meat and other drops from the animal enemies, and surprisingly enough, when Yosuke and Homura went on ahead to clear out the small creatures for Irarako’s sake, one of them dropped a clione. Like, one that could be added to the Extend Machine for future equipping.

On the way back, there was something strange about the maze. Because the group hadn’t, this time, decided that they were ‘fleeing’ yet. Just returning, still on the lookout for anything else they might collect. With that, the maze of underbrush was not parting smoothly for them as it did each time before they came this direction. Instead, it seemed different from when they’d first walked through it. As if, by entering the village area, they had prompted it to change shape. Reluctant but curious, the group wandered down this new path…

And came to a ditch.

Irarako froze when she saw it, staring down into it. There was a small creature, but it couldn’t reach them, and they couldn’t reach it. It was just there to make it evident to anybody who saw. “Hell. S’the ditch what they found him.”

“We can leave, if you want to,” Yosuke said.

“Nah…” Irarako took a deep breath, then sat at the edge of the ditch, looking down at the creature which repeated the same line over and over again. The one which the kid had said to her directly, asking what happened. She stared. “They’re tryin’ too hard what to make me upset, get? Is… Only so much actual botherin’ can happen. Musta hit peak botherin’ back with the conk-vid. I’m okay.”

Yosuke sat down next to her. Yume, Homura, and Saya all held back a bit, but Shin stepped forward, standing a bit over the two of them as well. “Are you, now?”

“Mhm.” Irarako’s voice took on a bittersweet tone. “I am, real. What happened all was real’ upsettin’ when did, but. What’s the dwell? Ain’t nothin’ to be changed, an’ I’m better now. Even ‘fore the game, I got shit more together. Stopped feelin’ so hopeless. Lookin’ to the future. Part that’s mayb’ also why Oji-San dyin’ cause he still wouldn’ doctor… Ain’t hit me too much. He’d more the kinda where… Somethin’ of my past. Way I ain’t no more. Life I ain’t need more. An’ when I get out, sure. It’ll be different there. When I can feel like he’s a person again, but I. I know I’m _gonna_ be okay, yknow?”

“Losing people is weird,” Yosuke agreed, “Especially in this situation. It’s… Adrenaline, I guess. Extended adrenaline. It’s pretty clear that I’m emotionally fragile and all, but I’m keeping it together?”

“That’s the resilience of the human mind,” Shin said, “It’s well-documented, actually. Many people will have a very difficult time of it immediately _after_ getting out of a bad situation, because your brain switches out of survival mode, and suddenly begins to truly process everything that’s happened. When you become ‘safe’ and can actually think things through without endangering your safety by reacting.”

“Oh, really?” Yosuke asked.

“Makes sense,” Irarako said, “Bet we’re all just gonna crash real hard, when all’s this over. Loads of ways. The stuff what’s givin’ us motivation an’ betterin’ us as folks now? When life’s norm again, it’ll be way bad. Ain’t lookin’ forward to that experience.”

“I mean, I kind of am,” Yosuke said, “In a way. I don’t mind spending some day in a bad place emotionally if it means that this is over, I’m safe again, that we’re all safe again”

“Almost all…” Irarako trailed off.

“This _is_ being billed to us as the end of the world,” Shin said, “Even if we make it through to the other side and the apocalypse is put on hold, it’s unreasonable to expect that there won’t be a number of casualties, even beyond the ones we personally know about so far. Like Jun, and Iyami. But this expectation… Doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt.”

“What about you, Tsubasa?” Yosuke asked, turning to look up at him. “How do you feel, about, you know. The day the adrenaline falls apart?”

“I don’t… I don’t know.” Shin looked away with an uncomfortable frown. “I haven’t experienced that before- I, haven’t, been safe? I honestly can’t imagine what’s going to happen to me when I process everything. Maybe I really will just fall apart completely. I’ve been in ‘survival mode’ for as long as I can remember.”

“We’ll be here for ya!” Irarako exclaimed, jumping back to her feet. “Even if we’re all strugglin’ when it hits, we’ll be there for each other, ya know? No matter what, after this kinda thing… We’re gonna be friends our whole lives. We’re all each other got at the mome, so we still gonna gotta be got when all’s said an’ done. Whether we got other people to be there for us on the outside or we ain’t, still’s each other. Still’s each other. Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Yosuke agreed, and Shin nodded along as well.


	355. Stage Three, Day 14: Is It Wrong To Sleep In A Dungeon

It turned out that the group had actually gathered more than enough meat- It was, as a matter of fact, enough meat that they could stay well-fed for the next few days, if Syoko cooked off some of it tonight and some of it the next morning before they made their way into the ruin. Where before, they’d basically needed to ration their food out, they were now starting to develop some sense of surplus. With that in mind…

“So, technically speaking,” Katsue said, “We don’t need to come back overnight, do we? We have been up to this point, because we’ve always had people who need to be extended, and meals we need to eat. But if Syoko could make some jerky, we could bring that with us and make camp overnight…”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” Yosuke said, “But we do need to have something in place about that, some kind of rule. Like, if there are four or less of us, we don’t stay in the ruin- We go back and extend the other half of our party.”

“That standard sounds about right to me,” Shin said, “We also need to be careful about where we camp out, though. We know that there’s about a three day ‘empty’ time after we defeat enemies. We wouldn’t want to go to sleep in an area that’s going to repopulate with enemies the following day, so we should be sure to only camp in an area that didn’t have enemies to begin with, or one which we’ve _just_ finished clearing out completely.”

“That’s good thinkin’,” Irarako said, “Would be a real rude wake-up call what to bein’ killed. Go to sleep in the ruin, wake up in the Exten’-bed?”

“Eugh.” Yume wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “No, I don’t like that at _all_. Fuck that. Sure, we’ll be careful.”

“Yume rushes in, but not when something that uncomfortable is on the line,” Saya teased, “Though, that rule… Katsue has stated that she doesn’t want us coming along if we have any intention of being cruel to Yuji based on whichever actions we’re about to witness. Now, I don’t have that intention. I will absolutely, certainly be there. But…”

She looked over at Syoko.

Syoko gave an uncharacteristic, exaggerated groan. “Look! We talked it out, okay? I admitted that I was wrong. With more context… I understand a lot more about it, I don’t feel the same disdain towards Yuji Sato that I did. So, yes, I’m going.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Yosuke said. It had been a weight on him for a while there, the contention that existed between two people that he’d considered his friends. Further, it was nice to have confirmation for real now that he _had_ been a good judge of character when it came to Yuji after all, that he hadn’t mistakenly agreed to get along with an abusive person. “Katsue needs all of our support, to defeat her past.”

“That’s right,” Katsue agreed, “No matter how much power I can conjure up on my own, with the truth at my back… No great deeds were ever completed alone.”

“You won’t need to complete them alone,” Shin said, “In fact… I received a certain assurance today, that no great deeds and no great miseries will need to be spent alone between us. I know that you and I already promised to forgive each other our sins, no matter what… But for the first time, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are all forgiven amongst ourselves, if not in the eyes of others in the outside world.”

“The outside world…” Yosuke muttered, “They’re not seeing this, right?”

“Only Extend TV,” Syoko confirmed.

“That’s kinda annoying. Whoever’s still alive by chance, and all the hostages,” Homura said, “They’re just gonna see the worst of it. Our pasts, nothing about who we are now or how well we’re doing at the game or any of that.”

“That’s… Right.” Syoko frowned. “Oh. Yeah. They’re really just going to see the worst of it.”

“With that in mind,” Shin said, “What Irarako said to me earlier today, about needing to be there for each other when the adrenaline finally crashes down around us? It may be even more pertinent. After witnessing our Conquest Videos, without any added context, or knowledge of efforts we’re making to improve over the versions of ourselves from those times? I wouldn’t begrudge anybody who _won’t_ forgive us our sins.”

“But we _are_ going to be there for each other,” Katsue gave her firm statement. “They’ll all be here for you, too, you know. The support I’ve received despite my behavior proves to me that I can trust everyone here.”

“I trust your judgment on that, frankly,” Shin said, “Even if we can’t all call each other ‘friends’ if we were to be paired off, I think we can confidently call each other ‘allies’ all around.”

“Don’t you think,” Saya spoke up, “That by only showing the Extend TV segments… That’s Eva and Ris, and the worst of us, and the stories that Ris tells at the end of the ruins. It sounds like he’s trying to convince _us_ that the world isn’t worth saving, but did you ever think, maybe he’s trying to convince everyone else… That they deserve to die?”

“Implication there’s…” Irarako crossed her arms. “Saya? You tryna say what’s ongoin’ this deal is Ris to make whole world self-loathe an’ us-loathe an’ also loathin’ us for to savin’ em?”

“It’s possible that the intention is that, yes.” Saya dipped her head. “To give everyone the worst moments of the people working to save them, and convince them that they’re not worth being saved, and us? We’re not worthy of saving them either.”

“Would it really be that elaborate?” Yume asked, “I mean, it kinda assumes a lot! Not you, I mean, but if Osiris was trying to do that, he’s really making an ass of himself this time! I dunno about you guys, but the people who are _my_ hostages aren’t gonna hate me for my Conquest Videos! If anything, they’ll like me better because now they understand what happened! And I _know_ that, stupid as he might be, Nanjo knows I’d realize I was wrong about him after seeing the video about him!”

“Good point,” Saya said, “I did not quite consider the human element that people wouldn’t actually be convinced so easily that we’re horrible. Or convinced so easily to die, most of them, I’m sure. Right?”

“Yeah, no way,” Homura said, “I know some people who are like, sui-risk, but they weren’t even on the VIP List so if they’re watching it at all, it wasn’t intentional!”

“...Sui-risk?” Katsue side-eyed him.

“What?? Is only Irarako allowed to say fake words?” Homura questioned. “Let me in on the conlang!”

“_Is_ that what a conlang is…?” Syoko furrowed her brow. “I don’t _think_ that’s quite right.”

Saya, suddenly, burst out laughing. It was loud, much less reserved than her usual… Anything at all. She doubled over at the waist as she did, her hair falling over her face as she did. Everyone was sort of stunned speechless, until she managed to straighten up and explain herself. “I was being _so_ silly. Of course, nothing could make the whole world hate you guys! Gosh, you know, I’m really… Haah. I was wrong. I was certainly wrong. Humans aren’t so easily convinced at all.”


	356. Stage Three, Day 15: Higher Level

Upon returning to the ruin once again, it seemed that at the start, there were a few respawned enemies. Just a couple, though. The first romantic creature, and the first squirrel they’d found in that crate as well.

Oddly enough, the few enemies that the group _had_ managed to defeat on their first excursion inside of Memento Mori hadn’t respawned yet. Katsue had a theory on that, “I dispelled the illusion the next day, right? It would be odd and a bit unfair if the illusion reappeared when only some of the enemies respawned, or to have a few enemies on an empty dancefloor.”

“That makes sense to me,” Shin agreed, “The whole thing will probably pop back up tomorrow, then. We’ll have to be careful not to be anywhere they could get to us from here, if we do end up making camp.”

“Absolutely,” Homura agreed, “And my vote is that we also aren’t anywhere that we can hear them from either, if possible? When that stuff gets loud again… Ugh.”

“That stuff really is pretty bad for you, huh?” Yume noted. Homura grimaced and nodded. “Yeah. I mean, even I could tell that it’s uncomfortably loud, and like. As we recently determined, I apparently have some hearing loss! So I can’t even imagine what it’d be like for somebody with ears as sensitive as yours.”

“I am very sensitive, yes,” Homura agreed, then looked across the floor. “Oh, hey. That ladder that Yoshiro dropped, it reaches all the way down here.”

“Wowee!” Saya pressed her hands together. “A dungeon so long that we need shortcuts to get back to where we left off, huh? I guess it’s about time we started seeing this kind of stuff. We don’t have to go the ~long~ way around.”

“Right…” Yosuke said, “We just have to go _right_ back to where we saw something that seemed a fuck of a lot like a boss creature outside of a boss room. Because that’s not terrifying at all.”

“Gonna get scared _now_?” Irarako asked, “Time for cowardice is past! Or future, when your ruin!”

“Pft, telling me like it is, huh?” Yosuke scratched at his wrist. “I’m allowed to be nervous, right…? This ruin’s giving us a lot of weird shit to deal with that we, you know, haven’t before! I’d like to think that I’ve been doing a pretty good job of _not_ freaking out so far, all things considered!”

“You’re a very brave boy, Yosuke.” Syoko patted his head, and he couldn’t help but laugh a bit, which evened out into a smile. Silly as it was, well, it was also validating-

After this exchange, they noticed that Homura had already begun scaling the ladder without so much as a word to the others. Everyone scrambled to follow him up, just in case. Even though they’d cleared all the areas in Memento Mori as far as they were _aware_, the memory of the time-locked door in Yume’s ruin remained in the back of their minds, the potential of an enemy appearing today which hadn’t appeared the previous day.

There _was_ one other way in which an enemy could unexpectedly appear, though. One that they hadn’t quite considered in full- Assumptions had been that this method would refer to the replacement of an existing enemy in the level, not the full addition of one. Assumptions were, once more, wont to make an ass out of those who participated. Or in this case, wont to make an X-Key.

The unfortunate victim of the shigabane penalty that Katsue and Syoko both bore… Was neither of them, but instead, the one who’d rushed ahead without regard to the chance of there being an enemy which could be a match for him. Even if there had been something they’d missed before, this ruin’s usual enemies weren’t particularly large threats, and with Homura’s own bunking effect, he could have sustained the hit and defeated the enemy before taking another one. Not so with this enemy.

An enemy of a _higher level_ which had appeared in this ruin, one which flickered at the edge of the room with the couch. Unlike the other creatures, it didn’t quite seem tangible. More like a shadow, with a form unsustained, pieces dripping off and reforming where it stood. It lifted the shape of a head, and locked eyes with Homura. Or, more accurately, eye. A brown one, set at its left side. The right side of its face had a translucence to it, with where the other eye would have been, completely see-through.

_”The living **proof** that the blood which runs in your veins belongs to the worst of the worst?”_ The creature questioned as it stared, shapes like long hair cascading over its shoulders as it reached for Homura. He couldn’t move at all as the creature, ever-so-simply, tapped a finger against his sternum, leaving a small pinprick of blood. That was the first hit that he ‘sustained’. Then-

Just as the others reached the top of the ladder, Homura fell over, killed by the strange creature which still stood there, looking down at his X-Key. Then, it looked to the others. “I have no desire to leave this place.”

Saya was the one who took action first, lashing out with her clione towards the thing. It didn’t retaliate. In fact, it just stood there- It stood completely still while the group attacked it, several rounds it took, to dole out enough damage to actually defeat a creature that was so clearly of a level they were unprepared to handle. But it let them do so, strangely enough.

“...Well then.” Shin adjusted his jacket after lowering his bow, when the thing was finally tossed to the wind from the others’ assault. He had fired one arrow, but wasn’t going to waste them when it became clear the thing really was just going to let them kill it. “I suppose that’s the balance for those things, isn’t it? At least this early in the game, comparatively. The penalty Shigabane can only cause one person to die at a time.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Syoko said, “Well… I don’t know? Something about that creature seemed kind of familiar. I can’t put my finger on it, but, maybe that’s just its personality? The way that particular creature acts.”

“So that’s what we’ll be up against in some later ruin…” Yosuke clutched his mallet a bit tighter.

“Mm. If _Saihara’s_ right,” Katsue said, “Then they’ll be creatures with unique behaviors. Did anyone actually see what it did to Homura?”

“I could tell he didn’t even get a hit in before he was killed,” Yume volunteered, “But that’s about it. Obviously, it killed him pretty damn easily! And here I thought we cleared out this area?”

“A chance for higher-level enemies to appear in your own ruin and that of your origin sin…” Syoko pressed a hand to the base of her neck. “So they really do just appear, even if we thought the area was safe. I’m sorry for making things more difficult for us…”

“As long as none of the rest of us get that penalty!”’ Irarako exclaimed, “Should be fine! This the only ruin what we got it doublin’ up, yeh?”

“Unless my origin sin is whatever Saihara’s sin is, you’re right,” Katsue said, then looked to the far end of the room. “All the more reason to leave this ruin behind as soon as we can.”


	357. Stage Three, Day 15: The shadow of a snake pit on the wall

With Homura’s things gathered, all that awaited was the same room that they’d decided to turn back in before. The couch, the monitor. The marks on the wall from where the creature that resembled Karine had climbed up it and disappeared, though there were no signs of her presence now. The room was quiet, in fact. No hint of any of the particularly intimidating creatures which had now, at different points, occupied it.

Katsue didn’t hesitate to go to the other end of the room and knock open the door with the handle of her parasol, throwing it open to a long hallway. There were vulture budgies down the length of the corridor, but nothing more threatening than that. She and Irarako had the most effective weapons for the job and, watching each other’s backs, were able to make their way down the corridor without much trouble, dispelling the budgies as they went. This corridor was in some ways similar to the hallways that they’d seen in both other ruins so far.

It did have papered walls, just like the other ones. Unlike the other ones, these walls served as a shadow-puppet show for silhouettes on the other side, it seemed. Yume crashed one open to check, but it just gave way to a slightly offset drywall. There weren’t actual creatures lurking behind them, it seemed. On the left and right, unsettling movements and unsettling scenes played out in profile. Some of them were self-evident. A man being stabbed in the stomach, a girl clutching at her throat. Others were simply masses of limbs that couldn’t quite be made out to portray anything of specificity.

But there was no door from this hallway but the one that they came through. So it seemed that something would need to be done to figure that out. Without any words having passed between the group, Yume made this realization, and turned to strike at another one of the walls.

“Wait!” Shin called out toward her, and she actually stopped her bat just in time. “We’ve seen four conquest videos now. It’s about time we need to deal with a personal puzzle, isn’t it? The way that you had to remember the times the stores closed, and Irarako needed to set her village’s homes ‘right’.”

“Oh, huh.” Yume lowered her arm. “And here’s guessing if I just break every single fucking one of these things, we’ll get some sort of painful penalty, ugh.”

“I see.” Katsue tilted her head to one side. “The _intention_ of this would have been to force me to be the one to reveal what happened, right? That would have hurt a whole lot, if you hadn’t already convinced me to open my eyes. As it is, I don’t have any trouble showing you… Which of these panels it is. Although, I wonder if you can guess. It isn’t exactly hard.”

All around them were scenes, some comprehensible, some not. They were all violent, though. Not just violent, some kind of foul play, implied or clear. This was just a matter of remembering, then, the violence that they’d been told long ago had been performed against Katsue. It was Yume who did first, though nobody was going to be slow to follow. “Yeah, so it’s when your d-... When that fucking dickbag _Kenta_ nearly beat you to death, right? We’re gonna understand what in God’s name led him to go that extra step of shittiness. So it’s gotta be this one, right?”

The one that Yume pointed to was on the more abstract side, but could still be interpreted. There was an… Amorphous mass, more or less, being attacked by a silhouette with one massive fist. Katsue nodded, then stepped forward to that panel and sliced it down the center with the tip of her parasol. On the other side, that mass was revealed to be more vulture budgies, which were being pounded on by a creature. It had glasses with teardrops hanging off of them and one massive fist against a fairly regularly shaped shaped body. If the other creature they’d seen resembled Karine, this one looked much like Kenta.

It looked to the survivors, then shouted. It was a deep, pained and frightened groan, released from the creature before it clutched at its head and bolted off in the opposite direction. Katsue took a step forward and stabbed at the last vulture budgie that the creature hadn’t killed, then looked around. Usefully enough, it seemed that any of the birds’ drops still fell and were left untouched by the Kenta-like creature. Without a word, she just started to gather the beaks and meat from the tatami.

Midway through the process, the monitor which sat on the floor in the center of this room lit up.

\--

“Hey kids, welcome back.” Osiris waved. Evangeline was nowhere to be seen. “Believe it or not, I don’t care, but I didn’t actually kill Eva this time. She said that she had something she needed to work on, so you’ve just got me this time… Well, I guess I actually do have a few things to say to you.”

“For one, Saya. I am well aware that you’ve grown up surrounded by bad people, yes, and it isn’t surprising you’d theorize that I’m trying to turn the world against you. For those watching at home, Saya Yoshiro began to worry that my intention is to make everyone watching this hate the survivors, hate themselves, and not want the world to be saved. I don’t think I could do that, and I don’t encourage that outlook. The only people I want to convince about the world being doomed are the eight survivors participating in the Zero Sum Game here. For the rest of you out there… If you _make it out alive_, take what I’ve said to heart and find a way to _fix_ it, won’t you?”

“Carrying on as well. Counteractive to my goal as it may be, Katsue… I’m proud of you. I know it’s difficult to recognize and embrace disdain for the people who’ve harmed you. Attachment is an irrational thing at times, and somebody who’s ever given you safety transforming into a danger is hard to reconcile. You were much more quickly able to realize the truth than I was, in the past, in a similar situation.”

“And, sorry to say, but you’re also right about what you’ll be seeing in this next conquest video. **Lust Part Five: I Would Do Anything For Love, But I Won’t Let You Do That.**”


	358. Lust Part Five: I Would Do Anything For Love, But I Won't Let You Do That

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings this chapter for: Continuing themes of the previous Conquest Videos, Physical Violence, and Misinterpreting a situation that makes someone look way worse than they are. (Weird thing to warn for sure but I get uncomfortable when that pops up in media without expecting it so there you go in case anyone else does too)

Hiyoko felt betrayed in a lot of ways, those days.

She felt betrayed by her mother, who had abandoned her to stay with the father who had long since betrayed her, and she felt betrayed by her older sister, who moved out with Karine and didn’t seem to question the situation much at all. Hiyoko didn’t know if Karine made good on her threat of telling Sachiko that it was her fault, but even if she didn’t… If she didn’t, maybe that was even worse. If her onee-chan was only kind when it had been convenient to be, willing to leave Hiyoko to the wayside without even asking why.

The truth of the matter, Hiyoko would later learn, was that Karine did say it was her fault, but stretched the facts even further. She didn’t just tell the lie she had assumed about Hiyoko, but instead, described to Sachiko a story of conflict between the two of them, of Hiyoko being a nasty and ungrateful child, and that Kenta siding with her in the conflicts was the wedge which drove into their divorce. If Hiyoko had heard that at the time, she might have been alright with that.

Sachiko had a reason to be distant, but Karine wasn’t giving the full libel that she very well could have. That Hiyoko would have expected from her. Maybe she just found it too shameful to admit that she had chosen a second husband who would behave in this way, or raised a child who would. Whatever her reasoning, Hiyoko would eventually be grateful that Karine had lied beyond the lies that she personally believed.

After all, for the most part, Sachiko Ryuunosuke was a non-factor in the incidents that Hiyoko endured. And that, in some ways, was the problem. Sachiko didn’t necessarily believe anything she was told, but she didn’t doubt it either. She didn’t look a bit closer and realize that something might not be right. She never noticed. She was a supportive older sister, she was there for Hiyoko, but she also turned a blind eye. Sachiko was, simply put, ignorant of the truth. She didn’t make anything worse, but she also never took a step to make it better- Whether she could have actually helped or not, she never tried.

The biggest betrayal that Hiyoko would feel, though, that would come later. That would be this day, this particular day. A few months into her life with Kenta, in which she found herself spiralling out near-daily. Barely present, barely connected to herself at all. At school she found a bit of respite, but nothing that she’d necessarily call pleasant. She trudged through her day, and her classes, focusing. Her grades improved because the only way to keep her mind off her problems was to make sure it was only on her classes instead.

Her teachers praised her for her effort, if only they’d known the real reason she’d improved. It wasn’t as if she’d been doing badly before, but then. It wasn’t as if anybody would expect an improvement at school to be a sign of anything wrong at home. Why would they?

Hiyoko had tried not to hold it against her friends, what happened as a result of the makeover. She didn’t blame them, honestly. She didn’t blame the makeover either. All that it did was plunge her into her current darkness sooner than she inevitably would have been. She was cute. Kenta thought that she was cute, it was a matter of time, she just happened to look particularly cute that night. Just happened to be cute enough to snap whatever moral string had been holding him back from committing atrocities.

They didn’t know, of course, she never told them. But even still, it couldn’t work anymore. Despite her best efforts, she and her friends drifted apart. Her friends who she had just been becoming really close with. She just didn’t feel interesting anymore. Didn’t feel like she belonged. Didn’t feel like she could fit in with girls like that. Between Kenta’s behavior and Karine’s words, Hiyoko had lost something that she’d just barely managed to grasp. The feeling of being one of the girls, of being part of a group. Now, she just felt like an impostor. Someone who shouldn’t be there.

And, unfortunately enough, it wasn’t limited to her friends. She was only happy- She only found any _sliver_ of happiness when she was with her boyfriend, and yet, she was having trouble even connecting with him. Yuji, who was the light of her life. Yuji, who loved her more than anyone.

Maybe if she’d been able to maintain that connection more, the way that she wanted to, then this last betrayal never would have happened. Maybe he’d have been ready to doubt what he saw, maybe Hiyoko would have been ready to defend herself. As it was, well. It was this distance which even led him to be here in the first place, wasn’t it? Because he was worried. Because he remembered about what she did back when they’d first started dating.

Because, when they’d been messaging back and forth that afternoon, holding a real conversation for the first time in days and she suddenly went completely silent, not responding with even an acknowledgement to his worried messages… Well, it wasn’t absurd that he would be concerned, right? If she’d decided to talk to him ‘one last time’ before deciding that she’d had enough of whatever it was that had been troubling her-

As far as he was aware, it was still just the incident from her birthday. That was about as much as she’d tell him, and honestly, even if it was just that, he _understood_ it. He knew why that might still be having a severe impact on her, or an even worse one. Why she might be drifting further and further away, that she may have been coming down from a prolonged shock and spiraling into a worse and worse mental state. He didn’t know. He didn’t know that it kept happening. He didn’t know that it was her father. He didn’t know.

Until he did know. Until that day when he went to check on her and he _saw_ them. When Yuji saw her, in a compromised position. In a compromising position. Because Kenta, living alone with Hiyoko, had taken it upon himself to consider any time, and any place in the house, fair game. Such that when Yuji looked through the window in the door, he could see them plain as day. And his mind went running. It went off, on a tangent, he couldn’t think well enough to imagine anything other than what he saw in front of him.

“You…” He stammered out. When did he open the door? It was open. He was standing in the doorway. “Hiyoko. I. What? That’s… Girl, that’s your fucking _dad_?”

She was too despondent, at this point, to try defending herself. Why should she? It didn’t work with Karine. If her own mother wouldn’t believe her when she told the truth, then why bother? Maybe, it was the fact she considered this inevitable, that had led her to being distant in the first place. It was a cycle, one she couldn’t quite break.

Yuji continued trying to speak, falling over his words and coming up with nothing of much meaning. He was stunned speechless, really, but kept trying. He kept trying for a few minutes, until finally getting out another line, “I can’t… No, I can’t fucking handle _this_. You being with other guys is, that’s. That wasn’t supposed to- That shouldn’t include… Fuck! I can’t do this, I’m. That’s it. That’s it.”

He stumbled back out of the door, slamming it shut behind himself in a daze. What he’d witnessed, what was going on there, what he _thought_ was going on there. It wasn’t the truth, but really. Hiyoko didn’t blame him for assuming. She didn’t expect differently, even from somebody she loved. It was just her luck.

And if she’d defended herself, he probably wouldn’t have listened.

“That sounded like a break-up to me,” Kenta said, “I’m sorry. That’s unfortunate for you.”

“You don’t care what’s unfortunate for me.”

“I do care. I love you. I love you so much, though. So it’s fortunate that I get you all to myself, now. I don’t have to be careful anymore. I don’t have to keep you presentable for anybody. I don’t have to…”

And Hiyoko wondered, if this was being _careful_?

Then what was this going to be?

Well.

She got her answer pretty quickly, when she found herself losing consciousness. He was rough, he was utterly _violent_. Hitting her against things, throwing her around like she didn’t even weigh anything. She thought she was going to die. She thought she was going to be murdered. And she was okay, with that, in a way. It hurt so much. She didn’t want to die _this_ way.

But she didn’t want to wake up, either.

And she did.

There, in the hospital, with faux concern on the face of one Karine Ryuunosuke. Kenta wasn’t here. Kenta had called emergency services in such a panic, he didn’t even think to lie about how Hiyoko ended up in such a sorry state. When he ‘realized what he’d done’. That kind of self-pity that would lead to him being let off easy, the only real consequences being his divorce assets returned to Karine. The house, and custody of Hiyoko.

So, from one nightmare, she woke up. She did. But another… Had yet to begin.


	359. Stage Three, Day 15: Unintentional Evil

“I don’t understand that,” Eva said, having reappeared since the prelude to the Conquest Video.

“What?” Osiris asked.

“I don’t understand why that happened. I don’t get it. Wouldn’t you want to keep somebody like that around? Why would you do that?”

“Sometimes, in the heat of a moment, bad people will do worse things without meaning to.”

“I don’t think so. I’m a bad person. I’ve done all kinds of awful things, but I’ve always kept them separate. I haven’t nearly killed somebody just by fucking them, that’s for sure. Not directly. Not… Like that. That was just an attack, right? That was just cruel. That was beating her to death, like that was all he wanted to do. But he claimed it was a mistake? That it was just releasing his restraints without a boyfriend left to suspect trouble if she had bruises? How does somebody have that little self-control?”

“Maybe he was drunk again.”

“You do realize who you’re talking to, right? It’s me, Ris. It’s Evangeline Carroll. I’ve done anything awful you can imagine, and I’ve tried most drugs too. That never happened. I never did something bad that was so totally contradictory to anything I wanted. Having no inhibitions doesn’t mean you ruin everything for yourself. He claimed he had her to himself now, but then he lost her completely. Just hours later. Why?”

“You’ve really never done anything like that? Anything you regret?”

“Of course there are things I _regret_, but they were always… Either my choice, or _had_ no choice. And it was always what I decided to do at the time. I don’t, I really don’t understand?” Eva brought her hands up to her cheeks, shaking her head. “People can do things they don’t want to do? Just like that? Things that go completely against their personal interests that way, and hurt everyone involved, too? It’s not even like politely going along with something you’d rather not do, or being forced into something. He could really… Do… That?”

“Not everyone is like you, Eva. Not everybody makes the decision to be evil without caring. Sometimes, they just are.” He reached out and put a hand against her back. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this.”

\--

The monitor shut off.

“See?” Katsue spoke up, looking around the group. “It wasn’t Yuji’s fault at all. I wasn’t being a good girlfriend, and I didn’t even try to defend myself. This isn’t the blame being on me, I mean. I could have made things work out differently, probably, I still think that. But the fact that it happened... It’s Kenta. And… I don’t know how Yuji ended up forgetting that this happened, but, this _is_ what happened. That was the last time I ever saw him before the Killing Game began. Kenta is to blame for it happening at all. Myself, and Yuji, in equal parts… For the misunderstanding. If you’d forgive both of us…”

“Yes,” Syoko said, without hesitation, “If you’ll allow me to say something.”

“Mm?”

“God, I fucking wish that Yuji had killed that guy, back then, instead of Evie, in this game.”

Katsue laughed. “Oh, oh. Trust me. He feels the same way.”

“I’ll cave his fuckin’ head in,” Yume said, “I’ll do it. Let me at him!”

“I don’t think so.” Katsue waved a finger. “Well, the creature version, sure. Kill that as much as you like! But, the real Kenta Nageko? I don’t want to kill him myself. I don’t think Yuji does, either. Still, there must be somebody out there who’s got more of a right to be the one to end his life than you do, right?”

“Ugh.” Yume rolled his eyes. “Using my ~honor~ against me. Fucking, fine, yeah. I’m like, probably tenth or eleventh in line if everyone else with more of a claim on his life forfeits?”

“Good with me.” Katsue nodded.

“That’s eleventh,” Shin said, “I think my claim is stronger.”

“You do?” Katsue looked to him with a teasing smile.

“Well, I’m a closer friend to you than Yume is. Further, I haven’t had the chance to exhibit unrestrained summer rage the way that she has in the past, so if I was ever to break this cool demeanor to go hog-wild on a shitty person, it may as well be Kenta Nageko.” Shin adjusted one of his gloves. “The one whose life I have a first or second place claim on, was probably killed in the apocalypse already, so I’ll take my place in line for this one.”

“As nice as it is that you’re all so willing to kill my shitty dad for me,” Katsue said, “Bring that energy to the boss fight, won’t you? I don’t know if anyone’s going to get a chance to kill him for real. I sure don’t want any of you getting in trouble for that. But the fake version? Of course.”

“I sincerely doubt that if he got away with nearly killing you, we can’t get away with actually killing him,” Yume said, “Especially if I get my _good_ dads involved. Assuming they haven’t literally, already ordered a fucking hit on him after seeing those Conquest Videos. You might think that’d be hard to carry out during an apocalyptic lockdown, but they’ve got ways.”

“So you’re calling them your dads now?” Shin asked.

“Uh, yeah? Like, I had trouble admitting that I thought of them that way before cause I guess I held out some weird hope that my parents were gonna come back. Now that I know they’re _dead_ I actually _am_ in the business for new parents, and lucky enough, I already got some lined up. I’m gonna have to have a real heart-to-heart with them once we get the hell outta this place.”

“I suppose, technically speaking, I’d also be in the business for new parents at this point.” Katsue sighed. “And I don’t think that my in-laws are going to cut it, either!”

“Certainly, some of us could _really_ use a more positive adult presence in our lives,” Shin agreed, “Most of us, if I’m going to be honest.”

Yosuke opened his mouth to argue.

“Yosuke,” Shin cut him off, “Your parents, for anything good they might have done for you, still let your government wipe _some_ crime from your memory. I’m sorry to say it, but you could probably use an _additional_ adult in your life who wouldn’t have allowed that to happen to you?”

“I’m sorry to say…” Syoko admitted, “I need to agree. As much as I love my parents, there is a notable deficiency where they let that be done to me, you know? But, well. I think that this might be a good place to camp for the night, don’t you? I know it’s a bit early, but we should take advantage of an area that’s just now been cleared out while we can.”

“I agree,” Saya said, “Is anybody here a very light sleeper, though?”

“Yeah!” Irarako raised a hand. “Pretty-light! If one those weird shadow creatures turns up ‘gain in the night, I’ll hear it and wake y’all up!”

“That’s precisely what I was getting at, yes. Thank you, Irarako.” Saya pressed her hands together, then set to work immediately on rearranging the area to be suitably slept in, while Yosuke patched up the panel they’d torn to get inside. The Kenta-like creature had gone through a sliding door which it slammed behind itself, so this was a small, relatively cozy room in which the survivors, sans Homura, could recuperate before pressing further into the ruin bright and early. Though they’d only been here a few hours, and Katsue claimed to be okay with the Conquest Video that was just shown…

It was unreasonable, to expect them to still have the energy to carry on, after such an emotionally distressing revelation and conversation afterward. None of them showed it, but they were all already mentally exhausted, and not especially keen to keep fighting right away.


	360. Stage Three, Day 16: Morning In The Ruin

There were no incidents in the night, and everybody slept soundly. It was odd, to sleep soundly while camping out in a room in a dangerous area, but then again, everybody was tired. Actually, everyone was tired most of the time these days. Yosuke was the first to wake up and he, for one, couldn’t actually remember a night since arriving in the Zero Sum Game that he didn’t sleep like a rock. No dreams or anything, just absolute dead sleep. Yume was probably the only one who could recount any dreams since waking up here, given that her sleep disorder kind of forced her to do so. Looking around at his peers who were all still just as conked out as he had been up until now, he couldn’t imagine it was any different.

Between the sheer level of physical activity, the crash of adrenaline from dealing with actual monsters all day long, and of course, the emotional toll of having traumas exposed or witnessing the traumas of others exposed, that was no surprise. Yosuke recounted that some of his most dead-sleeps were after a day in which he’d had a full-blown panic attack, or a particularly good workout. The Zero Sum Game was… Kind of both of those experiences rolled up into one, wasn’t it?

Irarako was the second party member to wake up. She hadn’t lied about being a light sleeper, and just Yosuke standing up to stretch was enough for her to stir. She sat up from the floor and rubbed her eyes. For having slept with just lightweight blankets brought along from the bedrooms, on a tatami floor, she seemed well-rested. “Mornin’ Yos. Dang, we really all this tired, what we needin’ the beds for at all?”

She kept her voice down as much as she could, which was more like a slightly-below-average volume. She was naturally loud, having grown up in the middle of nowhere and dealt with younger kids a lot of her life, she never really figured out the whole ‘volume’ thing, but she could at least avoid shouting when people were asleep around her. Even if those people ought to wake up soon themselves.

“Muscle… Wait, no.” Yosuke crossed his arms. “Not even for muscle aches, really. One night on the floor doesn’t really destroy you, and even if it did, extension would fix that…”

“Well sure yeah, fer us.” Irarako shrugged. “Member what Homu said in my ruin?”

“Yeah, I picked up on it too,” Yosuke admitted, “One night sleeping on the floor probably _sucks_ for anyone with chronic pain, right? What about you, you okay?”

“Yeh!” Irarako flexed an arm. “My thing doesn’t real do much my body, honest. Couple days before is gettin’ bad my legs feel sluggy, but is subtle. Hard even spot warnin’ signs if I ain’t lookin’ out close. Ain’t pain, just none legs all torso. Pain’s what nerves sendin’ too many signals, mine’s ain’t send signals no more at all when weeks run up.”

“Mm, gotcha. I mean, come to think of it.” Yosuke looked up at the ceiling. “I actually think it’s just one person whose pain would be affected by sleeping on the floor.”

“Can ya really tell somethin’ like that?” Irarako asked, wide-eyed. Her voice had jumped up in volume a little bit more.

“Not with certainty!” Yosuke clarified, “I mean, I don’t even know if the people I think have some sort of ongoing issue actually _do_. I’m not gonna claim to be certain about anything. I’m observant, sure, but there’s no reason to assume the end meaning of any given observation.”

“Right on, right on.” Irarako nodded along.

Her return to regular volume seemed to be enough that Syoko was awoken, sitting up and blinking a few times before looking over toward them. Yosuke knew that she usually slept in her makeup and just redid it after showering in the mornings, sure, but he was still surprised to see _how_ intact it had stayed through the night. Then again, she did extend with it on. The power of cognitive imaging, he guessed.

After Syoko was awake, the others followed soon after, with Yume being the last one. Saya tried to wake her right away, but to no results, waited another ten minutes before being able to shake her awake. With everyone awake, they gathered up the blankets again into a bag that Yosuke was carrying and set out deeper into the ruin again. Or at least… Tried to.

After opening the door that the Kenta Creature had fled through, there was a short hallway to another door. And the same thing on the other side of that one. Same again. Shin, after this fourth time, turned around and opened the door behind them again. It was still the room that they’d initially exited from- The group had gone nowhere. He pointed this out to the others. “Hm. Looks like there’s something off about proceeding from here, isn’t there?”

“Good thing we’re all fresh and ready to puzzle it out!” Saya said, “Well-rested minds make quick work of problems.”

“Does your well-rested mind have any ideas?”

“Not a single one, no!”

“I do,” Syoko said, then drew her sword. “They’re not going to let us do anything that _prevents_ us from ever being able to continue, so this is worth a shot, right?”

She stepped forward and sliced diagonally across the sliding door. The four panels of wood she’d created in the process fell towards them, striking Syoko in the arm for what was probably a bit of damage, but that was it, and the solution to the endless hallway really was just to break the door, it seemed.

Beyond the doorway, rather than a repeat of the hallway, it was another segment of the docks. Immediately after walking out there, another monitor appeared.

\--

“Hey, hey!” Evangeline was the only on screen this time. One arm going off-screen seemed to be keeping Osiris out of frame. “Hi everyone! Sooo, this was about where we’re _supposed_ to be showing you Lust Part Six, but I made something cool and I want you to see it instead!”

“Eva-!” Ris tried to protest from offscreen.

“Hush up!” She shrieked toward him, then started laughing as she held up a tape. “Here it is, looky, look! Now, I found these unlabeled tapes. I guess that, since I don’t wanna reuse a deadly sin, let’s call this sin… Repression, right? Yeah, I like that! SO here we have for you, the Evangeline special! **Repression Supercut: Clipshow Of A Boyfriend’s Sin**!”


	361. Repression Supercut: Clipshow Of A Boyfriend’s Sin

There was something about the Sato family.

Yuji Sato’s parents were people with good social standing, and had been for a while now. This wasn’t a natural occurrence, but something which came about over years of rubbing elbows. Not quite intentional. Not quite something that they mean to happen, but something which happened nonetheless. Becoming friends with powerful people would, eventually, do that to a person, or to a pair of people.

These friendships didn’t change much about the daily lives of the Satos, though. Their economic standing was mediocre. It wasn’t like they struggled to _survive_, as frankly, allowing people to live that way was something that went against the philosophy of modern-day Okinawa. This didn’t change the general perception, though. There were still people of lower and higher classes, and much of this was still tied to employment. Every job would pay a liveable wage, but there were still jobs where that liveable wage was minimum wage, with all of the implications tied to that.

So, frankly, with Mrs. Sato working as a home health aid, and Mr. Sato tending to the hospital cafeteria, there was a disconnect. No socioeconomic standing for them, the two factors disparate in their lives. It was nice to be considered ‘right people’, but not inasmuch that either of them ever really felt like they had actually risen above their stature in life. It was this complex, of being the only ‘right people’ they knew who worked minimum wage jobs, that led to the pressure on their one and only son.

Yuji Sato was, from a young age, a wonder child. It was unclear to anyone if he exhibited prodigal behavior first, then had that inkling of talent pressed to grow and expand- Or if he would have been unremarkable without the pressure placed on him. Was he a naturally-formed  
crystal, or was he a diamond? Either way, he couldn’t remember a time where the best wasn’t expected of him at all times.

He was often babysat as a child by his parents’ upper-crust friends, who didn’t volunteer out of any realization that they were helping two busy adults get some time to themselves, merely a desire to spend time around this wonder child that they’d become acquainted with. Thanks to them, he grew up with a peculiar sort of etiquette, a pleasant one, though it seemed out of place on a boy of his generation. He’d speak in charming quips and pet names, just as those who spoke with him were wont to do, and achieved a solid adoration from the adults in his life.

Not from his parents, though. No admiration would be granted from the Satos to their son, because that didn’t make sense. He was an extension of them, so if anything, all admiration granted to him was also admiration to his parents. They had no need to feel pride in his accomplishments, because his accomplishments reflected on their accomplishments. They may not be capable of truly rising above their stature in life, but their son certainly could, and through him, for the first time, the Satos felt as if they were important people.

Through a golden, wonder, child.

\--

When Yuji Sato began school, the expectations on him grew. He’d already been learning, of course. While his parents couldn’t afford real personal tutors, they’d asked favors of their friends that if they did spend time with Yuji, to take some of that time to inform him about the various fields that they were successful in. He was already reading young adult novels by halfway through the first grade, for that matter. He was invited to excel, expected to achieve.

His parents’ plan for that was a long one, but one which they were ready to wait for, and were certain would succeed. He’d be brought up intelligent, overachieving in school. Furthermore, he’d play a sport of some kind- Though he hadn’t shown much athletic inclination so far. He’d pick up any extracurriculars which could fit into his schedule while still allowing him to keep his grades up, get into a great high school and an even better college, and with a spectacular education, find himself and by association his parents a more congruent position in society.

He wasn’t entirely aware of this plan until he was older, though. It was when he was only seven years old, seven years that his parents had invested in this idealized upbringing for him, that he slipped up for the first time. That he showed the first hint of free will, at being anything other than an extension of his parents’ ambitions. And what was this hint?

“Father,” Yuji said, “We made baskets today in art class!”

“That’s nice. Was yours the best?”

“It was, actually! My teacher said that it was so good I should join the textile club!” Yuji laughed a bit. “It was a lot of fun, so I kinda wanna! It’s on Fridays too, and I never have a lot of homework on those days.”

“Friday? Won’t there be baseball practices on Fridays?”

“I don’t wanna play baseball, though. I wanna join the club!” Yuji insisted, “They have actual looms and everything! It’s really cool! She showed me the club room!”

“Well, alright, but you have to figure out something else to do. How about track? Your school does that on Mondays and Wednesdays, doesn’t it?” Yuji’s father raised an eyebrow.

“I guess… I dunno. Sports seem boring.”

“Boring?” He stood from the chair he’d been sitting in. “Kid, do you think that everything in life has to be fun all the time or some dumbass shit like that?”

“Miss Asahi says those are bad words.” Yuji shrunk away.

“Putting in all this work to do well in school, that’s not gonna mean much without a sport! You get into a good school, but how do you expect we’re gonna pay for it? You’ll get a scholarship if you do well in track. That’s money. Think of it like a job, kid, you run and you get paid with education?”

“I don’t wanna…” Yuji pouted and turned his head away, only for his father to reach out and grab him by the cheeks to make him look him in the eyes.

“Well, you’re _going_ to. You’re going to try out for baseball, and for track, and whichever one sticks you’re gonna do, okay kid? I better not hear anything else about this shitty ‘textile club’. That’s not gonna mean anything on a college application! Sports, student council, community work. _That’s_ the stuff that matters!” He was suddenly shouting as he held Yuji’s face in place with one hand. After he was finished, he let go, and brought the other arm around with an elbow to Yuji’s side, knocking him onto the floor. “Don’t you disrespect me like that again, kid.”

Yuji propped himself up with one arm on the floor and watched his father leave, then looked over to his mother, who hadn’t budged from where she was reading a book on the couch. He grit his teeth and began to feel bitter when- It vanished. He laughed under his breath, just to himself, and stood up. What a silly worst-case scenario. Good thing that would never happen.

Because, while his one-day girlfriend, Katsue Nageko, would have the issue with her parents… Where she couldn’t consider their good selves and their bad selves as the same person, Yuji’s issue was of a different nature. His parents were _so_ good and nice to him. That bad self couldn’t possibly exist. He was just a clumsy kid, that’s where the injuries came from, and had an overactive imagination for fake scenarios that faded away quickly with scarcely a memory left. Moments after his father had beaten him, he forgot the entire exchange.

It took five arguments over the textile club, five times where Yuji’s father lashed out in progressively harsher ways, before he finally relented. If his son was really this persistent that even hitting him so hard wasn’t going to keep him from wanting to join this club, then, fine. He could join the club.

But he did join track and field, too.

\--

When Yuji was ten years old, he met one Gavin Sakaki. A man who seemed to be everything that Yuji actually wanted to be- A free spirit who brightened the lives of everyone around him, especially his wife who he loved most of all. Somebody shiny and bright and social. Yuji wanted to be like him, and to his surprise, Gavin seemed willing to mentor him. Yuji’s parents were also willing to let it happen. After all, Gavin got his talent from encouraging and enabling the success of others into acquiring Ultimate talents. Maybe he would do the same for Yuji.

His parents were disappointed, not proud, when he got an Ultimate Talent, but it turned out to be for his passion instead of something more prestigious. Ultimate Weaver. That textile club he almost wasn’t allowed to join. For all their best efforts, Yuji’s strongest skill was in making baskets and cloth and rope. They almost forbade him from going back to see Gavin after that. His father tried, just the one time, yelling about how he was influenced to excel at the wrong things. When he ‘ignored’ the rule which he had forgotten existed, it didn’t seem like a big enough deal to bother trying to teach the lesson a second time.

\--

When Yuji was nearing the end of middle school, his advisor expressed concerns with his insistence at applying to all of the best schools in the country. She’d sent students away before, but with the continuing social climate of the nation, they often crashed and burned trying to learn outside of Okinawa, separated from their friends and struggling to get their bearings in an area that acted differently from everything they’d known up to that point. There were some perfectly great schools right here, you know. He wondered about that, but his parents had always been so insistent.

It was about that time he started sneaking out to Memento Mori at night. He’d been curious, a friend of his recommended it, and he needed to let off steam. The details of how he began this habit would be explored if this were a full-length video, but it isn’t. What mattered was who he saw there. He couldn’t quite tell, in the dark, what their gender was, but it didn’t matter to him anyway.

All he knew was that he, somehow, didn’t want to go someplace where he’d never see this person again. There was some kind of magnetic pull, and from that, he made his decision. He explained to his parents. And again. Again.

Several times, really, because, again.

Yuji would say something, be beat up, and forget he had ever said it at all. To his parents, this was a remarkable, stubborn persistence that, try as they might, they couldn’t remove from him. To him, he just didn’t realize it was happening. In any case.

It took about eight tries before he was permitted to apply to the ‘best’ high school in Okinawa. He got in, because of course he did, because it wasn’t nearly as strict a school as the ‘best’ throughout the country would have been. His parents couldn’t comprehend why he would give up on high school just to stick around someone that he’d seen, as he claimed, on the street in passing.

He did have enough self-preservation to tell a lie about where he’d seen the tether who would keep him in town.

It wasn’t long before that tether who he continued to see but never managed to talk to- What would he say? Hello, I think I’m in love with you, what’s your name? But there she was, in uniform, at his school. The school that he’d compromised with his parents on. A transfer student who’d started off at a different high school, but was now here. So he had it confirmed, she was his age after all. He hadn’t been thirsting after some random adult. That confirmation brought everything a bit closer to reality for him. She wasn’t just some mysterious stranger with a cosmic pull over him.

She was… A girl his age.

Very cute. Very interesting.

And soon enough, his girlfriend.

\--

Yuji couldn’t explain why it was that he’d never brought Hiyoko back to meet his parents. Some part of him probably knew. For one, it was clear they considered a social life for him a waste of time. He could be social with the upper echelons of society once he got himself there through hard work and education! So a girlfriend? Not a great idea. Especially not a girlfriend who they’d believe had already stifled his ambitions.

A girlfriend who he perceived, later, as a traitor to him. Who he thought was sleeping with her dad, when he was too shocked to consider the truth. When he went to express his concerns to his longtime mentor, and that mentor’s wife chimed in with what should have been obvious from the start. Who’s to say it was consensual? And Yuji regretted everything, immediately, and went- and you know the story.

He was hit so hard he rolled several feet downhill, and again, he forgot. He forgot the blow, and everything connected to it. His mind just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t see that side of his parents, and recognizing the negative in Hiyoko’s parentage was similarly- lost on him in that moment. What was the problem? What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he see the truth?

Shut away from him was any form of understanding at all.

And soon, he would be shut away too.

\--

Wonder child. Golden child. Perfect little extension of everything your parents ever wanted. Golden child. Golden cage.

Literal, at this point, the cage.

Yuji’s girlfriend had disappeared from school. He didn’t see her anymore, and he didn’t know why. He couldn’t get in touch with her anymore, his parents had taken his phone. He was to go straight to school, to his extracurriculars, then straight home, where a lock was set on his doors and windows. He couldn’t go to Memento Mori anymore. He couldn’t do anything anymore. He was often reminded why- Because he thought that getting his dick wet was more important than getting perfect test scores, right?

And when it was his entire life, he couldn’t forget. Couldn’t block it out. Couldn’t ignore it!

Until he could.

Until it wasn’t his entire life anymore, and he woke up in the Killing Game.

Where his girlfriend was.

And everything was-

Everything _seemed_ fine.


	362. Stage Three, Day 16: Restaurant Echo

“There you have it,” Eva said, “The other side of the coin. The story of a boyfriend who really was trying his best, but just couldn’t handle the truth. Well, until the end, I guess. Until he finally had no choice but to understand. But, still, I have to wonder. How did he even manage to go that long in ignorance??”

“Trauma is a strange and particular beast,” Ris said, “One which can be impossible to engage with. For Yuji, it seems as though he never had an avenue through which to realize his parents could be wrong in any way. He was raised under the impression that his parents’ expectations of him were completely normal, and their behaviors as well. So when they committed acts which he could only rationalize as being wrong, though he’d been taught his family was always right… All he could reasonably do was drop the memory of the incident entirely.”

“Just, gone, huh?”

“Some sort of dissociative disorder, I imagine, though not DID. The dearly departed Evie Snow was the only one of these kids with that particular trouble. The brain can do some truly ridiculous if, as the example is here, you decide as a child that _feeling_ happy is more important than _being_ happy.”

“What, exactly, is the difference there??”

“I think you should know. You feel happy when you’re high, but that doesn’t mean you _are_ happy. You’d have to be an unhappy person to be standing here next to me. And, for that matter. Why did you create that and show it to us? This is where we’d usually be showing the sixth conquest video. It isn’t long until they find the boss room. We’ll have to interject at an alternate point with number six. Or, I suppose we could show it right n-”

“No!” Eva exclaimed, shoving Ris hard by the shoulder.

“So I’m correct. You, for some reason, wanted to come up with a plausible reason to delay the showing of Lust Part Six.” Ris righted himself and crossed his arms.

“Ah, what? Why would I do that? Why would I care about that?”

“...You talk a big game, Evangeline, but I’m not sure you’re as shameless as you make yourself out to be.”

“Excuse you? No way! I’m just the worst, and I like it this way! I’ll fuck any girl I want any time I want and I’ll be high off my ass the entire time! I’m causing the apocalypse, dude! The apocalypse!”

“Sure. But it was your idea to request…”

“G-Go! Illuminate a brighter future, or whatever! Bye-bye!”

\--

“Yuji…” Syoko muttered, staring at the now-blank monitor. “He’s got that kind of an issue, and I just… Assumed that he was being intentionally dense, huh.”

“Don’t feel too bad about that,” Katsue said, “I didn’t know about most of this either… I believed that he’d forgotten about what he saw, once he did remember it. But he didn’t tell me why. I’m not sure, even at the end there, if he knew why? That’s really… I don’t even know how you’d help somebody with something like that, hah. So I guess that’s one thing my boyfriend and I have in common, we never knew how to help each other.”

“I actually might have… Some idea,” Syoko said, “Of how to help that, though, I’m not sure if it’s necessarily a _good_ idea, per say.”

“Well, why not tell me what it is and then we can figure out whether or not it’s good?”

“It’s possible, I mean… You heard what Evangeline said, right? About how it was easier to make people from scratch as a stepping stone to recreating organic people? I have to wonder, you know. Whatever technology they used in Dome City to specifically remove some of our memories, there may also be a variant out there which can put memories back.”

“Both sides of that exist in NWPs,” Saya said, “There can be parameters set to block your memories when you enter, for as long as you’re there, or until the point where something in the program gives your memory back. That all relies on the fact that your brainwaves become data while you’re there, so it normally wouldn’t work on most people outside of the program. Only on, I think, replicants, and Alter Egos that were put back in human bodies? As far as I overheard growing up, that is.”

“But,” She continued, “You _did_ have your real-life memories intentionally tampered with. Obviously someone was able to bridge the gap in that respect, so I do think it’s entirely possible that it could work in the other direction as well. Um, I’d assume that when Yuji did remember to the extent that he did, the Neo World had something to do with that? And if the same technology suppressed your real life memories as the Neo World uses, then that too, may mean that it can restore them here itself.”

“I see…” Yosuke said, “So the incident that was removed from our history is something that we could be reminded of while we’re here?”

“Perhaps so, if the technology was developed in a similar way,” Saya said, “I don’t claim to be an expert on these things. Honestly, if Homura were alive at the moment, he might have more confidence in the possibility. He’s watched many Killing Games, so he would have seen the memory thing in action.”

“You said that the technology already would have worked on replicants… So, why did Jun need to have his identity totally changed?”

“You are asking me?” Saya shrugged. “I don’t know!”

“I would assume it has something to do with the alcoholism,” Katsue said, “If you merely removed the memories, that doesn’t change the behavior. Of course, the behavior _didn’t_ end up changing after all, he just lost the ability to be _aware_ of the behavior, so it wasn’t exactly a good idea to rewire his personality into being more normie, you know. Even if it were somehow ethical~!”

With another sigh, Katsue took charge to move further into the ruin rather than dwell longer on everything that Dome City had done wrong. There would be plenty of time for that when the kids who’d grown up there faced their own so-called sins, and for now, she was sure that hers was close to its end.

A few steps down the dock, the scene shifted again. The group recognized it from one of the conquest videos as the restaurant that Katsue had been to for her seventeenth birthday, from the upscale decor to the tasteful live music stage against the wall. And on that stage-

Was a creature which resembled _Sachiko_.


	363. Stage Three, Day 16: Creature Song

The creature up on the stage resembled a human a bit more than the other two- There wasn’t anything odd about its body outside of the gray skin and torn clothing. Its face, however- Well, there wasn’t one. Its face was blank, framed by ringlet twintails. In the bows that tied those twintails up were a set of eyes, however. Just watching, trained on the group of survivors who had just entered the room no matter which way the body danced, even shifting to the back of the bows when it turned away from them.

Unlike the others, it didn’t have words to say at all- That didn’t mean it wasn’t making sound, but there was no meaning behind it. It sounded almost like a music box with some of the prongs broken, chiming out music in stilted tones. Unpleasantly enough, though, there was _something_ correlated with the music. It seemed that each time it ‘sung’ a certain note, a Ravvit would suddenly appear on one of the restaurant’s tables, immediately turning its attention to the group.

Even with the pointy teeth this ruin had granted them, the Ravvits weren’t especially frightening enemies. They had no real advantages over any particular weapon type, and were just large enough to be relatively easy targets. Even still, there were a lot of them, none of them illusory. Though the survivors could keep up pretty well, with four of them able to actively fight and it taking two hits to kill one ravvit, the moments they’d spent stunned before realizing this was the case left them in something of an uphill battle. The numbers were being ‘kept up’ with, yes, but not going _down_. The ravvits in the room remained just the same.

Saya decided to take action, maneuvering herself out of the entryway to get up toward the stage. In front of the Sachiko creature, she attacked with her clione, only for it to phase right through the thing, doing no damage and accomplishing nothing whatsoever. Well, it accomplished one thing, opening Saya up to attack. The creature didn’t do anything or fight back in any way, but the ravvits turned away from the main group of survivors to take out the easy target that she’d become by breaking away from them. She squeaked in surprise for a moment, before she was bitten and reduced to an X-Key.

The group did take the opportunity of the ravvits turning their back to get a slight lead, taking out a few additional ones and reducing the overall number a bit. Even so…

“There’s got to be some trick to this,” Shin observed, “We’re not going to get anywhere like this.”

“Do we just need to leave and come back with stronger equipment?” Yosuke wondered, “Maybe this is supposed to be a way of gatekeeping us from fighting the boss before we’re ready…”

“Seems unlikely!” Irarako countered, “For what’s the worse way what tell us be stronger? Etern-loop the bunnies or get ass beat for by too-strong bossmob? It’s puzzle!”

“Puzzle…” Yume pondered, “Well, damn. This is your ruin, Kats, you got any ideas?”

“Nothing comes to mind just yet, I’m sorry!”

“Hm…” Syoko joined the conversation, “It’s got to be something related to your older sister, right? Because that’s her, onstage?”

“A thing imitating her, yes,” Katsue confirmed, “But I’m not sure… What would be expected of us. I’m surprised there’s a creature that looks like her at all. She never did anything.”

“What if that’s exactly why? She never did anything,” Syoko said, “She ignored Saya when she jumped up there, so maybe we also need to ignore her. If we just hurry past and go to the backstage area, that may be all we need to do after all?”

“She’ll ignore us, and we ignore her?” Katsue asked, then nodded. “That makes sense, actually. We can’t really ignore the ravvits, though, so we’ll have to move quickly.”

“Of course.” Yosuke nodded, then started to move. The others ran after him, and they did manage to make it past the ravvits. A couple managed to land some swipes at a few of the party, but they weren’t strong enough to one-shot them with that. He stumbled through the curtain at the back of the stage, when seemed to change color as soon as he’d collided with it from the deep red of a fancy restaurant’s live music stage, to the pale blue of a clinic’s privacy divider.

Just as he’d processed that, a total of ten syringes with comically large needles, more like stylized darts than actually tools of injection, came flying toward his face. Yosuke had been turned to an X-Key by the trap which awaited in the clinic room, but Katsue ducked around and was able to disable it before it hit anybody else- Her umbrella slicing open the sign for the blood drive seemed to turn it off. She took a deep breath, and looked around. “This is… The clinic where I used to volunteer. How I got my Ultimate Title. Some of the only people in town who knew that… ‘Hiyoko Nageko’ and ‘Ryota Nageko’ were actually the same person from the beginning.”

“Unfortunately!” Yume said, “Cause, damn, that person? Nowhere near as cool as you are.”

“Heh. Yes… I prefer myself this way as well, as silly as it may sound to say that?” Katsue pressed a hand to her cheek and sighed. “This place used to have so many good memories. But somebody I trusted… Took money from Karine to lie to me. I couldn’t trust him anymore. And I couldn’t enjoy this clinic anymore, either.”

“What did he-” Syoko started to ask, only for a medical monitor in the corner to suddenly turn red and blare to life, blasting out the Extend TV Theme.

\--

“This is as good a time as any to share the final conquest video,” Ris said, “Since the boss room is immediately after this one.”

“Do you _really_ have to share it?” Eva asked, “I mean, I dunno. Can we cut out the ending?”

“...Eva. What does that matter, honestly? Why do you _care_? What could possibly be so bad in this video that you don’t want to see it?”

“I…” Evangeline wrapped her arms around herself.

“Whatever.” Osiris groaned. “Come on, then, let’s get whatever it is over with. **Lust Part Six: Snow White’s Poison Pill**.”****


	364. Lust Part Six: Snow White's Poison Pill

Hiyoko Nageko was living with her mother and sister again.

After what happened, Sachiko didn’t seem to believe, anymore, the reason for the divorce. She didn’t come upon the truth, but she stopped believing what Karine said. Her personal opinion- She’d been spared details. So had Karine, actually. At the hospital, the physical injuries were reporting, but anything else was ignored, was left to the wayside and not mentioned to Hiyoko’s family members. It wasn’t a matter of respect or a matter of discomfort, but because the medical staff had already heard about the city’s intentions to let Kenta off without meaningful consequence.

Telling the whole truth, they thought, could cause unnecessary friction between the family and the councilmembers who'd made the decision. Little did they realize Karine herself was a councilwoman, and it was out of respect for her that her fellows had made the decision to sweep this under the rug rather than see it through to any kind of real prosecution. It wasn’t a good look for her.

Hiyoko was permitted back into the house, and there weren’t any conditions set for her other than continuing her lessons with Karine. Briefly, she actually believed that her mother had come to her senses, and this was her way of apologizing. But pointed remarks continued, driving pins and needles between them with the implications over and over that Hiyoko somehow invited her fate.

She didn’t go back to school. She didn’t want to face Yuji, she couldn’t even imagine what he’d say to her if he saw her again. She’d heard nothing from him and she didn’t expect to. Karine still refused to let Hiyoko transfer back to her original school, but was also holding back on sending her to another one. She billed this, too, as a kindness. Hiyoko needed time to get over her double-whammy of heartbreak, after all. She didn’t really understand what Karine’s real intentions were. Not at first, anyway.

Then, just a few weeks after Karine and Sachiko had taken Kenta’s place in the family home, Hiyoko began to get sick. She wasn’t sure what was going on, so she didn’t say anything at first. She’d be overcome with fatigue at random times, had trouble keeping down rich foods, and found her temperature ping-ponging between sweats and shivers. At first, she used her personal lens to explain it. She was a vampire, after all, and she was currently being cut off from all the humans she knew, any source of life energy- And in more basic terms, it was normal for stress and trauma to cause a physical response like this, wasn’t it? But after another few weeks of putting up with this in silence, Hiyoko finally managed to tell Karine about her mysterious sickness.

Karine was shockingly concerned. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that she cared about hearing that her daughter had been having strange systems for a prolonged period of time, but unfortunately, it was. Hiyoko wondered at first if Karine was worried that her daughter had somehow caught Despair Fever- While it normally didn’t do well in Okinawa’s climate, maybe the recent stress to her body had weakened her immune system enough that it could take hold? But, Karine brushed that off as unlikely, and brought Hiyoko to the clinic where she would often volunteer.

It was at that clinic where she was informed of the information which actually ruined her chances. Where she heard, what she wouldn’t even believe, but which she would understand to mean- Karine couldn’t be blatant. It wasn’t in her nature. Even the moments she’d gone mask-off towards Hiyoko, when Kenta had revealed what he claimed the situation to be. Karine probably wanted to say worse. She restrained herself. She spoke honestly, but held back in a number of ways. Subtlety was important to her, even when she burned with disdain.

To speak her mind would mean she was a failure herself. To outright forbid her child from existing, she couldn’t do that. Not even as a matter of public image, but of personal image. Karine would spout off about her beliefs, but never to their full potency, always with some layer or other of bluster, of falsehood. The closest she’d ever gotten, she still hadn’t done that. And she wasn’t going to begin now. She wasn’t. Hiyoko came to understand the meaning, though. It didn’t make sense to her, she knew enough medically to know it didn’t make sense.

And she was well aware that the doctor she spoke to knew it too. When he told her what her mother had bribed him into saying, that her body was having a negative reaction to the estrogen she was taking. She’d developed an allergy, or something. He didn’t tell her the truth of the matter, how Karine had devised this, had brushed them down with a chemical coating for the purpose of eliciting this response. He didn’t tell her. Just as Karine didn’t tell her the condition she’d had from the beginning.

Nobody like _Hiyoko_ was going to live under her roof. She could desist- Could return to ‘Ryota’, or else, she would die under that roof. This was the implication of the poisoning that she realized as soon as she was fed the lie. Even that lie- Karine didn’t expect to be believed. She just wanted to get her message across. Wanted to make it clear, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that any intention of keeping this hated child alive was tied to a stifling of that identity. That identity. These identities.

Hiyoko loved her mother. Hiyoko loved her father. Mom and Dad. She loved them.

But Hiyoko hated Karine and Hiyoko hated Kenta.

Kenta loved Hiyoko to death. Karine hated Hiyoko to death.

But Ryota? They had always, both, loved Ryota a normal amount. If Ryota were here, it would be fine. Ryota could still love Mom and Dad and not even know Karine and Kenta. They could be a family. A family again. A happy family. Happy. Well. Maybe not quite.

It would probably be a year, of being ‘Ryota’ again, for Kenta and Karine to remarry. This was something that likely would happen. An objective truth. It was twisted the same way, in all of their minds, the bird who’d flown in through the window and torn through their happy home. If that bird were eliminated, all of the consequences could be redeemed, righted, erased outright. Repair what’s broken. Clean what’s messed. Laugh it off and return to life as usual. Not to say that would be good for any of them. Not to say that the damage the bird did could really be undone, but they could always pretend.

Hiyoko wanted that so badly. Any unhappiness she felt before coming out seemed to pale in comparison to the way her life had been destroyed. She was back where she began. No boyfriend, no friends. She was worse and her family was worse. If she became Ryota again, then her family would come back together. She could go back to her first school and reconnect with Ryota’s friends. So.

Ryota agreed to the terms set before him, and returned home. Mother was happy. Sachiko was worried, she said, she told him that if only she could make it big, she could save enough money and they could move out together and it would be okay. She hated the way that her little sister’s identity was being disrespected, even without the full context. But Ryota brushed her off. He was mistaken this whole time, he said, and why would she throw away the relationship she had with their mother? They were practically connected at the hip, Sachiko was doted on and beloved. No reason to want to leave. Plus, Dad was going to be back, he was sure of it.

Sachiko didn’t think she wanted Dad to come back, but Hiyo… Ryota. Sounded so enthusiastic about the idea, that she said nothing.

There was one thing, though. Ryota wouldn’t cut his hair. He’d pin it up shorter, but he didn’t want to have it cut. Karine disliked this, but allowed for it. Just the same as before, though- Ryota still snuck out. He was still a delinquent child, because he still needed to cope with burying those feelings which, of course, were still here. And the fake ID still said Hiyoko. The people at Memento Mori still knew the girl who’d been coming there, though, he stopped dressing up the way he had while he was out. Back in the closet, and back to-

No, it had to be worse this time. Ryota had tasted what it was like to be Hiyoko, even if that had become ruin over time. There was still the happiness and confidence and… Ability to exist, that came with being her. Hiding from that all over again, it went beyond the line of social. Drugs and drinking were something that this individual had always partaken in, at every stage, but never like this. For fun, it was, before. Socially and for fun and it _was_ fun, frankly. Take the edge off, loosen up a little bit. Especially with Yuji.

Yuji…

Yuji never showed up at Memento Mori again, but if he had, he wouldn’t have been recognized. Because █████ was too far gone, most nights, to recognize anybody. To even care. To even recall, more than brief snatches of emotion, and what was that emotion? What could it be?

_Hey, you, I don’t care how. But could you help me feel like a woman for a little while…?_

“Thrown into the arms of anybody who’ll listen, █████, you went day to day and night to night just trying to recapture those moments, and you did, didn’t you? You felt it and felt it and felt it over and over again with anyone, and anyone at all. Any man who’d look at you and so much as _humor_ the idea that you could be a girl, with him, for the night, for the hour, for the fifteen minutes in the bathroom. It’s this, you know. It’s this which is your sin. The sin of lust. None of what others did to you. What you invited to cope with it. What you invited on yourself. How you, through begging, dragged others-

Into committing grievous, disgusting sin. Because what, it’s not like you were coherent enough to consent! Because you were on so many fucking drugs any half decent person would have turned you down! Because you wouldn’t even remember! You wouldn’t even recall! You wouldn’t have any fucking clue the next day if the person you solicited was five or ten or fifty years older than you! You wouldn’t know if they were kind or cruel or safe or if you were going to die any minute now! But why would you care? You were dead. Karine Ryuunosuke killed you, at that time. You were already dead so what’s it matter if you leave a trail of unwitting rapists in your wake? What’s it matter if one of the people you’ve begged decides to murder you. What’s it matter? What’s it matter?”

“Eva,” Ris spoke firmly, “You need to let the rest of the tape play.”

\--

Hiyoko Nageko sat in the lounge of a different club. It wasn’t Memento Mori- She’d stumbled out of there on the shoulder of somebody who’d sat her down here. A private room. There were more drugs on the table. She looked at them.

“You’re a girl, right?” The person who sat on the couch with her asked.

“...Yes. My name’s Hiyoko,” She answered, staring blankly at the pills laid out on that table there. “But I’m not allowed to be. My mother doesn’t like girls like me. So I can’t be.”

“Is that so? Why don’t you tell me about that?”

“She poisoned me.” Hiyoko grabbed one of the pills and held it up. “Something on my estrogen. So I had to stop taking it and go back to being Ryota. Or else I’d die. Those were my options. That was how it was. I can’t escape, I can’t run from my family.”

“Sounds like she was scared you’d be prettier than her.”

“Of course she was. Her own husband already thought so.”

“So…” The other person raised a finger and laughed a bit. “It’s kinda like a screwed up fairytale, huh? But, that’s silly. Hey, you wanna fuck?”

“I normally don’t like girls. But I kind of don’t care anymore. If you tell me why you think my life’s a fairytale, then, sure thing.”

“I can do that! Cause, like, see… Your Mom’s the Evil Queen. And you’re Snow White. She poisoned you, so now you went to sleep. The real you’s sleeping. And she’s waiting to be woken up by true love’s kiss!”

“Are you trying to imply that makes you my Prince Charming…?”

“No, no, that’s definitely someone else. Couldn’t possibly be me.”

“So who are you?”

“I’m Santa.”

“...What?”

“Because.” Evangeline leaned toward Hiyoko and cupped her cheek in her hand, whispering against her skin. “I don’t really belong in your story.”


	365. Stage Three, Day 16: The Lives Of The Wicked Should Be Made Brief

“Ha… Ha.” Evangeline held her own shoulders. “There you have it. There you have it. I couldn’t prevent you from seeing that. For what it’s worth, I am sorry. I know you didn’t remember that happening, Katsue. You never remembered meeting me. You were too fucked up. You were too fucked up to remember and too fucked up for what I did to you. I didn’t want you to remember. I can’t say if I didn’t want you to be more hurt knowing it happened or if I just, for some reason, wanted to keep it secret, the kind of things I’ve _actually_ done… Tch.”

“I can’t see why it matters,” Osiris said, “What. Here you are, claiming over and over that you don’t care about these things. Time and time again, you say it. You’re the worst, you’re awful, and you’re glad to be that way. You’ve openly bragged about sleeping with women whether they want to or not. You speak often of liking underage girls. So what’s different here? If I never judged you for any of that before, why would I now? And why would you care what _our enemies_ think of you?”

“I don’t… I just.” Evangeline lowered her head. “Ris, I don’t like myself.”

“Of course you don’t,” Ris said, “If you did, we wouldn’t be doing this. Even me. I love myself, but I don’t like myself, not even a little bit.”

“It’s a lie,” Eva said, “It’s a lie. Not, I mean, not all of it, hah. But, hey, you know. Every woman I ever slept with did say yes. She just shouldn’t have. A lot of the time, she shouldn’t have. It’s easier to pretend like that wasn’t what happened. Like I just forced myself on these girls, cause then, I can be flippant, you know? I can pretend like I’m just the worst and never even tried to be good. But that’s not the truth. I just… I got a meaningless yes, and I took it, from girls who couldn’t really say yes. If I can pretend I’m just a villain, somehow, that’s better… If somebody had said no to me, and I did it anyway? Haha, look at Eva, she’s just the worst in the world! But if they say yes and I know they meant no, but I did it anyway… If I’m smart enough to figure that out, I should be smart enough to walk away. But I’m not. I wasn’t.”

“Well, _I_ don’t care,” Osiris said, “I cannot stress that enough. And my opinion is the only one that matters. Maybe it’s just as bad, whichever way it happened. Whether consent was absent or dubious when you did it anyway. It doesn’t matter. Everything pales in comparison, to the worldwide destruction we’re wreaking, doesn’t it? If you’re willing to work with me on bringing the apocalypse, then I’m willing to overlook whatever awful things you do in your personal life.”

“...Yeah.” Eva looked away. “Your opinion kinda _is_ the only one that matters to me, but, like.”

“Do you feel like this perspective makes you seem more like my ex-husband?” Ris asked, “Is that the issue here? That if you were a blatant rapist, you get to distance yourself from the person you hate most?”

“Maybe it’s something like that.” Eva shrugged. “I think, I just. I don’t want you to ever think, you know, if our ages were reversed? That I could do the same thing he did to you. Not you. Anyone else, fine, sure, fuck it. I don’t really give a shit that I took advantage of _Katsue_ being on drugs or _Saya_ being a kid. But if you knew it happened that way…?”

“I know now, and I’m saying it doesn’t matter to me. Just because I’m somebody who’s given an ill-advised yes doesn’t mean I’ll assume that anyone who’ll take those would have also taken mine. And, frankly, Evangeline.” A thin grin split his face, one which for the first time left the survivors unsettled not just by his co-host, but by him as well. “It fits my thesis quite well. Somebody made you the way you are, you know. And then you took the pain inflicted on you, and inflicted it on several others. Not just these two girls here, I’m sure. The actions taken against you compounded and spread, like a disease. The world which allows this is one which, I cannot understand.”

“It does support that, doesn’t it…?”

“Go do a line of cocaine or something, you’re no fun when you’re down on yourself like this.” Ris chuckled and placed a warm hand against her shoulder before using it to push her offscreen, then turned back to the camera. “With Katsue Nageko’s sin of lust revealed, inviting others to hurt her just so she could feel anything at all. You could fight that boss, or you could forfeit. How long will it be before you, too, don’t care to illuminate a brighter future for humanity?”

\--

"Well!" Syoko clapped her hands together with a sharp breath through her teeth. "I changed my mind! Osiris certainly _isn't_ any better than Evangeline. They're both just awful!"

"They're our enemies," Shin said, "So it only makes sense. Still, I'll admit that I too was under the impression, until now, that Osiris was merely a nihilist forced to work alongside a disaster. Though that isn't what's important at this moment. Katsue, are you alright?"

She nodded, and shut her eyes. "I am. Contrary to what Eva claimed, I did, to some extent, remember that. I had no idea it was her, I mean. But it isn't as bad as she's making it out to be. I wouldn't call anybody who slept with me at that time a rapist. Yes, I was underage, and intoxicated. It's certainly not an all-clear for adults who listened to me, but at the same time. I made the decision when sober and clear-headed, to go out and get trashed and get fucked. It’s nobody’s fault, at a baseline, for agreeing to help me in my self-harm. She wasn’t the only, or even the first woman during that time for me, either. I remember hearing that story, I mean. I know when it was, even if I couldn’t recognize her.”

“You still are like, straight though, right?” Yume asked, “I just wanna know, like, _how_ much I wanna strangle your mom.”

“Yes, I’m only actually attracted to men. My intentions at that time were just… To feel like somebody wanted me, as a woman. To cope with the fact that I needed to pretend that I wasn’t,” Katsue said, “I’m fine, honestly. Out of everything there, I actually came to terms with that bit the most. It was… That was the portion of my past that I needed to overcome in order to come out to you at all, here. That was the state of my life until the Killing Game began. It would have stayed that way, too. As much as it’s strange to say this, my life is better for having been involved in this.”

“You think so?” Shin asked.

“Mhm. You saw where I was at. By waking up in the Killing Game, I was able to find out that Yuji never meant to stay broken up. I connected with other trans people and other people with trauma, such that I can understand now… It’s true, I think. ‘Ryota’ was the key to returning my family to the way it was before, but that family didn’t deserve to exist. I, Katsue, deserve to exist more than that portrait of life. It isn’t worth it. So, let’s return to Jabberwock Island. Tomorrow, I’ll prove it. I’ll prove, to the boss of this ruin, that I am the one who deserves to be alive.”


	366. Stage Three, Day 16: Day's End

Upon deciding to leave, the survivors discovered that there was actually a shortcut which would let them bypass the ravvit room, tucked away in a closet of the clinic room. Stepping into it led to another door that had certainly not previously been present on the first floor of Memento Mori which, upon testing, did lead back to that same room. Given the difficulty of getting past it the first time around, that was good to have. A fast-pass to the boss room, as it were.

That would be something to keep in mind for tomorrow, as right now, it was the better bet to just make it back to Jabberwock Island and extend the others.

Homura Shinku _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Familiar Creature:** Reduced Damage Taken from Familiar Creatures.  
**Death from Poison:** Reduced chance of being inflicted with poison.

Saya Yoshiro _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Vampire Ravvit:** Reduced Damage Taken from Ravvits.  
**Death from Piercing Fangs:** Reduced Damage Taken from Piercing Attacks.

Yosuke Oowada _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Trap:** Reduced Chance Of Setting Off Traps.  
**Death from Needles:** Reduced Damage Taken from Piercing Attacks.

“Saya!” Yume exclaimed, pointing at her girlfriend. “Are you alright, after what would have been beamed into your brain there?”

“Yes, I’m quite fine.” Saya nodded. “Don’t worry. Nothing that Evangeline said there was a shock to me, I’ve known that about her from the start. As for what she said about me, well, it’s true. I didn’t, at any point, refuse her attention. The only matter of contention for her behavior is my age, not any violence, or any time on my part spent turning her down.”

“Gotcha. Long as you’re feeling okay,” Yume said, “I know your shit with her’s complicated, I just wanted to make sure you’re not breaking down about it at this very moment or whatever.”

“I am most certainly not. It’s strange to say, but it seems as if, for perhaps the first time in her life, Evangeline holds more disdain toward her own misdeeds than anybody around her does. Not to say she’s forgiven, by any means, but right now I just cannot find it in me to care, just as Katsue couldn’t.”

“So tomorrow we’re fighting the boss,” Yosuke said, “We’re gonna do it. Gonna defeat the demon that haunts Katsue Nageko.”

“The shadow of my family,” Katsue said, holding her hands close to her chest. “Will be felled. The image of something which long ago ceased to exist in any way which meant anything. I’m expecting that the boss will be all three of the creatures we’ve seen. The one which imitated Karine, the one which imitated Kenta, and the one similar to Sachiko. Though, I’m not sure about that last one. Weapons did nothing to her in that first encounter…”

“There will be some trick to it, I’m sure,” Shin said, “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. As long as we’re prepared, we’ll be able to figure out a way to defeat the boss. I think that Osiris showed his hand pretty thoroughly, with that last bit of Extend TV. He doesn’t _want_ us to lose by being killed, he wants us to give up. He wants to be proven right.”

“I think that’s probably true,” Homura said, stepping forward. “I mean, that’s the thing with these people. They consider themselves right, and they want the whole world to know it too. Mercury obviously feels that way, and so does Osiris. As for Evangeline, uh… I’m not sure she has a _thesis_ in this race as much as she’s just terrible enough to wanna be along for the ride.”

“Do you have any thoughts,” Syoko said, “About the thing which killed you? The… Familiar Creature?”

“That? No, actually. No thoughts at all. Head empty. I was kinda in too much shock to even register what was going on there or what it said to me,” Homura said, “So I dunno. Something that’ll show up in some ruin later down the line, I guess. Way later down the line if we think about how many hits it took for you to kill it!”

“We certainly need to avoid acquiring any other bad luck shigabanes…” Syoko sighed with her self-blame readily apparent. “I’m not sure if the one I got is the only one which exists, but I imagine that they could, if it’s something that we ought to be penalized for. Perhaps if we’re injured while attacking one of the CRT monitors, or some such…? It’s just a theory.”

“A game theory,” Homura said, clicking his tongue. “But, yknow, we gotta consider those too. You’re right that it’s important to avoid penalties like that. Then again, we’ve seen one high-level enemy so far on a double chance at a high-level enemy showing up, so I’m not gonna say that it’s a given. It’s also not a given that the enemy’s gonna sit there and let you kill it either, though! So that’s something to worry about.”

“Sorry to say.” Shin rose a hand. “But as much as I do want to help defeat Katsue’s boss creature, I _am_ a bit concerned about our ability to do so. We haven’t updated or improved our equipment… Really at all, since beginning this ruin. The enemies here haven’t been especially tanky, so we haven’t been hurting for it, but if we consider that we barely scraped through Irarako’s boss and have not improved our arsenal since…”

“Good’s point!” Irarako crossed her arms and rocked back on her heels. “Blazin on through to speedrun trauma’s got its ups an’ its downs. Get it done dealt with quicker what sure, but then, underprepared for to the big bad?”

“We’ve been gathering a good number of things, though,” Syoko said, “So at the very least, if we stop to investigate we might find some upgrades that we’re able to do after all. First thing in the morning, we’ll take a look, before we go into the ruin. Does that sound good to everyone?”

There were nods of confirmation all around, after all, why wouldn’t there be? It wasn’t as if these plans were of the kind that anybody could reasonably be opposed to. With that in mind, the group set about on planning for that next day. Eating dinner, and devising their bunks for the best possible effects when expecting to battle an unknown creature. Homura’s bunking effect in particular- He gave it to Syoko, as she was most likely to be able to make a snap judgment to retreat if need be, so letting her have that extra second of withstanding one fatal attack would prove valuable. Nobody had any idea what to expect from the battle ahead, so it was important to keep in mind the possibility of running mid-fight.

This closeness, however, was reassuring. Fifteen days. It was sixteen days into the Zero Sum Game, and they were already at the end of the third ruin, out of eight. Two days had passed in the real world. As long as they didn’t give in to what Osiris clearly wanted from them- As long as they refused to forfeit the game, the world, too, would refuse to die.

Maybe that was too much to hold on their shoulders, eight young people who never asked for it. But then again, they were ‘Ultimates’. In a world that still assigned those titles to the talented, bearing with it the supposed responsibility of bringing light and hope into that world? Who else was going to carry the burden but them?


	367. The Thing From Ruin Eight

Something cried out from deep within the game.

It shrieked and screamed and shouted, thrashed about and attacked everything within sight, which wasn’t much and wasn’t anything alive. The thing was in a room alone. There were props present, and this thing had observed their rejuvenation. When it lashed out and destroyed its surroundings, the pieces came back. This included a refrigerator, within which there was food. That was how the thing had stayed alive.

The ‘thing’ present this deep in the game was female, let’s say, so she. She was the one who sat alone in this room and listened outside as creatures crawled around, dripping with phrases that she’d rather not hear, dripping with phrases that sounded all too common to something she had poured over time and time again, studied inside and out. Creatures she couldn’t reach out toward, in a place she couldn’t access, outside of this room. Inside this room, there were chairs and tables and that fridge, and a CRT monitor. She relished in its destruction the most, because it showed her things she didn’t care to see, and it came back quicker than anything else. If the others came back daily, the monitor returned each time it had something to show her, descending anew from the ceiling.

The pasts of these nobodies.

Yume Mirai, Irarako Ebizakaya, Katsue Nageko. The thing which waited deep within the game didn’t care about them at all. She didn’t give a shit about their pasts. There were some whose pasts she would care about, and it wasn’t any of the three of them which had been shown to her so far. What did that matter? None of it did. Not to her. Not at all. Who the fuck was that? Who the fuck were they? What was this _irrelevancy_ being thrown in her face as she whiled away days upon days in here, in boredom?

There was only so much entertainment to be stolen from anger and destruction and hatred, in a single room, _for_ that single room. No matter what she did, she couldn’t get out. She had anything she needed to survive, sure, but what else was she supposed to do here? Alone, and bored, bored out of her mind. She never minded being alone, being completely alone for long stretches at a time, sure. But she usually had somebody to be alone with, right? Didn’t she? Somebody she cared about, but that person wasn’t here, that person was missing from her life and her knowledge. She knew that person existed somewhere, but they were, just as in the past, locked away from her. Stolen away from her.

So she screamed again, then took deep breaths, staring down at the floor. She was still something like a human, at least. Not at the moment, but if she focused, the tentacles could hide and leave her looking the same as she always had. She was a thing, but not so far gone she couldn’t turn back. It was her anger which made her a monster, and when she’d exhausted that monster, she would calm down and return to her humanity and try her best to relax. It was hard to relax, given she had nothing to do and not even anywhere comfortable to sleep. She hated it here. Hated it here and hated all of those fucking nobodies, and the somebodies too, for that matter. She didn’t like them either. Hatred for the survivors too-

And yet, here she stood in front of the one thing she didn’t destroy in this room. The Extend Machine. She’d made use of it, to improve her cliones, after all. Apparently, they would usually corrupt somebody who used them, rebel and kill them, but for this thing that must have been too much of a mercy to imagine. Her cliones were her only friends in this place, so she wasn’t about to destroy the only way she could get more of them.

She took a deep breath, though, and let them retract. Then, she reached toward the Extend Machine. “Isn’t there anything you two bozos can do for me?”

“Huhhh?” Eva appeared on the screen, “Sweetie, I think we’ve already done quite enough for you, don’t you agree?”

“I have nothing to do in this place. And nowhere comfortable to sleep. All I can do is yell and destroy things!” She hissed at the screen. “It’s not a favor to me to just let me keep being alive!”

“Ooh, I’d love it if I could just yell and destroy things!”

“You can and do,” Osiris called from offscreen.

“Ahaha, right, right. Well, what do you want me to do about it? I can’t let you out. I mean, you wouldn’t even really want to be out, sure, but you’re soooo mad right now, you’d probably just clear the entire ruin before it’s even docked at Jabberwock Island!” Evangeline pressed her hands together. “We can’t have that. You’re more like a Chekhov’s Gun, yknow? It’d mess things up if you got involved before the final act!”

“I… Fine, yes, sure. Whatever you’re trying to do here, Golly, God be it from me to try and stop you. But, come on. Can’t I at least have some _books_? Or a bed? Or just, anything to do?”

“I guess I can give you a bed. And if you’re really innovative, that’s also something to do-”

“I’m not about to just start shakin’ hands with the mailman where I know you could see! You’d just love that, huh? Not in the cards, buckaroo.”

“Oh, you talk so funny when you’re mad~” Eva cackled, then put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. “Yeah, yeah, okay. I’ll get you a bed, _and_ something to do. Some books for now. And what the survivors unlock next, I’ll make it available for you too, alright? That should do.”

“_Thank_ you.” The thing groaned, bringing a hand to her forehead. “Only took sixteen days. You do realize that’s cruel and unusual punishment, right? Solitary confinement without any entertainment or socialization?”

“Well, honey,” Eva said, “You could have socialized at any time. Except for when we’re broadcasting, we’re always willing to chat!”

“That’s a lie,” Osiris said, still from offscreen, “I’m seldom willing to chat, though I suppose it does you no harm to ask.”

“_I’m_ always willing to chat,” Eva corrected, “Not just willing, but eager, too!”

“I don’t really care about that,” She said, and walked away from the Extend Machine to find that Eva had made good on her word, placing what looked like a fairly comfortable bed, and a well-stocked bookshelf in the room. Sighing, the thing found herself more at ease than she’d been for a long time, and actually felt a bit grateful to Eva. Actually, she had plenty of reasons to be grateful, she just wasn’t acknowledging them right now.

Her hatred held at bay, her fury put behind her eyes, the thing grabbed a book and sat down on the bed to read and find some solace for the first time in two weeks. The story she chose was old, very old, but one that she’d always appreciated. The Japanese Translation of Romeo and Juliet. A story about misunderstandings, and lost love. She liked a lot of Shakespeare, but the most ‘basic’ of his stories still drew her back in. The tragedy of it resonated particularly well with her own experiences, though it was more, for her, as if Romeo had upon finding Juliet's so-called body been consumed not with grief enough to die, but grief enough to kill.

Maybe the former would have been better, but then again. She was glad, in spite of circumstance, to be here now- If only for the promise of what awaited her when those hated nobodies, and hated somebodies, knocked on her door.


	368. Reality 9: Desserts Witch

Location: Nanako’s Cabin In The Woods  
Date: September 11th, 2128  
Time: 1300 Hours

“**Nanako** oh my _God_ have you been **watching** these _Conquest Videos_!?” A woman with a deep voice- Similar to an uncanny degree to the narrator of the Monster Mash- Burst through the door into Nanako Hashizawa’s woodland cabin. Nanako was not currently present. Neither were the two guests who had shown up at the advent of the apocalypse, but the child who’d been sent to her was. And was holding a kitchen knife in this woman’s direction. “Oh, and who are you, dearie? And why, may I ask, are you brandishing a weapon towards me?”

“...You first,” Mika said.

“Oh, oh, of course, right. Silly moi~?” The woman lifted a hand and knocked on the side of her head. “The apocalypse. You would think I’m one of those creatures, wouldn’t you? Busting down your door this way. Promises, I’m not one of those! Though, that’s not to say I’m human either, ohoho. My name’s Greta Du Pont, though not of any notable Du Ponts, it’s a selected name for the airs. I’m sure you understand, you seem sensibly dark.”

Mika took a deep breath, then set the knife down. “I’m Mika Tsubasa. How did you get here…?”

“Don’t you know? When Nanako made the decision to move away from ‘society at large’, she made sure of one thing. Anybody who she wants to visit can always find her cabin!” Greta held up a finger. “Off the grid enough to avoid talk of her mother, but always able to reach out to her friends. What an admirable girl! Though, my hair color gave her pause the first time we met, we _are_ friends. Hence, my forthcoming to shout about current affairs. Are you aware?”

“We haven’t been watching it. We know about it…” Mika said, wrapping her arms around herself. “But, well. I managed to get away without being put on that VIP list, by being out here. I’m not going to subject myself to that.”

“Right, yes, yes. Tsubasa. That’s a familiar name, you know one of the participants. Well, how in the loop are you?”

“Not at all, except that it changed the way it works.”

“Well! Then that relative of yours, you should know. Made it through the Killing Game and is a part of the Zero Sum Game now. So, definitely alive! Isn’t that good news?”

“I feel like you’re prompting me to agree that’s good so that whatever you say next isn’t as bad.”

“That is precisely what I’m doing, Miss, you’re a clever one. See, the thing with these Conquest Video things is that they’re wholly exposing the past of each of the participants, one batch at a time. The current batch is for this darling girl, Katsue, I do so hope she’s doing alright. The comments made by those Extension-hosts seem to imply that she is, though, so that’s nice. But, I imagine…”

“My past’s going to be exposed because of this?” Mika asked, then sighed. “Well, to be completely honest, that might be a good thing in some ways. Obviously I don’t really want people knowing what happened, but at the same time… If it shows the objective truth, then I won’t need to impose on Miss Nanako any longer.”

"Impose?" Greta frowned and crossed her arms. "Oh, honey. Please put on your listening ears, did I not just tell you how Nanako's home works? If she didn't _want_ you here then you never would have been able to come here! Now I don't care how it is exactly that you came to be in her household or why, I'm sure as sunshine that she is not in any manner awaiting your departure!"

"The yakuza put me here as witness protection because the police in my hometown convinced federal law enforcement that I'm a serial killer. I can't see how I wouldn't be imposing on her by being here. She's just doing me a favor by keeping me safe. If my name gets cleared, then I can leave."

"And where, exactly, would you go?"

"I…" Mika looked away. "Er. I'll find a way to make it on my own, you know? I'm my own problem. Nobody else has to put up with me. At least, that's what I always thought I'd do, though, I'm not so sure where to begin. What with the apocalypse."

"Nanako's not about to let you go anywhere. And if she did, then you could just come stay with Mama Greta instead! You're a precious little thing." Greta reached out and patted the top of Mika's head. "I brought over some sweets to share. Some of them are still frozen, for later use, but would you like a cupcake?"

"You brought those for Miss Nanako, right?"

"Nanako and anybody who happens to be in her home. You certainly qualify."

"I… I think I'll wait till she's home."

"Suit yourself. Oh, in any case. Has she got any other guests? Stragglers of ragnarok come to rest in her gay little woodland home?" Greta pressed a finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "Little, I say, though it's more than large enough to entertain. It was little when we met! She's such a skilled craftswoman. She built me a sitting room addition to my own place, you know. Oh, I live about two miles thataway."

"There are two stragglers of ragnarok," Mika answered, her shoulders relaxing a bit. "A traveling samurai and their wife. They're very kind people. I'm learning how to cook a little better from the samurai, too."

"Samurai are well-known for their skills at cutting vegetables." Greta nodded sagely. "Look at you, with all these positive role models in your life now. Nanako, those two, myself of course."

"Are you?"

"Well, of course I'm a positive role model!"

"N-No, obviously!" Mika stepped back a bit. "I mean, the other part. In my life. We only just met, you know…"

"Mhm, yes, sure. We just met, you're a young girl, I'm a middle-aged woman with flair and gravitas who lost the opportunity to raise my own daughter in her time. It would shock everyone in the world if I didn't immediately proclaim myself to be another parent for you."

Mika brought her hands up to cover her face.

"Oh, dear, did I say something wrong?"

"N-No!" Mika answered, voice cracking from behind her hands. "It's just! I… For a long time, I didn't have any good parent at all. Not even one. It's kinda… The fact that anyone out there wants to even try to be a good influence in my life is pretty disorienting! And I'm _fifteen_ it's not like I'm a little kid anymore I should be able to handle myself, all of you are trying so hard to Mom me and I shouldn't need it but it's also very nice to have. Good Moms outweighing the bad one but I feel guilty all the same and I, I'm sorry!"

“Gosh, fifteen is far too young to feel as if you need to be an adult.” Greta took a step forward. “I can see it in your eyes, though. You… Darling, what _happened_ to you?”

“I was _forced_ to be an adult,” Mika answered, “Well before I was ready. Why that is, I mean. You’re watching those videos. You’ll see, there on the screen. The truth about what happened to us. The Tsubasas.”


	369. Stage Three, Day 17: Creature Of Lust

That morning, before returning to the ruin, the group pooled their resources together to see what they might be able to upgrade. There were several upgrades made, including to weapons and armor. Not a substantial amount of upgrading, necessarily, but it was something. They were probably equally as prepared for this boss as they’d been for Irarako’s, as opposed to where they would have been without taking the time to improve upon their equipment, that being most likely underprepared. This was still likely to be a close fight, but everyone had a bit more confidence from the leveling they _had_ been capable of.

With that, there was nothing to do but return to the ruin. There were a few enemies to be re-defeated, but nothing unusual appeared, and nobody was any worse for wear for the respawns. The shortcut back to the room before the boss room was easily accessible without trawling the entire ruin again, giving them the easiest route to a battle they’d seen yet. In no time at all, they stood before the Zanki Hatch, all eight of them, and activated it...

  


The survivors had, in some ways, expected what they saw here. In other ways, they absolutely didn’t. It wasn’t unsurprising to see that the Creature of Lust was all three of the creatures they’d seen up till now with that family resemblance. It was surprising to see that it was all three of them at once, combined into a single being. It was an amorphous mass, with no clear point of separate between them. On one side was the Kenta creature’s head and arm, fading into the cloak of the Karine creature, which made up a large chunk of its body.

Her arms and hair-covered face protruded from the bottom of the mass, dragging the entire thing along with those sticklike limbs as if it weighed no more than she had on her own. And, discordantly, just the Sachiko creature’s head appeared from the top of the cape, facing away for as long as the other parts faced toward the survivors. But those eyes on her ribbons still stared back. By far, she was the least contributing factor to the beast that they faced- Reasonably so. She hadn’t been a strong contributing factor to the situation that Katsue faced in that home either. But she had been there, and she was here now.

And just as with the previous bosses, this one didn’t give them a moment’s pause to process how atrocious it looked before they needed to focus in on dodging and avoiding its attacks. Specifically, an attack made via the cloak clione, which… Flexed and pulsed in a grotesque manner before, coming forth from the hot-pink veins, a viscous, sludgey fluid was hurled in their direction. The group scattered just in time, as the ground sizzled where the sludge landed, and it remained there in the way for the time being, bubbling against the ground. The glow of the clione’s veins was gone, gradually starting to return its color.

“It can only use that attack occasionally!” Shin observed, “And the pool it placed already will probably disappear when it’s able to do it again. Not to say that it won’t be able to attack in other ways, but… Make sure to avoid that part of the room.”

The room in question was an anachronism of the locations that they’d seen throughout the course of the ruin and the Conquest Videos. The floor was in some parts that warped wood of the docks, and in other parts, tatami mats. In a corner sectioned off by clinic curtains, there was the couch from the VIP room set across from the couch from the living room. The lights in the room belonged to Memento Mori, and there were scattered tables from the restaurant.

It was everything and everywhere at once, just like the boss itself. Because there was no single location in which Katsue’s ‘sin’ could be pinpointed. If her sin of lust was defined as the way that she hurt herself by going out to sleep around after being pushed back into the closet, then of course, that made sense. It wasn’t one moment, it was the culmination of her experiences and her reaction to them. The way that she’d destroyed herself, and the reason she’d been pushed into it.

The creature may have depleted its sludge-throwing attack, but that didn’t mean it was going to rest or let up at all. Its voice was both shrill and deep all at once- “_There’s such a thing as being too cute_!”

It swung its large fist out in the direction of the survivors, and while they mostly scattered away, Homura took the hit full-on to his body. Thanks to his bunking effect, it didn’t kill him quite yet, and he braced himself to avoid being knocked back, instead grabbing onto the fist and taking the moment while the creature was off-balance to reach up and crash the blade of his axe into the Sachiko head up at the top.

A discordant music-box chime sounded out from the creature, and it seemed to lose its color. The eyes disappeared from the bow. It was evident that the creature, then, could still _see_ them, but it would be possible to sneak up on it from behind without those roving eyeballs that had been proven capable of remaining trained on the survivors from any angle. Homura continued his tradition, all the same, of cleverly thinking of some monster part to break only to pay for that discovery with his life, as the Karine portion of the creature lifted its head and, while hard to see through the hair, bit into his leg.

He’d just barely held on after the first hit, so it wasn’t a surprise that he was the first of the party to find himself reduced to an X-Key, but at least the creature had already shown its hand, seemingly. It could punch, and bite, and throw sludge when it recharged. It wouldn’t be a surprise if this thing had something else it was hiding its capability toward, though, so the group wasn’t about to let their guard down or let Homura’s efforts go to waste.

“_You’re a thief…_” The Karine part of the creature hissed out, reaching out to drag itself in Katsue’s direction.

“Hey!” Yosuke stepped in front of her, his weapon at the ready. “Guys, I think that this creature… Unlike the other ones so far, it’s gonna try to target Katsue more than the rest of us. Because the people it’s based on _wanted_ to hurt her…”

“I think you’re right!” Katsue grimaced and took a step backwards. The previous creatures… Shouto couldn’t recognize the harm he was doing, and Rifa was lying in an attempt to _spare_ Irarako’s feelings. This amalgamation of Katsue’s family, meanwhile, had intention. Kenta and Karine had both made threats on her life in the past, and the determination of this monster reflected that fact.

Not to say that it wouldn’t bowl down anybody else who got in its way, though. Yosuke had hit the Karine creature square in the head as it tried to lunge at him, showing only a gaping leechlike maw of fangs through the mass of hair. Though knocking that attack back to the ground, he was unable to get out of the way when the massive fist collided with him. He didn’t waste the second he had, though, hitting the fist itself as it swung at him as well. So there was at least another attack from him landing before he turned to dust.

This wasn’t to say that so far, the creature had sustained only three hits. Irarako with the long reach of her piercing weapon, and Shin with the longer reach of a bow and its requisite arrows, had been chipping away at its defenses as well. Unfortunately for Shin, he’d overestimated his safety from his spot crouched atop the backrest of the couch in the corner.

Rather than try to catch several of the survivors in its AOE, the creature utilized its recharge of sludge to reposition the pool exactly where Shin was. He was unable to react well enough to get out of the way, and once the pool was positioned, there was no chance in hell that he’d be getting out of it. It took a few moments to drain his health entirely, it seemed, so it was good to know that one step in the stuff wouldn’t mean instant death- but his sustained standing certainly did. It was reassuring to see that his belongings just floated on top of the sludge unharmed, at least.

The creature let out an ear-splitting roar, and the survivors knew this fight was far from over.


	370. Stage Three, Day 17: My Monster

“Urgh!” Yume exclaimed, still stood at the ready with her bat. “Come on, come onnnn! I just wanna wail on this fucking thing, yanno? Why we gotta be playing keepaway with ourselves?”

“Find ways what to play keepaway with it instead, then!” Irarako offered, “Yer weapon’s ain’t so real range what mine is, for to hit-n-run, but hey! Maybe think somethin’ out?”

“I am my brother’s sister! You’re aware of this, right? I may not be as much of an _idiot_ but that doesn’t mean thinking is my strong suit either!” Yume griped, “I just wanna hit this thing!”

“Allow me to think on your behalf!” Saya exclaimed, then produced her clione. “Perhaps this would be our downfall, but you should be able to get some _substantial_ attacking done if I can tie up the creature’s attention!”

With that, she set about doing exactly as the said she would. Rather than using the clione arm to attack the thing directly, except for one slap across the Kenta half’s face to get its attention, she focused on utilizing it as a mobility aid, maneuvering herself around the creature as it tried with both of its close-range attacks to land a hit. Occasionally one would hit her, but Katsue used her own clione in response, healing Saya from the small amounts of damage she sustained from glancing attacks.

This couldn’t last forever, though. While Yume was able to wail on the monster quite a bit, along with some hits from Irarako and Syoko, this strategy was doomed to fail when the cape clione recharged its sludge attack. Of course the creature would be immune to its own AOE, so anything with any sense of strategy- And these boss creatures _did_ exhibit that, would know exactly what to do in that situation. It placed the pool of burning sludge right under itself, and it was just large enough to catch both Yume and Saya inside. They might have been able to escape from it before being killed, if not for the fact that it caught Saya just enough off-guard that the creature’s massive arm was able to wrap around her midsection and lift her, tossing her with force against her girlfriend.

They both fell over in the sludge pool, more of their bodies than before touching the substance for just a moment before they were killed- And then there were three. Syoko, Irarako, and Katsue remained against the boss.

Had it been anyone other than those three, this might have been the time at which retreat was suggested. As it was, none of them had any intention of leaving this room without killing the boss first. Irarako had insisted on defeating her own boss without retreat, Katsue was much too fired up, and Syoko had something to prove- Her earnestness in wanting to reconcile and work with Katsue, to be her friend for real, to understand her. An earnestness that cried out from somewhere deep within her soul.

Something that really, truly, belonged to _her_ and nobody else. This wish to comprehend. This expression of her admiration, her willingness, to lower herself. To stop being somebody ‘greater than’ just once and give way to somebody who’s been through so much, to be an accomplice to somebody else’s success instead of just plowing forward to her own.

Katsue could see this- She could see so much more now than she ever could before. She understood her past in a new light, and her current self carrying through. There were still thoughts she wasn’t ready to address, sure, but she had a much clearer picture of everything at this point. Her own feelings, and those of the people around her, too. She was ready to put this all behind her. To stop letting the shadow of her family follow her and change her actions and perceptions.

To defeat this monster which imitated them. To get out of here, and fix her relationships. With Yuji, with Sachiko. Whatever form those resolutions took, she knew she needed to. Even with Sachiko playing a part in this creature, Katsue didn’t hold anything against her. Not anymore. Not really. She did, at one point, and it was that perspective of a willfully ignorant onee-san who’d made promises she wouldn’t keep, that became this monster now.

But she didn’t know. Couldn’t have known. If their positions were reversed, it wasn’t as if ‘Hiyoko’ was a woman of action. She probably would have looked the other way too. She would have rathered believe nothing was happening than to be aware and have no idea what to do about it, if she could even help at all. But Katsue, she could do something now. She could kill the memories. Destroy her trauma and her past and illuminate- For _herself_, a brighter future.

Syoko grit her teeth, trying to attack despite the protective sludge pond. She stumbled into it on the downswing- Katsue reacted in an instant, using her healing clione to replenish Syoko’s health just enough for one more swing. Her sword cleaved right through the creature, turning it to dust and dispelling its sludge just quickly enough for Katsue to see it before her clione turned on her, killing her by wrapping around and squeezing her own midsection hard enough to split her in half.

Syoko and Irarako were the only ones left, but Katsue did see the defeat of her boss creature, which was the important part here. Syoko sighed, and picked up the small clione left behind in the boss’s wake, before turning to gather X-Keys and as many of the dropped items as she and Irarako could carry between them. With that done, she moved to the next room, where an Extend Machine waited.

\--

“Congratulations on your victory!” Eva exclaimed, “You’ve beaten the third ruin! Five more to go! I wonder whose will be next?”

“Now, now. The third ruin isn’t _quite_ finished,” Osiris said, “After all. We’ve yet to witness… The origin sin.”


	371. The Story Of Two Women

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Before this chapter, an Author's Note.**
> 
> There's no video this time, and there isn't going to be in the future, either. Less art probably too. For personal reasons, Game Over will be taking a break, and when it returns, I'm going to have it be less of a drain on my creative resources than it has been. The pacing will be changing. At the start of the next ruin, I'm going to list all the enemies and shigabane available, and start skipping over a lot of those kinds of details within the text in order to tell the story more quickly and in a way that I enjoy writing. You can expect to see, mainly, the _Conquest Videos_ and _Major Story Beats_ between them, but not so much the nitty-gritty of ruin exploration. This hiatus is going to begin on December 9th, after a couple more chapters to square out Stage Three. It will break to post a special side story on December 25th, then resume posting for real sometime in January 2021. With that said, please enjoy the chapter!

“You might be thinking,” Osiris said, “That any story I tell you couldn’t possibly explain how these events came to pass. And, well, let’s see. There’s no story which could excuse it, and there is no one storyt which could explain it, either. But there are two. Why don’t I tell you both? We have here, the story… Of two women.”

\--

Karine hadn’t always been Karine Ryuunosuke, as much as she might claim that she had. In future years, she would pretend as if the Ryuunosuke name had always been hers, but her maiden name had been something else. She grew up with money, but not political power. Her family made their money in a quiet industry, and they never bothered to flaunt their wealth or to connect with anyone outside of the friends they’d made in college. When her parents died, Karine was in university herself. She inherited their entire fortune, which was plenty to live comfortably on, but not such a massive fortune that it could never be lost. With that in mind, Karine had a new resolve to position herself such that she _would_ never lose it.

She wanted to live the high life. She wanted to make connections the way her parents never had. Most of all, Karine Ryuunosuke desired to build for herself a perfect life, in her eyes. A glamorous experience. Political power, wealth, and love to last a lifetime. These were her desires. The third one actually struck her as the most difficult to find. All her life, she’d been well aware of her own beauty. Men and women alike fell over themselves for her, something she wasn’t so fond of in the latter part.

It wasn’t as if she was _homophobic_, she rationalized. She just didn’t like being ogled by women personally, when she was on the hunt for a husband. Not to say any of the men who ogled her were husband material either. The trouble, Karine found, was that she could acquire an army of _simps_, but none suited to become her _thrall_. That is, until she met one Grimsley Ryuunosuke.

They were both in a class on classic literature. For Karine, it was a requirement for her degree, but she’d later learn that Grimsley just took the class because he wanted to. He’d received a full ride scholarship for academic excellence at his high school, and he was going for a degree in culinary science. Classic Lit was not necessary for that, but he’d found cheaper alternatives to enough of his other class materials that he could afford this one ‘out of pocket’ with excess scholarship money.

The Ryuunosukes were a remarkably political family, and more or less the reverse of Karine’s own family. In each generation for at least two centuries, there had been a Ryuunosuke somewhere in the federal government, but they were currently in a state of ‘temporary disgrace’. Grimsley’s mother had been a recent Diet Member who was ousted in favor of a young man, an ‘Ultimate Supreme Leader’ who was working with the Future Foundation. Her personal disdain for that foundation snowballed with the loss of her seat to a member of that party, and her political career was over. Her husband was never competent at those things, and her son was too young to become politically active without an Ultimate Title to allow him to bypass such requirements, so the Ryuunosuke family began the task of living on their savings and a much smaller income than before.

No, they were never _broke_, but for a family of that renown, they may as well have been. They had to sell their summer cabin, and couldn’t afford to send Grimsley to a prestigious university themselves. His academic excellence, then, was a blessing upon them that he could still get an education befitting a Ryuunosuke. The degree he wanted wasn’t exactly a political one, but his parents had no intention of stifling him. If what he wanted to study was culinary science, then of course he would. He also, however, was interested enough in classic literature to end up in the class with Karine, who _was_ going for a degree in political history.

There were a few things which drew Karine to Grimsley. His last name, certainly, but that wasn’t the only thing. He wore elaborate outfits to class most days, waistcoats with lace at the edges, usually in black and red. His hair, similarly, was black at the bangs and faded to white in the back. Karine would later learn this was a common genetic trait in his line, though most would dye the early-white to match their usual hair color, he personally embraced it. And of course, there was the matter that he didn’t stare at her, or even really look her way.

At first, she’d griped at herself for having a crush on somebody who was for all intents and purposes so obviously a _gay_ man. Again, she wasn’t the sort of person to consider herself openly bigoted, so her personal dislike for gay people came more in the form of thoughts like ‘why must all the good men be homosexual’. So imagine her surprise when she witnessed him asking out a girl. And imagine her glee when he was rejected by her, giving Karine a free path to begin wooing him herself.

One thing led to another. Their courtship isn’t something which actually matters much to the story at hand, what you need to know is that Karine approached Grimsley, and over time, found herself falling absolutely in love. He was a quiet man, with a deep voice somewhere between ‘intentionally spooky’ and ‘warmly inviting’. And though he was quiet, and restrained, he could be quite melodramatic. The two of them got on splendidly. She proposed to him in a straightforward way, passing over an envelope with an essay on why it would be beneficial for them both, along with a ring. He found this hilariously charming, and they were married with his parents’ strong blessing.

Karine, after all, could continue on the Ryuunosuke political tradition herself, leaving Grimsley to pursue his dreams. They were married in an elaborate ceremony that Karine paid for herself, as she’d already started to see returns on some of the money she’d invested from her initial fortune. She was a very responsible young woman, after all.

She was not a very responsible wife, however. Things began perfectly fine between the two of them, a loving marriage with a daughter who they both cared for very much. Sachiko Ryuunosuke, an impressive child that had her mother’s hair and her father’s eyes, though it was likely that part of her hair would go a paler shade when she got older. That was all well and good, but Karine was a strange person with strange particularities.

She had what one might call a _greed_. You’d think she could be envious, but the root of it was never coveting what others had, or worrying that what she had could leave her for something else. She was merely greedy, wishing to hold onto and keep what she did have all to herself. Who she had. So she would test Grimsley, time and time again. Throwing tearful tantrums, accusing him of cheating and begging him to just confess already. She was certain that had he actually cheated on her, he would be far too moved, far too uncomfortable by her emotional display to continue hiding it. This was how she made sure that Grimsley was still hers, and only hers.

Sometimes she would even make a stink about breaking up, going as far as to dial the numbers for divorce lawyers and hang up, leaving the record open on her phone on the coffee table. Every time, though, he came back, whether he begged her to let him back into the house or she told him that she reconsidered and just missed him so much. She would never actually break up with him, though. He was the love of her life. Till death do they part- And she was open about this fact, everywhere. Their love, despite everything, was so water tight that the only way this vampiric power couple could ever be parted was by the death of one or the other. So she thought, anyway. So she thought.

But there are some tantrums which drive a wedge too deep, she would discover, for any sense of recovery. When she was the one who would need to get down on her knees and beg, but it would be meaningless. Because-

She said such awful things, the day that Greta told her the truth. When she was informed, out of the blue, that her supposed husband was actually her wife, after all. The man, she thought, who was her entire heart- But not enough of her heart to transcend gender, was it? Well, frankly. It was, and that horrified her. She was still so in love with the person in front of her, who claimed not to be Grimsley. Somebody who stood for things which she- Never would have admitted aloud, but she found disgusting. It wasn’t a good look to remain homophobic and transphobic in this day and age, so she’d deny it, most of the time. But she didn’t deny it when she shouted at her spouse.

_Why would you do this to me??_

I’m not comfortable repeating any of the other things which she said, but know that they were openly cruel. Blaming somebody for being who they are, is not a pleasant thing under any circumstance. Fueled by the intense denial of continued attraction, it’s worse. Karine only liked men, she thought. Therefore, her spouse’s gender identity was impossible. She couldn’t love a woman, so the person stood in front of her, who she still loved, could never be a woman.

Days after the incident, she called for her husband to return. Greta stayed away. Days later, she called for her wife. Nothing. She began to beg and plead and apologize, and say that she could live with it just as long as she wasn’t left alone, as long as she could keep the love of her life. Greta, good for her, did answer, but didn’t go back. She never went back. The pair of them were divorced, under a few conditions.

Karine would give up all of her cash assets to Greta and her parents, but she would keep the house, their daughter, and the political weight of their last name. She would also tell anyone who asked that Grimsley Ryuunosuke had tragically died. Greta wasn’t sure about this arrangement, but after speaking with her parents, she agreed. Using the money, she purchased back their summer cabin and decided to live there. She and her parents changed their last name to ‘Du Pont’, forfeiting ‘Ryuunosuke’ to Karine and Sachiko. The money was enough to let them live out the rest of their lives comfortably, and indulge whatever they wished to do free from the yoke of politics.

Greta would only ever regret that she had to leave her daughter behind, and that she wasn’t there to warn whoever Karine married next, that he was getting in bed with a greedy bigot.

Not knowing that the man Karine would bleed for support to herself and her daughter would deserve somebody like her anyway.

\--

Fumie Sato was never a very happy woman. And before she’d come out, she hadn’t given the impression of a happy man, either, much to the disdain of her older brother. That brother seemed perfect, a lot of the time. His friends were good influences, he worked hard at his job, and he was engaged to a woman who was also lovely. As far as the Satos were concerned, there was a clear difference between their two children. One was a son with a promising, normal future. The other was a daughter living in a dead-end life. They never treated her badly or as if she weren’t their daughter, but their opinions were still clear and evident, and that wasn’t really good for Fumie.

What didn’t help was her older brother’s behavior towards her. He didn’t disrespect her identity, either, but he’d always bullied her, even when they were young. If he got frustrated or annoyed, whether it was with her or with something else entirely, he’d take it out physically. Never much all at once, but little bits pretty often. One bruise at a time wasn’t anything to raise alarm- If on Monday he gripped her arm too tight and left a mark, then Tuesday he would kick her in the shin. Enough that she flinched when he was around, but not enough that she would really consider it a problem.

Besides, at least she wasn’t completely a NEET. She did have a job, though it wasn’t as regular as her brother’s. She worked in the lunchtime cafe of an office building as a substitute- When the usual employee called out or needed the day off, she’d be called in to work for four hours. Not much, but it put some money in her pocket. Half of it went to her parents for living expenses, and half of it stayed with her to fund things like her transition and wardrobe. She didn’t _mind_ being NEET-Adjacent, though she did wish her brother would just get married and move out already.

He was twenty-three, to her even twenty. Some of the businessmen were surprised at her age in one direction or the other. Some thought she was too young to be working in the cafeteria, since the usual employee was a retiree who just did it to keep busy. Others were shocked that she was old enough to drink when they found out, saying that she ought to be working behind a desk in this building at her age, not ringing up pre-wrapped sandwiches. She’d laugh and say that she preferred this kind of work, and left out the fact that she didn’t actually have the high school diploma that office work like this tended to _at minimum_ required.

For those who are having trouble keeping up, I’m going to take a moment to clarify. This is a tale of two women. The first being Greta, and the second being Fumie. If Greta explained the path that Karine would eventually walk, then, I’m sure you can imagine the influence of Fumie Sato being on one Kenta Nageko. Interesting coincidence, isn’t it? That Yuji Sato’s Aunt and Katsue Nageko’s father would have a connection. But let’s get back to that.

Fumie first met Kenta on one of these shifts, because this was the office building where he worked as a usual salaryman. Specifically, his job was to data-mine spreadsheets for niche demographics, to analyze data which was often overlooked. Most of the employees here did that sort of thing, the business contracting its marketing services out to other companies. If a company marketed specifically to women over thirty, but an odd number of men under eighteen were also purchasing the product, that could be useful information if determined and cross-analyzed to determine why, and if that demographic could be expanded.

He didn’t say much to her the first few times they met, but eventually, the two of them got to talking. Oddly enough, Kenta seemed more keen to speak to her after the first time she got up the nerve to wear a wristband with the colors of the trans flag on it. She’d decided that being a NEET was not so much her style anymore, and that this could be a good, subtle way to connect with other queer people. When Kenta displayed that interest, she’d asked him if he was- No, he was cishet, but he really admired the community.

If Fumie had already been more in tune with her own community, she might have been able to recognize his actions as something less than innocent. But they were the same age, and he was such a nervous man, clearly overcoming a massive wall of anxiety to express his interest in her. Maybe it was just her own need to feel like somebody thought she was more than a nobody, the way no one in her family did, that let her fall in with a chaser. In some ways, even when she began to realize, that didn’t matter to her.

If this man was specifically attracted to trans women, if he fetishized her body, then at least he was still adoring her, thought that she had worth. If all he liked about her was the fact that she was transgender, that was better than having nothing about her liked at all. They didn’t share any hobbies- He liked quieter activities, comic books, mobile games. She preferred, if she did do anything at all, to make that something big. She was particularly fond of rock-climbing and escape rooms, though the latter were hard to do alone. She couldn’t get Kenta to join her for one, but that was okay. That was okay, right?

Kenta didn’t really want to go out on dates in public. Even though he hadn’t even been able to tell she was transgender until she decided to actively indicate it, he was still somehow ashamed to be seen with her. Maybe it had nothing to do with that, and was just because she was such a nobody. He was a salaryman, while she was a nobody. Even if he could make her feel like more than a nobody, that didn’t mean she wasn’t one. She didn’t have an understanding, of his pathetic nature. Of the hatred he felt towards himself for his fetish, of the way that he considered his attraction to ‘dickgirls’ disgusting and unwanted. He greedily wanted fulfillment without any trade-off.

He became rougher with her, over time. Taking out more of his annoyance at himself, on her. As for what eventually happened, well, I’m actually not sure. There are three possibilities, and they all seem equally likely.

When discussing the murder of Fumie Sato, some people believe that it was her brother. He was known to beat her, after all, and she had been beaten to death in her own room. Some thought it had to be Kenta, even though he appeared to have an alibi at the time, it’s an alibi which has yet to be verified from any primary sources. The third option people think, is that Kenta’s friends found out about his relationship, and their personalities were the source of his shame. Being those sorts of people, attacking Fumie wouldn’t be out of the question for them. In any case, it’s clear that whoever committed the murder…

It _was_ an accident, to kill her. Not necessarily to hurt her, but the death was unintentional.

It was certainly this incident which would lead Fumie’s brother to eventually tell his son, that transgender women were doomed to die young and were not marriageable.

And it was certainly this incident which left Kenta desperate enough to bury his feelings that he would become a puppet for Karine Ryuunosuke, until the time at which his shame was brought back to the forefront by his own daughter’s identity.

So, frankly, I don’t know why either of them were like this. As you can see by the stories I’ve told, by the time anything of relation to Katsue’s Conquest Videos occurred in their lives, they already had the thoughts and opinions that they’d cruelly display to their own flesh and blood in the future. Maybe they were just bad from the beginning. Sometimes, there are people who never had a chance at being good. These people will always be born. No matter what, some humans just won’t have any moral compass, and live only for their own, greedy desires, without care for anyone else as they just take and covet.

Can there be any brighter future in which these people exist?


	372. Reality 10: Mama's Girl

Sachiko Ryuunosuke was a girl who’d lived passively for as long as she could remember. She let things happen. She let things happen to her. She let things happen to people around her. She didn’t put in an effort. She didn’t stand up and try. She just waited while events occurred. It wasn’t something that struck her as unpleasant or unusual. This was just a way to live life, wasn’t it? Nothing could go too terribly wrong if she just let things happen the way they were meant to. Trying to make a change could just lead to making a mistake.

Even her own goals, she was passive about. She wrote so many, many songs, and sung them to herself. But she couldn’t play any instruments. She could learn one herself, but that somehow felt wrong. So did seeking anybody else to play one for her. Her younger sister had always- Always insisted, that she would play guitar for Sachiko. Insisted as if Sachiko would never be forgiven if she ever invited anybody else, or learned to play herself. To deprive Katsue of that which she’d begged for a child seemed wrong, entirely wrong.

But Sachiko had been mistaken, she was coming to understand as she stared at a television screen in a room alone. She’d refused to be in the same room as either of her parents when it became clear that these Conquest Videos belonged to Katsue. She didn’t want to see their reactions. She didn’t want to hear whatever they were going to say for themselves. Any rationalization, any apology, any indignance. None of it. Sachiko was tired of them. She was just… Tired. The more she realized they’d lied to her face and she’d accepted it in her passive worldview. The more that she came to understand that under her nose, her precious younger sister was being utterly destroyed without hope of recourse or escape.

She wanted nothing to do with this. She’d already snapped once, shouting about how Kenta was on the VIP list and she wasn’t. That he was invited to know where Katsue was, and if she was alive, when he was the one who’d nearly killed her a few months ago. This was before she even knew the full extent of what he’d done to her. Unlike Katsue, who had needed to take time and a lot of thought to recognize that the monsters which had overtaken her parents were one and the same, and that she had no part in causing that.

Sachiko knew she had no part in causing this. Any guilt she felt was guilt for not opening her eyes and stopping it, for being passive enough that she alienated someone she loved very much. She could have put her foot down with Karine at any time, she could have. Her mother was doting and loving to her. She was, to a narcissist mother, the child who could do no wrong and if she really insisted on Katsue’s identity, then she eventually would have either convinced Karine, or alienated herself enough that she had no choice but to give the title of preferred child to Katsue. Either would have accomplished something, which was better than the nothing which Sachiko had contributed for the past two years.

Sachiko had, upon seeing the Conquest Videos, completely shifted her perspective. There was no affection left in her heart at all for them, in an instant, they had turned from ‘her family’ to ‘those people’. Things which had seemed slightly suspect or unusual at the time were cast in an entirely different light that, from Sachiko’s perspective, left absolutely no room for forgiveness. She’d made up her mind during the third Conquest Video, and locked herself away. Now it was over. She saw her own part in the events, and knew that she couldn’t just hide from this. She took a deep breath, from the blank television, and stood.

Turning toward the door, she opened it, and stepped out. The house was quiet, which was strange. It was rarely quiet in this place, this halfway home. She hadn’t felt in danger here at all, though. She knew that her father was by far the worst person being housed in this place, because she personally knew the decision process which usually led people to living here. Having a mother on the council did give Sachiko an intimate understanding of the goings-on about town. Though, not entirely. Evidently, there was a concentrated effort to keep her out of the loop on certain things. Evidently, her _loving mother_ didn’t trust her daughter to still care about her if she knew the full truth.

And, rightly so. Because she didn’t. Sachiko didn’t trust, or even, in this moment, love Karine. She had not been personally wronged, some would say. She’d been raised well by a loving family, so what did it matter if her younger sister was abused? It mattered to her, very much. It mattered that she let it happen. It mattered that she was lied to about it. It mattered that people who supposedly loved her would hurt somebody she loved, so much, so terribly much.

The two of them were in the same room. Sachiko approached. “Good to see you two can stand to be near each other. I can’t really stand to be around either of you. But I wanted to do you the simple courtesy of keeping you _in the loop_ about that fact.”

“Dear, do you seriously _believe_ those things?” Karine asked, getting to her feet from the couch she currently sat on. “It’s slander, plain and simp-” 

“It’s not. I was there, I just didn’t know. I didn’t see it. But everything else- All of the details I _did_ know, they’re completely correct. Don’t you think if it were a lie, something there would be wrong? I believe the videos. In fact, I’m not even surprised. Everything makes a lot more sense now. Your excuse for the divorce… How’d I ever buy that?”

“Because it’s not an excuse, it’s the truth,” Karine said, “And you know me so well, dear. You’re being misled by a very convincing libel. Ryota was just a problem child. I mean, honestly, look at yourself. The both of us only ever cared for you with all our hearts. And truly, look at us now! With your misbehaving little brother out of the way, we’re getting along just fine again. So? What do you think is more likely? Some random video project by people who claim to be enemies of the world are turning you against your good parents, in favor of a rotten child? Or I told you the truth?”

“I’m not going to be manipulated into believing you again. _Katsue_ was never the problem. You were. She’s my sister, and she needs somebody on her side. You? I just don’t care anymore. So, don’t look for me. Until we’re let out of this place, I’ll be doing my best not to see you around.”

Kenta said nothing. Karine said nothing further.

Sachiko left the room, one of the only people in history to blatantly shut down Karine’s attempts at manipulation. Of course she would be. She was trained to be the next big Ryuunosuke. She was trained to do exactly the same thing.

But she wouldn’t passively become anything like her mother.

...Not _this_ one, anyway.

She should probably find a way to get in touch with the other.


	373. Stage Three, Day 17: I'm A Ruin

Homura Shinku _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Lust:** Reduced Damage from Lust-Based enemies.  
**Death by Clione Fangs:** Reduced Damage from Fangs.

Katsue Nageko _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Rebellious Clione:** Clione Will Rebel Less Often.

Yosuke Oowada _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Lust:** Reduced Damage from Lust-Based enemies.  
**Death by Uncontrollable Fist:** Reduced Damage from Punches.

Shin Tsubasa _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Lust:** Reduced Damage from Lust-Based enemies.  
**Death by Burning Sludge:** Reduced Damage from Sludge Attacks.

Yume Mirai _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Lust:** Reduced Damage from Lust-Based enemies.  
**Death by Burning Sludge:** Reduced Damage from Sludge Attacks.

Saya Yoshiro _Shigabane Unlocked!_

**Death by Creature of Lust:** Reduced Damage from Lust-Based enemies.  
**Death by Burning Sludge:** Reduced Damage from Sludge Attacks.

“That was awfully close,” Syoko said, reaching out to give a light ‘bonk’ to Katsue’s head. “Really. You could have just run instead of healing me…”

“We don’t know if the bosses regenerate health between encounters,” Katsue said, “I didn’t want to risk it. By putting you back at full health, I knew you’d be able to sustain one hit and still run, so I wasn’t too worried about getting wiped. Irarako was still alive too, just in case.”

“That’s a risky strategy!” Homura said, “But, well, I can’t really talk, since I got killed first.”

“Still,” Shin said, “We were definitely still underprepared. We’ll have to keep an eye out for materials a bit better during whichever ruin is next. That’s going to be tomorrow, so… I think we should just head to sleep.”

“Me an’ Syoko gotta eat somethin’,” Irarako said, “Cause we weren’t stended. Y’all get free full bellies.”

“We certainly do.” Shin nodded, then started to walk toward the dorms. “But I _am_ still exhausted, so I’ll be heading straight to sleep.”

“Sleep well. I think I’ll do the same,” Katsue said, then twisted around a bit to look at her own outfiit. “I quite like my own new look, though.”

That new look was mostly in her hairstyle- It was much longer than before. She also had a different outfit, a somewhat more elaborate dress that still seemed like she could move around without being inhibited. These ‘visual improvements’ seemed to factor in their location pretty well, matching what the survivor’s sense of style was while still ensuring that the ruins could be navigated and enemies fought without attire getting in the way.

Generally, though, there wasn’t much that folks were up to after that tense battle against the creature of lust, and given they’d need to be right back at it in the morning, it was no surprise that everyone was preoccupied with getting rest, over staying up to talk about anything. Well, almost everyone, that is. Yosuke wandered off to a clear area to do some stretches before heading to sleep, since extending always left him feeling a bit stiff. Then, he noticed Syoko walk past the area where he was.

He approached her, concerned. “Hey, Syoko. Where’re you headed? You and Irarako probably need some rest even more than the rest of us.”

“I don’t know,” Syoko said, “I think I was hoping I could see when the new ruin gets here. I’m worried that it might be mine.”

“You think so?” Yosuke asked.

“Well… I mean.” She shrugged. “I guess I don’t have any real reason to suspect that I’ll be next in line, but at the same time, don’t you think it’s about time that we find out more about Dome City? It seems obvious to me that Osiris wants to show that things are awful on both planets. He expresses disdain for both, and we’ve got these split origins to be here. So I suppose, that I just think… It has to be one of us next.”

“That makes sense. And with all the shit Katsue’s been saying to you about your past lately, that’s got you primed to expect you’re next on the chopping block, huh?”

“It’s probably self-centered of me to assume that the thing I fear most will happen next…” Syoko sighed and shook her head. “I wish the next one were yours. You’re curious to see what’s in it, aren’t you? That would be better for both of us.”

“Maybe it will be, and, yeah. It’ll probably hurt, but I’m tired of not knowing.” Yosuke took a few steps to stand next to her. “But, well. There’s also the possibility of it being the… Incident, right? The one neither of us remember happening, instead of anything specific to our pasts.”

“I can’t help but feel like that’s going to stay out of reach for us for a while yet,” Syoko admitted, “It’s strange, to think about. An incident that we weren’t allowed to remember. See, I recall when Koyuki Doromo died, that was an incident. Ruka, Ayano, and Jun must have kept their involvement secret quite well. It was an incident when Dawson Packard killed himself, which, supposedly, Ruka was involved with too. And of course, my personal incident.”

“I know that what I forgot about myself is old,” Yosuke said, “I don’t remember because I was young, not because of brain-tampering or whatever. I’m pretty sure of that.”

“Yeah. Say, are you going to be okay? With my ruin?”

“What about it?”

“This is going to be… A story about Kaneki,” Syoko said, “And what happened back then. You’re aware of that, aren’t you? Are you really okay with seeing that? With witnessing again, with clarity, the way that you treated him at that time?”

“Does it matter if I’ll be okay? It’s your ruin, everything in there’s going to hurt you more than it could possibly hurt me.” Yosuke crossed his arms and looked away. “I was thirteen, and I was shitty. I know that, and I’m gonna cringe to see it all over again. But, your opinion’s most important to me of anybody here, and I already know you forgave me for that. Come to think of it, I… You came to me and you told me, that because of me and my friends, Kaneki had to transfer to a different school and didn’t want to talk to you again. And I just started crying. I’m older than you, it was really embarrassing to just bawl in the hallway full-out like that. But I still don’t quite…”

“I don’t either,” Syoko said, “I don’t have any idea, now, what you said to me then. I don’t think that was removed, I think we just both had too much on our minds to remember the details. You’d think I should remember that kind of thing forever. What you could have possibly said to me, a single sentence that turned my opinion around completely… From hating you and everything you stood for, to telling you that I’d make sure you were safe.”

“We were probably closer friends,” Yosuke said, “Than we can remember right now. After that. I woke up here and I thought I was just, jealous of you for being able to express yourself, and being so good at everything. I didn’t remember any of that. Even that moment, about Kaneki, until now… I’m not sure I realized that was a conversation I had with _you_.”

“You’re right. I think you’re right. You and I were friends that entire time, weren’t we? Now that you’ve said it, I’m sure of it. But I can’t recall any of the time I spent with you. I don’t understand. Dome City was supposed to be a place for peace and happiness. What kind of friendship between teenagers could have threatened that so badly, that they thought it would be better if they stole that from us? Taking away the time we spent, and the way we cared about each other…”

“Something happened that they didn’t want to happen,” Yosuke said, “And that’s it, right? We were all friends. You and me, and Ruka, Ayano, Jun.”

“I have no idea what happened,” Syoko said, “But I think I remember what they asked me, you know? I think I can. I think they said, Syoko. You will not remember the victim at all. Between those of you who do and do not wish to remember being friends with ‘Barasu’ will be split. You’ll keep your memories of anyone on your side of the split, sans anything directly related to this incident. The opposite side will become ‘acquaintances’ for you. You will remember they exist, but not that you were ever friends. Is this agreeable to you?”

“And what do you think happened after that?” Yosuke asked.

“I think they lied to us. I think that side got to remember their connections to each other. But you and I took the other option. And when we forgot about being friends with Jun, for some reason, they wouldn’t let us remember each other either.”

“What possible incident could have led us to agree to forget about Jun?”

“I don’t know. We forgot about that Jun. So for all we know, the one we grew to love in this game, was nothing like the version of him which existed when we made that decision. Maybe we’ll find out the truth. Maybe not.”

Syoko sighed, and walked away from Yosuke before he could answer again. Dome City, her home. And her enemy, more than she felt Evangeline or Osiris even were, at this point. She was confident in her theory. One side of the ‘split’ was allowed to remain friends, the other side was severed from each other. The number of things she’d had stolen- The connections she had lost, and the grief she’d been denied. These emotions and expectations she’d planted firmly in her heart, all because of them. For the sake of hiding a crime, not from the authorities, but from the public at large.

A ‘perfect place’ is just a place which hides its imperfections.

_The same is true anywhere you go. And a perfect person, that’s somebody… Who hides something even worse. I wonder. Will ‘myself’ finally see the light? Or is my facade so strong, that the lie will be ‘confirmed’?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it folks, the end of Stage Three.
> 
> The bonus chapter 'Joy To The World' will be releasing on December 25th, and Stage Four will begin in its adapted form sometime in January. Thanks for reading, and see you soon!


	374. Joy To The World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, one extra little chapter to tide you through the hiatus.

“Your credentials _are_ very good,” Daichi said, “But aren’t you a little young to be applying for work here at DIYEAR? While we’re used to hiring Ultimates, you…”

“Yes, I did receive my Ultimate Title quite early in life.” A girl named Wren shifted in her seat. She was only thirteen years old, but she was sitting for an interview at DIYEAR Labs, one of the leading development facilities in the world. “But I assure you, my history is accurate. I became the Ultimate Biologist when I was eight, then worked as a Future Foundation researcher until age ten. I was offered a position there once it’s back up and running, but I don’t want to take it. That organization…”

“Yes, yes, I understand completely!” Daichi Terashima crossed his arms with a sage nod. “It would be difficult enough for an adult to go back to work at the same company after something like that, let alone a child like yourself. A shame what happened there, really. Some of the best scientific minds of our generation! Doctor Tenjou’s a particularly powerful loss, though I’m glad that yours was one of the genius brains which made it through that ordeal!”

“Ahh… Yes, he was. Quite intelligent.” Wren looked away. “I’m not even sure if anyone else has the kind of cross-field knowledge to pick up his research. I suppose it may be lost to time.”

“You’re very articulate for your age, Wren.”

“I should be. I’m supposed to be this super-genius, right? I have to project an image which supports that. Many people have said that my mental age is more like that of a thirty-year-old.”

“You do strike me as very mature, yes. Now, let’s have another look at your files…” Daichi shuffled through the papers, then frowned. “You have a maiden name listed?”

“Yes, I’m married,” Wren said, “It was approved by a court. I told you that I’m mature. That won’t be a problem, right?”

“No, no! If anything, I’m disappointed myself that you’re spoken for!” Daichi burst out into a laugh, while Wren just sat there silently. When he quieted himself, he set the papers down and shifted in his seat. “Well, far as I’m concerned, you’re hired. There’s no reason not to bring you on. I’m curious, though. If you’re applying here, then what’s your husband up to?”

“He’s gone back to his roots. After what happened, he’s done working on a research team. He’s traveling again, even more than before. Now that the world is, um… Like this, you know? He wants to make sure that children in underserved areas are still getting their vaccinations. Despair Fever is plenty of a pandemic to go around, he says, we don’t need a resurgence of measles too.”

“That’s very admirable of him, and in a way, he’s still supporting you and your work. After all, being a biologist, the development of a vaccine for despair fever will be one of the projects here at DIYEAR that you’re qualified to contribute to.”

“It’s not the number one priority?”

“No, no, not at all,” Daichi said, “Not everyone here is qualified for that, for one thing. For another, our main project is actually something which might be able to help _cure_ Despair Fever. See, my pet project, recreation of human cells, is coming to the forefront. Projections say it would take another forty or fifty years before it’s in a workable state, but through human cloning, we may be able to wipe out certain diseases and injuries from a body completely.”

“Oh my. That’s very ambitious, Doctor Terashima,” Wren said, “I’d be honored to be a part of it!”

And for the first time in that interview, she smiled. A soft and radiant smile, enabled not by any happiness, but by absolute denial. Because Wren Kobayashi wasn’t happy, not in any way imaginable. But she didn’t know what else to do.

\--

Wren had been working with DIYEAR Labs for about twenty years when the next interesting employees were hired. It wasn’t that she disliked the people she worked with, but she didn’t bother socializing much. In that time, many things in her life had changed. She’d left her husband finally, only for her daughter to leave home less than a year later, seeking fame and fortune under the tutelage of an Ultimate Talent Manager. Wren didn’t like him, but she’d already lost her chance at protecting her daughter by staying with her husband as long as she had.

She never claimed to be a good parent, she didn’t consider herself one at all. She didn’t consider herself much of anything. She’d confronted her issues only in as much as that enabled her to understand that she ought to get out of her marriage, to stop the abuse her daughter was enduring. The abuse she endured, that was normal. She could hardly remember a time when she wasn’t with Ryuuto, so she’d grown used to it. She was still used to it. She wore her ring, still, and now that her daughter had left…

If Ryuuto were to come looking for her, she’d go back with him. That’s why she didn’t go back to her maiden name, either. She wasn’t sure how to exist as an individual, outside of him. Her friends before had been his friends, she didn’t talk to her coworkers much, this was it. When she was thirty-four, she was barely alive at all.

Yet, somehow, a new employee at DIYEAR decided to talk to her.

“Hey!” Evangeline Carroll, fresh-faced Ultimate Cyberbiologist, popped up at Wren’s side while she was busy with a centrifuge. “Doctor Kobayashi, right?”

“That’s my ex-husband. You can call me Wren, if you must.”

“Okay, Doctor Wren,” Eva said.

“Huh?” Another employee raised her head from across the room.

“Oh, jeeze, huh!” Evangeline pressed her hands together. “We’ve got ‘Wren’ and we’ve got ‘Rin’. That’d get awful confusing, dontcha think??”

“I suppose,” Wren said, “Or you could never speak to me, and there would be no problem.”

“But I _wannnaaaa_ speak to you. You seem cool!” Eva reached out and poked at Wren’s cheek. “And your skin is super nice! Oh, whoopsie, that sounds weird, right? But it is.”

“It very well should be. I take good care of it.” Wren shut her eyes and sighed. “I can send you my skincare routine, if that’s what you’re getting at. You don’t need to ‘befriend me for my secrets’ or anything like that. I’m frankly, uninterested in getting along with you, or anybody.”

“Wow, that’s cold. Ice cold. Coldy _freeze_. Lucky for you, I love the cold!” Evangeline drew back and clapped her hands together. “Winter is the very best season! There’s the greatest of holidays in it. New Year’s Eve. Valentine’s Day. And of course, Christmas!”

“I don’t celebrate any of those. Well, that’s a lie. I do enjoy Christmas Cake.”

“I’m learning so much about you!” Eva threw her arms up toward the ceiling. “Water cooler chat? Passe. Centrifuge chat is where it’s at. Like, anyway, do you wanna come celebrate with me on any of the above holidays?”

“I do hope the inclusion of valentine’s day isn’t implying that you want to take me on a date. To be fully honest with you, I’m still too hung up on my ex.”

“Awe, he left you?”

“I left him for the sake of our daughter. It was a very difficult decision.”

“Oh. Well, it wasn’t gonna be a date anyway, but I guess that’s your answer, huh? Unlessss I can find you a good babysitter? Hey! Doccy Rin!”

“No,” Rin answered without looking up from her computer this time.

“I don’t see why I’d need a babysitter, she’s twenty-two and hasn’t lived with me since she was sixteen.”

“H...uh?” Evangeline blinked. “Is your skincare routine really _that_ good? I thought you were like, thirty!”

“It is that good, but also, I am like thirty. Thirty-three to be precise.”

“Oh.” After Eva’s reaction, a sharp silence hung in the air for a solid minute before she spoke again, her voice the most quiet it had yet been. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Why? I don’t understand you.” Wren squinted, adjusted her glasses, then picked her samples from her centrifuge.

It was that day, that Evangeline decided she wouldn’t stop until Wren Kobayashi became her friend; And of course, she didn’t. That Christmas, and every subsequent one, they’d spend together. Despite Eva’s enthusiasm for the holiday, they’d spend it simply, calmly. It was what she wanted. They’d eat a hearty meal, and watch movies, and get drunk on expensive champagne, just the two of them.

The first Christmas, Wren got drunk enough to admit that she didn’t like her life very much, and she coped by pretending like everything rolled right off her back like water off a duck, but it didn’t, not really. She was miserable and wished she were dead. Eva told her she was glad she wasn’t dead. And the next Christmas, got drunk enough herself to explain about her own over-chipper coping mechanisms, her hyperfixation on the holiday, the reason she actually preferred to celebrate the day in a laid-back manner.

The third Christmas, they started actually exchanging gifts. And it was about then, that Wren would admit that they were, after all, friends. They had been this entire time.

\--

“Doctor Hashizawa.” Wren had, from spending time with Eva, acquired a similar ability to startle others by walking up and speaking as if she’d just teleported behind them. Rin jumped in her seat, then turned to see Wren holding a USB stick. “This is completely unacceptable.”

“Wh- huh- what now…? I-I-How do you even know that’s mine!?”

“It has your research on it.”

“...Oh. So, um. So what’s unacceptable about it?”

“The fact that I could see your research on it.” Wren set the USB down on Rin’s desk. “Data storage is serious business, Hashizawa. I know that you follow proper protections on your project hard drives, but that’s not enough. All of your research needs to be safeguarded, except for that which is peer-reviewed and officially published.”

“I- Well, I mean, I. It isn’t like I actually care that… Much… About protecting my IP,” Rin said, “If other people also want to make Real-AIs like I have, then, that’s better.”

“Sure, but… You also don’t want your research falling into the wrong hands, right?”

“I don’t see how that could happen, really. I think that robots made to be soldiers or anything like that, um. It would be sort of counterproductive to give them human personalities and vulnerabilities and all of that. Er. Not to argue with you or anything! I’m sorry!”

“...Between your lack of data security and lack of a spine, that’s really going to come back to bite you someday,” Wren said, “In any case. I did read what was on this stick. It’s interesting, though I have to wonder… Why do you want to do this? You’re a child. In my experience, children having children, well. You’ll either be entirely emotionally distant, or far too codependent. It doesn’t work out well.”

Rin clenched her fists against her desk. “I want there to be good people in the world.”

“Oh?”

“The way things are right now, they, uh. We keep losing good people. You know…? My aunt, she got Despair Fever. My girlfriend died in a Killing Game. My friends who survived it, I still haven’t even seen them again… I barely hear from Megumi since that happened, too. Like. We're connections to those people so it hurts... But if my research actually works out, with the P-Particles and everything, combined with Real-AIs? That’ll be- Don’t you get it? Gosh, even just with the type of robot body they’re working on for M4-K1. Immunity to Despair Fever, just. The world can always use more good people. Especially now.”

“That seems virtuous.”

“It’s, um. It’s also kind of selfish. I just want to- I lost a lot of people, you know? So I want there to be nice people who I won’t lose. Who are gonna make the world a better place, but also. Be my friends…”

"Despite any perceived selfishness, you still have that selfless motive in it. I'm nearly impressed."

"What about you? Why do you do what you do? You're also bettering the world, with your research."

"Incidentally, if I am at all. I do what I do because it's what I've always done, and I've got nothing better to do. If I was really improving the world, if any substantial number of us actually were, you'd think we'd have _seen_ improvement by now. No, I do this because I just haven't bothered with dying yet, and it would be boring to do nothing."

"So you just fell into doing all this? You don't think that what we do at DIYEAR can actually fix things?"

“You are doing a good thing, but on the other hand. It may be a better thing if you take more distance from it, you know. If you want them to just be your friends, maybe you shouldn’t be thinking of them as your children.” Wren walked away then, before Rin could answer back again. Wren didn’t really understand that.

More good people? As if there were any guarantee that a Replicant will be any better than a human. As if good people deserved to be born into a world like this one. As if a world like this one deserved to have good people in it, for that matter. Wren felt something. She felt bitter. She felt angry, that Rin would have the nerve to think like that. Why did something so innocent set a boiling rage in her heart?

It was this boiling rage, in fact, which led her to make the statement which would lead to the inescapable corruption of one Rin Hashizawa. Well, it could have been escaped, if she actually took Wren’s advice. But, she didn’t. So when Wren let slip to some others in the office who she’d overheard talking about the kidnapping of M4-K1 for a killing game that Rin had poor data security, and the codes to send remote updates were likely unguarded…

Such that the Despair Operatives could steal them, and prompt Rin’s ‘oh-so-good’ robot daughter to commit a murder in the fifty-third Killing Game.  
Such that, from that point on.  
Rin had already made such a large mistake, why not take money to make an AI vessel for a dead girl's memories?  
Why keep trying to improve this world, when she could just go away and be part of another one designed from the ground up?  
And why _learn_ that 'good people' can't always be trusted- Why start protecting her research, so that her government wasn't able to use her theory to rewrite the personality of a wayward young man?

But that's getting ahead of ourselves. That was all in the future, and there was more to be seen in the memories of Evangeline Carrol and her very best friend.

\--

Killing Games always took place in September, but it wasn’t actually during the course of the Killing Game that DIYEAR Labs faced its retribution for what had happened with M4-K1. The facility had been shut down for a couple of months while the breach was investigated, but when no culprits were found out in that time, work had to return to usual. It was because of this, that Wren was working on Christmas Eve. A number of the current DIYEAR employees were- Though the option to take the day off had remained in place, most of these researchers cared more about making up missed time on their experimentation than they did about the holiday. Even Evangeline was there. She was going to take the day-of off, of course. So was Wren.

They were going to spend it together, after all. Wren had even come to value her friendship with the eccentric, holiday-crazed woman who had inserted herself into her life. That was the plan, at least, but… It wasn’t even halfway through the workday, when everything went to shit.

When DIYEAR Labs faced a reckoning not devised by Future Foundation, but by Despair. Even though it had been members of Despair who pushed the update through, it seemed that their idea hadn’t been a very good one to the populace at large. The second trial was unsatisfying, and with everyone knowing who had produced the culprit, DIYEAR was to blame. M4-K1 was forced to kill, which wasn’t much in the spirit of the Killing Game. She was forgiven, and her victim colluded with her, and in general, there wasn’t much fun to be had there. Wren herself may have argued that the tragedy of that case being this way was its own poignant despair…

But then, what did she know? Certainly not what to do when the windows to the lab were smashed in, and a heavy boot came down directly on the slide that she’d been prepping with algae cultures. Luckily that one wasn’t rare, she thought for a split second before realizing that, yes. Somebody had just come in through the window and stood on the lab bench she’d been working at, and while that algae was common enough, it was unlikely the destruction would stop there. And, did she need to be concerned for her life?

The answer to that question was a swiftly confirmed ‘yes’, as a coworker whose name she never bothered to learn was cut down across the room by an agent of despair who was much more immediately spurred to action than the one in front of Wren.

Having very little in the sense of self-preservation instincts, Wren didn’t move. At least, she didn’t command any of her muscles to do so, but actually, she did move. She _was moved_ by an outside force. That outside force being, well, no surprise to anybody who knew about the seemingly opposite researchers who spent most of their time together. There were rumors that the ring Wren wore indicated they were wives, but she resented that idea. She’d correct it, if she knew the names of anyone who spread it, but as it was, she didn’t bother. Just like she wasn’t about to bother saving her own life, but Evangeline did.

Arms wrapped around her midsection and dragged her out of the way of an incoming combat knife. Wren made an unseemly squawk at being pulled away by the waist.

“No reaction to the literal terrorist busting into your workspace, but I get a noise like that!?” Eva questioned as she kept pulling. Wren, for her part, got her footing to run along with Eva, improving their speed as a unit. Eva kept a hand on her wrist, though, knowing that if she did let go then Wren would likely stop running.

“The terrorist hadn’t touched me yet!” Wren complained, “So I was keeping a level head!”

“A level head that was gonna get you _killed_?”

“Have you ever known me to want to _live_?” Wren countered, but did duck out of the way of another swing aimed in her direction. “Where’s Hashizawa?”

“Why do you care?”

“It’s her code that let the update get pushed at all. Also, I don’t want these guys to get her kids.”

“Either already got ‘em, or she got ‘em out,” Eva answered with a squint into Rin’s office. “No hard drives on her desk. Come on, some artificial children are the least of our worries right now! Get in front of me, will you!?”

“What, to use me as a meat shield?” Wren asked dryly, continuing to run alongside Eva.

“No, to use _me_ as a meat shield,” Eva’s voice was dead serious, “Their point of entry’s behind us, okay, Wren?”

Normally, Wren Kobayashi would argue this. She’d make some sarcastic remark, or just let go of Eva’s hand. But this was… Different. Evangeline rarely sounded this sincere. Even when she spoke from the heart, it always had an inconsequential air to it, as if she was ready to claim her every word a joke the moment she felt it had been a mistake to speak. So Wren did as Eva asked, and got in front of her as they ran from the chaos behind them.

And they managed to get out. Wren had now been one of only a few survivors of two different events, though she could barely remember how it felt the first time. She was so young. This time, well. She was still relatively young, right? A young adult. Nearing, but not quite middle-aged. With her close friend who was just over half her age, who was-

Who, in the ditch by the side of the road leading to DIYEAR in which they’d dived, was leaning over Wren now, and bleeding. Wren froze, and scooted back on her elbows just enough to lean around and see the massive gash cut into Evangeline’s back. “E… Eva…”

“No. No, Wren, don’t-” Evangeline’s voice cracked, “Don’t _cry_ you dumb bitch! Not about me! Over all things, not me! I’m fine!”

“You’re _not_ fine!!” Wren shouted in her face.

“Well, not right now, but I will be! You’ll make me fine. In Terashima’s office!” Eva promised, then lifted her shirt to show a… Strange device set where her bellybutton should have been. It was shaped like an X, and looked heavy. “I told him he could… Gimme the prototype. Well. I guess it might not work right, but his did, he said! So here’s hoping… It’s a ways off from usable, really. It’ll work just this one time. But it will.”

“That’s…” Wren recognized it from the research they’d been doing. An X-Key, right? It was really far enough along to have a working prototype? She had to believe it was the truth, right now, to stay sane. “You’ve got one chance to die and come back and you wasted it on me, you’re the dumb bitch here!”

“I didn’t waste it…” Eva choked out over her. “I didn’t waste it. Wren. I couldn’t bear it if… I was so scared. You can’t die, you can’t. I don’t care if you don’t want to live. I’m selfish. I’m really selfish, I want you to always be here, I always want you around. I… I love you. Not like I’m in love with you. It’s different, it’s better. I fall in love and I want to hurt those people. Not you, you’re… My very best friend. I don’t want you to ever get hurt.”

“And-” She continued, small streams of blood sliding down her sides and landing on Wren’s sweater. “And I don’t want you to leave me, Wren! Not by dying and not by going back to your ex! I hate that you still wear his ring and use his name! It’s like, any day now, you’ll leave! I’ll lose you! I know this isn’t normal! You’re more important to me than a girlfriend or a wife could ever be but that’s just it! I wish you’d think of me like a wife, just one who doesn’t wanna kiss you or fuck you or anything! The most important person in your life, because that’s what you are to me, okay!?”

“Eva?”

“I know you hate it all! I did too! I do too! I don’t know!” Eva pounded a fist into the dirt next to Wren’s shoulder. “But because we’re friends, I want to exist! That first Christmas we spent together, Wren, I was gonna die. I was gonna overdose, on purpose. Because I couldn’t exist in this world. But then there was you. And you can’t, either. But we can together, right? We don’t have to just die. So I’ll come back. You’ll bring me back. Right Wren!? Right!?”

“We won’t die,” Wren said, “Not until we do what we need to do, I think.”

She shut her eyes, then said one more thing. “It’s okay. Merry Christmas, Eva.”

“Merry Christmas…. Wren…” Eva gasped out, then lay down, her weight on top of Wren. It took about ten minutes of silence, peaceful silence, for Eva to go. For the weight to go away, and fall into dust that scattered over Wren’s form and into the dust, leaving only that X-Key behind.

\--

Wren went home.

She went back to her apartment, with Eva’s X-Key, and kept it safe for a while. A few weeks after the incident, she finally felt it would be safe to go back. Hoping for the best, she approached DIYEAR. It seemed quiet, seemed empty. There were tracks on the road that looked fairly recent, but those were of a single motorcycle, coming once and going once. Seemed to have more weight the second time. Like something was stolen… Or someone, maybe. No matter.

Wren stepped into the facility, and she thought, it was probably for the best that she was the one checking the scene. She was wholly desensitized to violence of this sort, the corpses lining the halls… Used to it, from days long past. At least this time there were no bodies she found herself pleased to see, only neutral. Considerably, that was an improvement. She took a breath, and regretted it immediately. The smell… Was the worst thing she’d smelled in a long time.

She dove into an office which had been shut, and closed the door again behind herself. The smell wasn’t gone here, but it didn’t permeate nearly as much. She glanced at the desk. Etsuko Kawashima? By the state of this room, she’d actually taken the day off. Wren seemed to recall her having some sort of adopted child. Probably spending the day together. Lucky her. If Wren was remembering the right coworker, for that matter, that woman should be hardy enough to manage the survivor’s guilt of not being here that day.

Rifling around, Wren acquired a facemask that should help with the smell. She also found a bag of coffee- She pressed several of the beans against the roof of her mouth for the same reason. Newly prepared, she stepped back into the ex-bloodbath of the lab. Stepping gingerly over corpses and making her way towards Daichi’s office. She opened the door, just to find it blocked an inch in. With her shoulder, she bodied it open, and heard a gross crunch. Looking down, was Daichi’s body. His stomach was exposed, and in it, a gaping hole. On the floor next to that hole was an X-Key, torn in four pieces, but unmistakable. Well. That was that, wasn’t it?

Wren couldn’t say she cared much about Daichi Terashima’s death, although it would set back the research- This incident at all, even if it had only destroyed material things and killed _nobody_, would have set back their research, so she was trying not to dwell on that. In the corner of the office was an arcade machine, with its D-Pad missing. The same shape as the X-Key that the clutched inside her pocket… She stepped forward and set it into the hole, and the screen lit up bright.

And _loud_. She grimaced at the noise.

“Hi, Wren!” A cartoon sheep appeared on the screen. “Nice to meet you! My name’s Mirai!”

“Hello, Mirai,” Wren said, “It isn’t nice to meet you. I’m here because DIYEAR Labs was attacked, and Eva was killed. But she has this X-Key. Do you know what to do with that?”

“The lab was attacked? Ohhh nooo…” Mirai whined, holding her paws to her cheeks. “That’s really bad. Where’s Doctor Terashima?”

Wren thought about the body by the door, and lied, “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him. Maybe he got out. Can you bring Eva back?”

“Yeah… This X-Key is unused, so I can extend her just this one time,” Mirai said, “I wish more of you got X-Keys before this happened… That’s so sad.”

Wren shrugged. “People die. But not this person. Just do it already.”

The X-Key was drawn inside the machine, which made some awful noises for a few moments before a long vat popped out the side. Eva, maybe a month or two younger than she’d been at the time of her death, was floating there in liquid. She opened her eyes and looked up at Wren. “Knew you’d bring me back eventually.”

“Sure. Put on some clothes, you dumb bitch.”

“Dumb bitch, you bring me any?” Eva shot right back and sat up.

“Yes, actually. I thought this might happen.” Wren opened a messenger bag at her side and offered an outfit to Eva. “Your usual style’s a bit too, voluminous, to carry with me. But this should do for now.”

“Thanks.” Eva took the outfit, jeans and a t-shirt as well as undergarments, and got dressed right there. “What now, Doctor Kobayashi?”

“I’m not Doctor Kobayashi. That’s my ex’s name. I’m Wren Massou.” She lifted her right hand and raised her middle finger, showing the wedding band on it. “Honestly, fuck that guy. I’m not going to go back.”

“Awwe, Wren!” Eva exclaimed, throwing her arms around her best friend. “Hey… When I was dying, you said something. That we won’t just die until we do what we need to do? What did you mean?”

“Well…” Wren took Eva’s arm to lead her back out of the office. “You were right. You and I, we can’t exist in this world. But, that doesn’t mean we just have to die. The way I see it, there are two courses when you hate everything around you. You can escape it, or you can change it.”

“Like you or I could ever actually make the world better.”

“That’s not what I’m thinking,” Wren said, “I’m thinking, you and I. We could prove how awful this world is. Then, we can get rid of it. All of it.”

“What, like. Show off some manifesto, then use luciora to fuck everything up?”

“I hadn’t gotten as far as figuring out how we’d do it, but frankly, Eva, that’s brilliant. So can I assume that’s your agreement?”

“Mhm. You didn’t really think I’d say no,” Eva said, “But, hey. We might need help. I’ll work on it. People won’t take me seriously if they don’t want in! Call it my idea, and it’s just a joke in bad taste from lil incompetent me, when I ask someone who doesn’t wanna. That way, it’ll work. It’s gonna take a long time! But, heh, yeah. We succeed, and what we’ve got is… All the time that’s left in the world.”

“You could almost call us Despair, if I didn’t hate those bastards too.”

“We’re worse than that.” Eva laughed. “We’re the _monsters_ who bear the sins of our society.”

“Not quite,” Wren said, “Anyone in our positions would agree. People who think this world has a chance anymore are people who just haven’t been hurt enough yet, to realize that the only way to save it is to destroy it. We might be monsters, but we’re angels too.”

A twist of the knife, that’s all this was. The attack on DIYEAR Labs didn’t break Wren or Evangeline- Not in the least. They’d already been broken for a long time coming. If anything, it was just what let them speak their minds. The distinct misanthropy of two who had never been of this world, whose lives had never connected with the people here. Had somebody connected with them before now, really and truly, then maybe, they wouldn’t have made this decision, standing now as some of the only survivors of a massacre they would have happily died in if not for each other.

It was too late now. There was no turning back for them. Maybe, if not for the events yet to occur, they could have been stopped. Maybe if Rin had stayed, instead of going to Dome City. Maybe if DIYEAR Labs hadn’t reestablished itself. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But that’s not what happened. They couldn’t turn back after that day, and nobody stepped in to block them from continuing forward.

\--

Despite what had happened, DIYEAR reopened a few months later. A new building was acquired, due to the smell in the old one, and as much research as could be salvaged was moved over. Wren and Evangeline were both offered their old jobs, though many of the staff and directors were brought in from overseas. Even better for their newfound intentions, honestly. They could fly under the radar pretty well among people who’d never known them before.

Time passed. A few months later, Evangeline met a woman named Mercury Mars, who was working on leaking the names of several Ultimates. When asked why, she had an answer that resonated- Because she didn’t care anymore. The woman she loved most had been stolen from her, published a paper on ending the Killing Games, and then died. So she was going to publish the names of every Ultimate she knew of, within a few years of herself. Eva did her own research, and found out a few things about these Ultimates, including the girl who’d ‘stolen’ Mercury’s lover.

Evangeline started work on her own sabotage of this Killing Game. Wren was aware of it, but didn’t care to participate in the process of it. Though she was aware that these actions would help them reach their eventual goal, she couldn’t say that she had the kind of interest to bother helping personally. They could reach that goal no matter the outcome of this Killing Game, after all. But, Evangeline’s efforts didn’t go to waste, that is. They acquired a team, in some ways.

Mercury Mars had her own goals, so the group intending to end the world kept that part a secret from her. Even Evangeline, who was dating Mercury, wanted to catch her off-guard with the plan that was taking shape even now. Luciora’s development was progressing, and Eva was putting time in to learning a few new electronic tricks. Mercury’s daughter was also kept out of the loop, but Ice and Speak Hako were welcome to the idea on one condition. With Eva’s help, the two of them would live to see that end of the world, no matter what.

Wren had a few other things on her mind, in these interim years. Ten years after the formation of Dome City. Still ten years before their plan would bear fruit. Not that her resolve had wavered in any way, not in the least. But Wren was a bit… Unsure. About something. Something which, having seen Saya Yoshiro make a realization at a young age, got her thinking. Confused.

There was somebody to ask about that, though. Megumi Kirisame had reluctantly agreed to work with DIYEAR on the luciora project recently. She claimed to dislike the organization, but acknowledged after looking at the research for these nanomachines so far that they had potential, and it was difficult for somebody as intelligent as her to outright refuse the opportunity to advance science in such a remarkable way. Though she only came to the facility occasionally, this was one of those occasions.

“Oh.” Megumi narrowed her eyes at the door. “Doctor Massou. Is _she_ behind you?”

“Evangeline isn’t here,” Wren said, “She does follow me around often, you’re right. But not this time. I actually came to see you myself.”

“That’s strange. I didn’t take you for the time to come see anybody yourself.”

“I’m not. But I had a question for you. I hope you don’t find it intrusive.”

“I can’t tell you if it is until you’ve asked it, but I can’t imagine anything you could say is more intrusive than every second sentence out of the woman you somehow call your friend.”

“Ah, that’s a good point. Well, then, I guess I should just come out and ask it, right? You… How exactly, do you know that you’re a woman?”

“Well, to determine if that’s intrusive or not, I suppose I need to ask a question back. Why are you asking?”

“Because…” Wren shifted awkwardly. “‘I’m not entirely sure if I am.”

“You?” Megumi adjusted her glasses, then raised an eyebrow with a smirk. “The researcher who takes pride in being an emotional blank slate who shuts down everybody who tries to strike up a conversation. I’m not wrong in reading you that way, am I?”

“No, that’s about where I am and have always been at.”

“If _you_ can muster up enough care to even wonder, I’d wager that you probably aren’t.”

“Oh.” He looked down, blinking. “I guess you have a point there. I suppose I’m a man.”

“Suppose so.” Megumi nodded along, then turned back to her work as he left. She smiled to herself in the privacy of the room when he did remember to shut the door behind him. Blank men _were_ often quite polite, if nothing else. Preferable by far to overimposing women.

The overimposing woman Megumi was thinking of was sat in the cafe, eating a pile of taco meat with a fork. Across from her were five cupcakes. Her best friend sat down in that seat, ate one of them, then spoke up. “Anyway, Eva, I’ve determined that I am actually a man and have been this entire time. Congratulate me.”

“Oh my _God!_” Eva slammed the fork, prongs-down, into the table. It was plastic, so those prongs shattered right off. “Dude that explains literally all of the things.”

“Does it, now?”

“I mean, yeah, duh! That’s why I never fell in love with you or anything!” She waved her other hand around. “I’m a skeeve! A full-blown skeeve, I tell you! I would’ve at least wanted to have sex with you if you were a woman! But you’re not! So what’s your name, huh?”

“I only just realized this. I asked Kirisame for assistance, and she told me that if somebody like me was even asking, then yes, I probably am not cis. So I don’t have a name yet. Any thoughts?”

“Huh, let’s see, well… Massou, that’s Egyptian, right?”

“Yes. We’ve only been friends for, what, fifteen years or so? You’ve finally noticed my ethnicity?”

“Y-You’ve been you for forty-five years or so!” Eva protested, “And you only just now noticed your gender!”

“Point taken.”

“Anyway, Egyptian… Um, I don’t know what kind of names they use in Egypt! But, maybe this’ll sound dumb? I don’t care though, I’m what you might call, a bimbo!” The Ultimate Cyberbiologist cackled. “Anyway, though. What about Osiris? The Egyptian God of death and final judgment?”

“For somebody who doesn’t know what names they use in Egypt, you came up with that awfully quick. I kind of like it, though. It’s fitting, but most people will just think I’m being edgy, not read too much into it.” Osiris ate another cupcake, then spoke with his mouth full, “You’re so used to calling me ‘Wren’ by now, though. You really wanna give me two more syllables?”

“How do you like ‘Ris’ for a nickname?”

“I have no problems with it.”

“Good enough for me!” Eva jumped out of her chair. “I’m gonna go get a new fork now, Ris.”

\--

Osiris’s transition didn’t change much for him. He couldn’t say he was ‘happier’, since he’d given up on that a long time ago. But he did find that he cared more about himself, in some ways. Previously, his skincare routine was something he did because it relaxed him, kept him grounded. Now, it had an ulterior motive- He found himself considering himself good-looking, and making an effort to keep it that way.

Some people aged with grace, but as far as he was concerned, there wasn’t a much better way to age than to become oneself entirely later in life. He actually acquired, for the first time, vanity. His disaffected nature began to resemble condescension in some ways, even arrogance, but it wasn’t like he cared about that. And it wasn’t his fault that a disconnected attitude read differently on somebody with confidence than it did on somebody who considered their body a meaningless shell to pilot through the day.

He and Evangeline were still just as close, his daughter still just as distant, their lives equally devoid of meaningful connection outside of each other. While Eva still dated Mercury, their partner in crime, he could tell. Eva _did_ love her, and she wasn’t restraining her feelings just out of the promise she’d made to always value her best friend more than any lover. But Mercury didn’t- _Couldn’t_ love her back. Eva probably received more genuine affection from her girlfriend’s adopted daughter, than from the woman herself.

Whatever opinions Osiris had on _that_ were long irrelevant. He was aware of what sort of person Eva was from the start, and it was his influence which dragged her into unrepentant, unapologetic slime. That was all that they both were, now- But even as the years kept coming, at least they were beautiful slime, right? That was something worth celebrating.

They celebrated, of course. Still spent each Christmas together, the same as before, just the two of them with drinks and movies and a meal at Osiris’s home. Though the location had been the same before the DIYEAR massacre, Eva had actually moved in not long after that, though she often spent nights or even weeks away with Mercury. Being an Ultimate who was employed by one of the top-ranked facilities, one which had been targeted so directly by despair, she did have a free pass to enter and leave Towa City as she pleased.

This year posited another Christmas Eve spent at DIYEAR, though this time, it was a victory that the pair of continuingly unlikely friends faced. No trauma, no massacre. A promise. A promise of their future- And of that future’s termination.

Beyond prying eyes, because many, many employees took Christmas Eve off now. The overseas folks had to get back to their families in time for the holiday. Megumi Kirisame didn’t care for the date of her birthday, to Evangeline’s disdain, but she still took the day off to spend it with her husband. With so many people taking the day off for other reasons, anyone left over was encouraged to take the day off unless they really needed to do anything today.

Osiris and Evangeline had offered around to those stragglers- I’ll check your cultures for you, I’ll take those samples, until they’d have the facility to themselves. Standing there, in that room. On the other side of a pane of reinforced glass was the Extend Machine, taller than it had been when in Daichi’s office. There were rumors that after the massacre, ghosts could be heard from beneath the floors. Something could be heard there. The part of the Extend Machine which stuck out under Daichi’s office had a hinge on it, and that hinge was for the purpose of removing _waste_.

The waste made by cloning a human. Somehow, Eva and Ris had managed to keep this to themselves. Daichi wasn’t very good at notetaking, often speaking in vague terms that denied the truth. When Daichi Terashima jots a note of ‘We will have to find a way to deal with the waste output’, the assumption does not relate to what that waste is, or even that he did make that discovery since penning the note.

The answer to dealing with the waste was simply to kill it. It would dissipate once it was no longer alive- But, that was easier said than done. The room with the Extend Machine in it was currently kitted out to do just that at the push of a button, at least. Shutting off the Extend Machine so it doesn’t react, before lighting up the floor with a strong current. Right now, an X-Key had already been set into the machine, ready to be remotely extended.

It belonged to Ryuuto Kobayashi, who had been offered one not by Daichi directly, but by the heir to the Asahi company, who had invested in the research. Apparently, just after Osiris left his husband, he’d become involved in an utterly unethical experiment performed on a young girl. And after that experiment panned out, and the girl commited a murder in cold blood during the fifty-fourth Killing Game, her vengeful younger sister Yui Asahi had killed the man.

Asahi was displeased, but he’d be killed soon as well, so it was more or less water under the bridge. Due to the divorce having never been finalized, the X-Key had been delivered to Osiris at that time. Just a year after he’d used Eva’s X-Key to desperately bring her back from the dead, he received an X-Key he never wanted to use in good faith.

This Extend Machine, the prototype, was out of date. The ones that were used now _did_ have built-in waste disposal methods, looked less like arcade machines, and were starting to see widespread clinical tests. Thus, it was easy to make sure this one wasn’t connected to any networks. And easy to corrupt the luciora inside, when Osiris and Eva worked together. Organic nanomachines _were_ within both of their skillsets, after all. It was shockingly easy to design the end of the world, with all the time left in it, wasn’t it?

When Ryuuto was extended, using this corrupted luciora… There wasn’t any waste. Nothing popped out separately. Ryuuto woke up, and stumbled toward the glass.

“Wow, this guy was your husband for fifteen years?” Eva asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked him over. “Gross!”

“Certainly so.” Osiris nodded. Moments later, Ryuuto ceased to be Ryuuto- The intention of their experiment, the waste of the extension. A creature which would have been created, was instead merged with him. Clione burst from his back, wrapping around his body-

“What’s- Happening to- me-!?” Ryuuto shouted, his voice growing more distorted with each syllable. He was being taken over. Corrupted by his own luciora. Clinching the matter, the clione snapped the now-defunct X-Key. The prototypes, like he had, could only store one serving of luciora. He wouldn’t be coming back from this or recovering, not at all. His own luciora betraying him. A proof of concept.

“And these…” Osiris reached over, pressing the button to electrocute and kill the creature. Rather than dissipating, as a creature made only from waste would, it fell over to a singed corpse.“These will be the vehicle by which we bring this world to ruins.”

“You got to see him die after all.”

“I did. It was disappointing, in a way, to hear somebody else had killed him. But now I have too.”

“And me. I’m here also, getting to kill the guy! So.” Eva giggled. “Merry Christmas to us.”

“Merry Christmas to us.”

“Joy to the world!” Evangeline threw her arms up, walking towards the door out of the room. “Salvation’s come! Let Earth receive her doom!”

Osiris nodded along, following, and played along sheepishly under his breath. “And heaven and nature sing.”

**Author's Note:**

> **Check out these extras!** last updated 1/23/2020 https://docs.google.com/document/d/15DzI6-tTimAifSlvh18tllasx8P_2DCWVU5c1L-EufE/edit?usp=sharing


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